Ideas

Giving Food a Longer Life

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The FoodWa, which comes in two sizes, and is like a big ventilated box. The smaller "Batch" version can handle about 11 pounds at a time. PHOTO: CoExist

The FoodWa, which comes in two sizes, and is like a big ventilated box. The smaller “Batch” version can handle about 11 pounds at a time. PHOTO: CoExist

Each year, the world loses or squanders a third of the food it produces. This means that somewhere between planting seeds in fields and providing nourishment to the world’s 7 billion people, approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food with a value of more than US$1 trillion is lost or wasted. These numbers are simply untenable in a world where, according to Food and Agriculture Organization, some 870 million people do not have enough to eat. In fact, according to the FAO-commissioned study that tallied these numbers, if just one-fourth of lost or wasted food were saved, it could end global hunger.

And drying food, to prevent it from rotting during storage, maybe a solution. A clean, green solution especially with the FoodWa system that uses solar energy to dry foods.

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Making Silk Non-violent

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Kusuma Rajaiah displaying a sari made from 'Ahimsa Silk'. Photo: Balachander Goud

Kusuma Rajaiah displaying a sari made from ‘Ahimsa Silk’. Photo: Balachander Goud

Do you know how many silkworms are normally killed to make a five yard silk sari? Kusuma Rajaiah, a 55-year old government officer from India’s Andhra Pradesh state, does: “Around 50,000.” Rajaiah estimates that around 15 silkworms are normally sacrificed to produce a gram of silk yarn. For years, he’s been battling against what he describes as the “cruel killing of millions of innocent worms.” And has come up with an alternative. He realized the lure of silk was too strong to persuade people to give it up altogether so he came up with a technique that spares the life of the silkworm.

Ahimsa silk derives its idea and the brand name from Mahatma Gandhi, who was also critical of the conventional method of silk production. In fact, he had written to the Silk Board of India to explore ways of producing silk without hurting any living being. For Rajaiah, it’s a matter of pride to have fulfilled that wish; a pride shared by those who use the fabric.

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Flood-proofing Education

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Architect Rezwan’s idea is to combine a school bus with the schoolhouse, and use the traditional wooden boat to create a floating space to bring primary education to doorsteps. PHOTO: ABIR ABDULLAH/ SHIDHULAI SWANIRVAR SANGSTHA

Architect Rezwan’s idea is to combine a school bus with the schoolhouse, and use the traditional wooden boat to create a floating space to bring primary education to doorsteps. PHOTO: ABIR ABDULLAH/ SHIDHULAI SWANIRVAR SANGSTHA

Bangladesh is prone to flooding due to being situated on the Ganges Delta and the many distributaries flowing into the Bay of Bengal. Coastal flooding, combined with the bursting of river banks is common, and severely affects the landscape and society of Bangladesh. 75% of Bangladesh is less than 10m above sea level and 80% is floodplain, therefore rendering the nation very much at risk of periodic widespread damage, despite its development. One man, who as a child often found himself cut off from school, did not want the future generations to face the same plight.

His idea: using boats to facilitate education at the time of floods.

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Giving Up Electricity

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A wood-fired stove at Lehman's (Photo: sonja/Flickr)

A wood-fired stove at Lehman’s (Photo: sonja/Flickr)

What started as a small hardware store serving the local Amish in Kidron, Ohio, grew into something much bigger than founder Jay Lehman ever dreamed. Gathering four pre-Civil War era buildings under one soaring roof, today the store is a place to embrace the past: from old-fashioned treats and sodas to practical, non-electric goods for a simpler life.

The story of the Lehman store is one of “peddling historical technology”. A story of being old-school. And being good at it. Their top-selling products have not changed for decades. Wood stoves, gas refrigerators, oil lamps, water pumps, and water filters are always popular: if you don’t have electricity, you still need ways to store food, stay warm, light the night, and access water.

“We’ve known the term ‘off-the-grid’ for many, many years,” Ervin says. “But now it’s a thing.”

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A Conversation of Whistles

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Steep hills surround the village of Kuskoy, high in the mountains above Turkey's Black Sea coast. Some villagers here can still understand the old "bird language," a form of whistled Turkish used to communicate across these deep valleys. Peter Kenyon/NPR

Steep hills surround the village of Kuskoy. Some villagers here can still understand the old “bird language,” a form of whistled Turkish used to communicate across these deep valleys. PHOTO: Peter Kenyon/NPR

Is it always necessary to use words to communicate? Theoretically, there’s verbal communication and its non-verbal counterpart of body language, gestures, and the like. What if the communication is to pass over valleys and hills – spontaneously? Then, a whistled language – with its origin in bird calls – is the answer. Ask the “bird whistlers”.

In a remote mountain village high above Turkey’s Black Sea coast, there are villagers who still communicate across valleys by whistling. Not just whistling as in a non-verbal, “Hey, you!” But actually using what they call their “bird language,” Turkish words expressed as a series of piercing whistles.

The village is Kuskoy, and it’s inhabited by farmers who raise tea, corn, beets and other crops, and also keep livestock. The landscape is unusual by Turkish standards, and the residents are also considered a bit eccentric by other Turks.

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Opening the Arctic Vault

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The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was inaugurated in 2008. The "doomsday vault" lies inside an Arctic mountain in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. For the first time, scientists are taking some seeds out. PHOTO: John McConnico/AP

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was inaugurated in 2008. The “doomsday vault” lies inside an Arctic mountain in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. For the first time, scientists are taking some seeds out. PHOTO: John McConnico/AP

The ongoing civil war in Syria has led to the first-ever withdrawal from the Svalbard “doomsday” Global Seed Vault, a giant storage unit for plant seeds that’s tucked into the side of a frigid mountain in Norway. In the seven years since the Vault opened, hundreds of thousands of seed samples have gone into its icy tombs. And not one has come out—until now. This week the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas asked for the return of 325 little black boxes of seeds it had stored in the Svalbard vault. For many years, the center housed its own seed bank near Aleppo, Syria. Now, its scientists hope to use the Svalbard samples to regenerate that collection outside of their war-torn home.

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The Prize for Energy Storage

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Jay Whitacre is the latest recipient of the prestigious $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize, which honors remarkable mid-career inventors who have also demonstrated a commitment to mentorship in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). PHOTO: LEMELSON-MIT PROGRAM

Jay Whitacre is the latest recipient of the prestigious $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize, which honors mid-career inventors who have also demonstrated a commitment to mentorship in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). PHOTO: LEMELSON-MIT PROGRAM

The Aqueous Hybrid Ion (AHI™) Batteries are based on a simple idea: in order to meet the challenges of the world’s growing energy needs and increase the use of renewable power, we need large-scale energy storage systems that are high performance, safe, sustainable and cost-effective. Jay Whitacre set out to solve this problem and discovered a simple and elegant solution that is a twist on a 200 year-old technology: saltwater batteries. Using abundant, nontoxic materials and modern low cost manufacturing techniques, the AHI batteries are now ready to take on the global energy storage challenge. And have also won Whitacre the prestigious $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize.

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The Food Museum Is Here

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The Food and Drink Museum will open in its first permanent home – a mini-museum in Brooklyn — in October. Above, an artist's rendering shows one potential exhibit – on ready-to-eat cereal — in MOFAD's final space. In the foreground is an extruder, a giant machine used to cook and shape cereal.

The Food and Drink Museum will open in its first permanent home – a mini-museum in Brooklyn — in October. Above, an artist’s rendering shows one potential exhibit – on ready-to-eat cereal — in MOFAD’s final space. In the foreground is an extruder, a giant machine used to cook and shape cereal. PHOTO: MOAFD

Everyone eats. People of all ages and backgrounds, from picky and apathetic eaters to gastronomes and food lovers, should care about food. Informed eaters are better eaters. They make better choices for their taste buds, health, community, and environment.Food is culture. It is more than simply what is on our plates: it is a common denominator of human relationships.Food is personal. People should be approached with a non-judgmental attitude about their diet.Food is participatory. To best learn about food, you must taste, smell, and think.Food is fun. A positive, non-fear-based outlook is the best way to approach food education.

The Museum of Food and Drink couldn’t have worded it more finely. And they are doing one better by working towards opening doors in Brooklyn come October. So hold on to all your questions about food (well the one about the chicken and the egg is still debatable), for answers may be at hand.

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Bringing Food Closer in South Africa

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Lakheni is a social enterprise which harnesses the aggregated buying power of low-income communities to give them access to discounted staple food.

Lakheni is a social enterprise which harnesses the aggregated buying power of low-income communities to give them access to discounted staple food.

The Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) provides aspiring entrepreneurs with mentoring, exposure, and $50,000 in prizes to transform their ideas into businesses that will have positive real world impact. And one of the winners this year is Lakheni, a service that could serve as a low-cost replacement for brick-and-mortar stores.

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Drawing Inspiration from Paper Folding

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The flat-pack design could reduce energy demand drastically compared to a standard canvas structure. PHOTO: CoExist

The flat-pack design could reduce energy demand drastically compared to a standard canvas structure. PHOTO: CoExist

It has long been known that origami has many benefits like developing eye hand co-ordination, sequencing skills, attention skills, patience, temporal spatial skills, math reasoning etc. And now a structure design inspired by the Japanese art of folding paper may help the military significantly reduce its energy demand.

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Introducing Taxi Fabric

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This taxi is fitted with images inspired by India’s fight for freedom. The driver’s uncle fought for Independence. PHOTO: Niqita Gupta
Designed by Samia Arif, a young designer from Pakistan. Her design called ‘Monad’ is inspired by the two countries’ similarities. PHOTO: Taxi Fabric
PHOTO: Taxi Fabric
This one pays tribute to the world-famous dabbawallahs of Mumbai. PHOTO: Taxi Fabric
PHOTO: Taxi Fabric

In Mumbai, India—a city of nearly 19 million people—over 50,000 taxis pick up at least 25 to 30 people every day. For the majority of Mumbaikars, the iconic black and yellow taxis are the most convenient form of transportation in the city. And now a new vehicle of design, dialogue, and a sense of belonging – thanks to the Taxi Fabric project.

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Because Every Vegetable Deserves Love

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"Cosmetically challenged" farm produce make for tons of food waste globally. PHOTO: JCPestano/Shutterstock)

“Cosmetically challenged” farm produce make for tons of food waste globally. PHOTO: JCPestano/Shutterstock)

If you live in Berkeley, Oakland, and Emeryville, often find yourself complaining about high pricing of groceries, this is for you. Above bring fruits and vegetables to you at economical rates, this start-up is concerned with the noble business of minimizing food waste. How they do it – by collecting rejected asymmetrical farm produce and shipping 10-14 pounds of oddball deliciousness to your doorstep, and it’ll only cost $12.

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Pizza Done the Farm-to-Table Style

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Pizza night on the Stoney Acres Farm in Athens, Wis. PHOTO: Stoney Acres

Pizza night on the Stoney Acres Farm in Athens, Wis. PHOTO: Stoney Acres

The farm-to-table concept is one that we keep revisiting often. And get a taste of almost everyday, be it in the hills of Thekkady, Kerala or in the Costa Rican valley. Farm-to-table can mean different things to different people. At its heart, it means that the food on the table came directly from a specific farm. Literally, the table could actually be at the farm and cooks or chefs prepare and serve the food at the farm (even in the field). Akin to what farmers in the Midwest are doing.

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When It Takes Plastic Balls to Fight Drought

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A small portion of the 90 million black plastic balls added to the Los Angeles Reservoir on August 12, 2015. Image credit: AP/Damian Dovarganes

A small portion of the 90 million black plastic balls added to the Los Angeles Reservoir on August 12, 2015.  Image credit: AP/Damian Dovarganes

In a drought, every drop of water is precious, including those lost to evaporation in the hot summer. But in a massive open reservoir, how do you prevent that from happening? Facing a long-term water crisis, officials concerned with preserving a reservoir in Los Angeles hatched a plan: They would combat four years of drought with 96 million plastic balls. On Monday, the 175-acre Los Angeles Reservoir saw the final installment of the project: 20,000 small black orbs that would float atop the water.

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The Showerhead That’s Ruling the Internet

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This shower head Is blowing up on Kickstarter thanks in part to Apple's Tim Cook and Alphabet's Eric Schmidt. PHOTO: Nebia

This shower head Is blowing up on Kickstarter thanks in part to Apple’s Tim Cook and Alphabet’s Eric Schmidt. PHOTO: Nebia

What does it take to have the World Wide Web interested in you? And interested is putting it lightly, when we are talking a Kickstarter project that crossed its goal of $100,000 and how, in less than 8 hours. Not to forget having Tim Cook of Apple and Eric Schmidt of Alphabet back you.Well, it takes a showerhead. An extraordinary one at that. One that promises to reduce wastage of water in the shower by 70%, is iconic in design, and has its heart set on revolutionizing the use of water in developing markets. Nebia is here.

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Let’s Fill Up on Some Brewtroleum

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New Zealanders can now run their cars on the same fuel they run themselves on—beer. Brewtroleum is a new biofuel which mixes beer by-products with regular gasoline to power the nation's cars. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons

New Zealanders can now run their cars on the same fuel they run themselves on—beer. Brewtroleum is a new biofuel which mixes beer by-products with regular gasoline to power cars. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons

Generally, beer and moving cars don’t work well together. Remember the warnings against drinking and driving? But in a few places, companies are recycling the detritus of the beermaking process into a clean gasoline additive that allows cars to navigate without using as much of the precious fossil fuel.The latest venture comes from New Zealand where for a short time, motorists can fill up their cars with beer. Well, almost beer.

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A Backyard Solution to Oil Spills

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Waste like human hair, sawdust and bird feathers can clean oil spills from water. PHOTO: Nation of Change

Waste like human hair, sawdust and bird feathers can clean oil spills from water. PHOTO: Nation of Change

Biosorption is a property of certain types of inactive, dead, microbial biomass to bind and concentrate heavy metals from even very dilute aqueous solutions. And Nikhilesh Das discovered just this, at the age of 13, demonstrating reuse and effective waste management. Scalable models of these and we may just have a potent option to deal with oil spills that destroy marine ecosystems for years together.

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Two Tablespoons of Salt Please

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This eco-friendly lamp runs on just 2 tbsp of salt and a single glass of water. PHOTO: SALt

This eco-friendly lamp runs on just 2 tbsp of salt and a single glass of water. PHOTO: SALt

When you discuss abundance of resources, it’s inevitable that shortage creeps into the conversation. So when one looks at how many of the 7,000 islands that make Philippines lack electricity, it’s also difficult to miss the natural and abundant seawater. Engineer Lipa Aisa Mijena and team put both in the same equation and the result is a a lamp that’s capable emitting light for 8 hours on just 1 cup of saltwater.

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Recycling the Core of Computers

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This wooden computer chip could make recycling electronics a lot easier as it replaces most of the silicon with biodegradable cellulose. PHOTO: Co Exist

This wooden computer chip could make recycling electronics a lot easier as it replaces most of the silicon with biodegradable cellulose. PHOTO: Co Exist

A recent report from United Nations University (UNU) found that the world produced 41.8 million metric tons of e-waste in 2014 – an amount that would fill 1.15 million 18-wheel trucks. Lined up, those trucks would stretch from New York to Tokyo and back. Computers and smart phones are among the ditched items, which could top 50 million tonnes by 2017, UNEP estimates. Virtually all electronics contain toxic materials and a lot of this hazardous stuff is in the circuit board, including lead (in the solder), mercury (in switches and relays), and brominated flame-retardants. Some electronics, like smart phones and laptops, contain heavy metals like cadmium, beryllium, hexavalent chromium, or arsenic, which have been shown to build up in our bodies and the environment. Also, the wires and cables that run through all this stuff are often coated with PVC, which contains toxic additives called phthalates.

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Many Foods, One Power

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This startup turns almost-expired fruit Into tasty nutritional powder to fight hunger. PHOTO: Co Exist

This startup turns almost-expired fruit Into tasty nutritional powder to fight hunger. PHOTO: Co Exist

According to a 2013 report by UNEP and the World Resources Institute (WRI), about one-third of all food produced worldwide, worth around US$1 trillion, gets lost or wasted in food production and consumption systems. When this figure is converted to calories, this means that about 1 in 4 calories intended for consumption is never actually eaten. About 24 percent of all calories currently produced for human consumption are lost or wasted. In a world full of hunger and volatile food prices, these statistics make a case for ideas to combat food waste. And this Swedish startup may have a solution in which grocery stores and their stock of nearly expired food are the main players.

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