Plastic Fantastic News

On the internet are a couple of interesting links that are worth visiting! A selection is made;

architonic

With our carefully considered showcase of over 120.000 premium design products and materials, Architonic is the number-one online community for architects, designers, home-owners and design enthusiasts. 16 million visitors a year choose Architonic as their guide to the very best of current design.

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Saadiyat Cultural future

Saadiyat Cultural District is set to become an internationally renowned arts hub, featuring the Zayed National Museum, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and the Performing Arts Centre.

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Third Paradise

Cittadellarte is a new form of artistic and cultural institution that places art in direct interaction with the various sectors of society.
A place for the convergence of creative ideas and projects that combine creativity and enterprise, education and production, ecology and architecture, politics and spirituality.
An organism aimed at producing civilization, activating a responsible social transformation necessary and urgent a local and global level.

The social mission of Cittadellarte is integrated in the myth of the Third Paradise.

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Flanders Fashion Institute

FFI aims at a fashion sector with more and mature companies with local and international fame.

To achieve this, FFI informs about Belgian fashion, advises fashion designers and labels on business topics, promotes them abroad and coaches a selection of young designers with high potential.

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CREALAB geeft inspiratie alle ruimte

CREALAB is een unieke creativiteitsruimte in West-Vlaanderen (Kortrijk). Momenteel loopt er een project dat bedrijven en studenten in brainstormsessies samenbrengt.

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Plastic Fantastic

When the term "sustainability" was introduced to interior design, it posed an ethical challenge to the industry as a climate conscious market emphasised natural materials, recycling was vital and plastic became the sworn enemy.

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designflanders

Design Flanders promotes contemporary and high-quality Flemish design. It does this as a unit within the Enterprise Agency.
Design has developed into an economic growth factor for quality improvement, innovation and turnover. Design Flanders therefore wishes to support designers as well as persuade businesses to integrate design into their company culture and production process. The general public's awareness of the added value design offers is also heightened. Design Flanders is therefore also focussed on guiding businesses wishing to innovate from a design product development perspective, offer guidance and stimulation to Flemish designers, and promote Flanders as a design region.

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Gallery 33

Gallery 33 - A creative space by Present Plus, dedicated to interactivity, accessibility and innovation.

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Crunchwear

Everything that is high tech and wearable, super cool gadgets.

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Present Plus

Present Plus is a creative innovations studio based in Amsterdam.

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The Emissions Gap Report 2012 A UNEP Synthesis Report

Two fundamental questions in the global climate negotiations include:

Will the pledges made by countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions be sufficient to achieve the 2.0 degree or 1.5 degree Celsius temperature limits by year 2020 or will there be a gap between the level of ambition that is needed and what is expected as a result of the pledges? If a gap exists, in what ways can it bridged?

Since 2010, UNEP has been convening scientists and experts to answer these questions through the development of the annual "emissions gap" report. The 2012 report provides the following information:

An update of global greenhouse gas emission estimates, based on a number of different authoritative scientific sources; An overview of national emission levels, both current (2010) and projected (2020) consistent with current pledges and other commitments;An estimate of the level of global emissions consistent with the two degree target in 2020, 2030 and 2050;An update of the assessment of the "emissions gap" for 2020;A review of selected examples of the rapid progress being made in different parts of the world to implement policies already leading to substantial emission reductions and how they can be scaled up and replicated in other countries, with the view to bridging the emissions gap.

The report gives an updated estimate of the 2020 emissions gap of 8 to 13 gigatonnes of equivalent CO2, larger than earlier estimates because of higher than expected economic growth. Current global emissions are around 50 gigatonnes per year of equivalent CO2 which is substantially higher than the emissions level in 2020 consistent with a likely pathway of staying within the two degrees climate target. The report also finds that policy actions such as building codes, appliance standards, and bus rapid transit systems are achieving substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions even though they are largely being implemented because of local and national priorities. If scaled up, these and other policies can make a major contribution to closing the emissions gap.

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Nature resilience : organising ecological restoration by partners in business for next generations

The essence of sustainability is about reconnecting man's relationship to nature. This paper proposes the creation of a practical international mechanism for creating collaborative partnerships between stakeholders such as scientists, NGOs, foundations, local authorities, and the business community. The proposed mechanism Nature Resilience would initiate and organise tailor-made ecological restoration partnerships between companies and stakeholder groups, wherein the explicit goal would be the restoration of millions of hectares of ecosystems in cooperation with local people, farmers and NGOs, in a way that conforms to international established guidelines.

Written by Willem Ferweda

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Damn Interesting

Damn Interesting is an ad-free, spare-time project intended to promote knowledge and education. We preside over a growing collection of legitimately fascinating information culled from the past, present, and anticipated future. We tend to write about timeless topics, so we leave each article’s discussion open indefinitely. New insights are always welcome.

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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Research that examines how homes can save 70 percent or more of their energy use is this issue's cover story. EETD researchers studied several northern California homes whose owners implemented their own plans to make extreme reductions in energy consumption and found that there are many pathways to achieving this goal.

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Green Tree Sustainability Management

The goal of Green Tree 'the open innovation marketplace' is to build a community where expertise and knowledge are shared in sustainability topics. Starting and building a new "green generation" of people; researchers, chemists, engineers, industrial designers, teachers, students, designers, musicians, artist, physicist, entrepreneurs and more, in science and technology. You can become a member, as long as you are passionate about sustainability and you want to collaborate with others and bring something new to the world.

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wired

Magazine that get's in-depth coverage of current and future trends in technology, and how they are shaping business, entertainment, communications, science and even politics.

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bright

Innovative lifestyle magazine, especially for trendwatchers and innovators.

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core77

The industrial design magazine and resource, learn about innovation design and other design topics.

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three hugger

The discovery company, partial to a modern aesthetic, it shares sustainable design, green news and solutions. How to be green in a variety kind of way.

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NotCot.org

For your ideas and inspiration!

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