Could basalt ‘carpets’ help build healthy soils?
CategoriesSustainable News

Could basalt ‘carpets’ help build healthy soils?

Spotted: Farmers around the world are under pressure to maintain steady crop yields while also reducing their carbon footprints. Hoping to tackle the interrelated issues of climate change and food security, startup Carbonaught believes it has developed a solution – using basalt.

Carbonaught uses standard farming machinery to lay down large basalt ‘carpets’ in farming fields. Naturally occurring carbon dioxide and water in the air combine to form a weak acid that breaks down the basalt. This releases essential minerals and forms a nutrient-rich clay that builds new soil layers and aids in plant growth. At the same time, minerals added to the basalt by Carbonaught bind with the CO2 to form new rocks, locking the CO2 away.

The company’s platform enables farmers to generate and monitor their own weathering projects at scale. Carbonaught believes that by 2030, its platform will remove one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually, while restoring degraded soils to enhance global food supply.

The company is still in the early stages, although it has secured several funded carbon removal pilot projects and received pre-seed funding from early-stage investment company Antler Australia. Carbonaught also placed 24th out of over 1,400 global teams that competed in Elon Musk’s 2022 XPrize Carbon Removal Challenge.

A growing number of innovations are aimed at replacing synthetic fertilisers – often derived from petroleum products – with organic alternatives. Springwise has recently spotted the use of seaweed as a bio-stimulant, as well as the creation of bespoke bio-inoculants.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

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“Build empathy with users” says industrial designer Ayse Birsel
CategoriesSustainable News

“Build empathy with users” says industrial designer Ayse Birsel

Designing with empathy for the consumers of today and the future is a challenge we must take on, says Birsel + Seck co-founder Ayse Birsel at a talk filmed by Dezeen for Global Design Forum in partnership with SAP.

“If we have the users in the room thinking with us and using our tools to think creatively, that changes everything,” Birsel said.

Called Creating a Compelling Reason for Change as part of the Circular Design Series, the talk brought together a panel of design and digital thought leaders to discuss how to design for consumers in the face of global economic, environmental and social pressures.

David Yonker, Vice President, Insights Research Center at SAP, photo by Daniel Salemi
David Jonker is vice president of the Insights Research Center at SAP

“When we get to designing and changing the system, it’s a multifaceted challenge,” said vice president at SAP Insights Research Centre David Jonker during the talk.

“Those who will be the disruptors are those who are willing to question some of the fundamental assumptions that we take for granted,” he continued.

Eli Halliwell, chairman at Hairstory, photo by Daniel Salemi
Eli Halliwell is the chairman of haircare company Hairstory

There is an opportunity to design products to be inherently better and cleaner, said executive chairman and co-founder of Hairstory Eli Halliwell.

“The step-function change comes from rethinking the actual problem that you’re trying to solve, versus just iterating on the delivery mechanism or the packaging,” Halliwell said.

Ayse Birsel, co-founder of Birsel + Seck, photo by Daniel Salemi
Ayse Birsel is an industrial designer and co-founder of Birsel + Seck

Birsel also spoke about how inclusive consumer research can promote change, explaining that consumer datasets historically tend to be skewed towards men.

“For example, pianos are not measured and made for women, and that means there are very few great pianists who are women in the world, not because they are not talented, but because the products are not designed for that data set,” said Birsel.

“It’s on us to design great products for this new era, which is our future,” she continued. “We’re living longer and longer but the planet’s life is shorter and shorter.”

Birsel expressed that consumers in today’s world have the opportunity to collaborate with designers.

“When I think of circularity of design, it’s not only design and brand together anymore, it also includes the user. When we can do that, we build incredible empathy with our users. They feel heard, they feel seen,” she said.

The Standard High Line Hotel, photo by Daniel Salemi
The talk was held at The Standard, High Line in New York City

Global Design Forum is London Design Festival’s curated thought-leadership programme. Its flagship event will take place as part of the London Design Festival in September.

Photography is by Daniel Salemi.

Creating a Compelling Reason for Change is the second talk filmed by Dezeen as part of Global Design Forum’s The Future of Packaging symposium, which took place on 23 May 2023 at The Standard High Line Hotel during design festival NYCxDesign. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Partnership content

This video was produced by Dezeen as part of a partnership with London Design Festival. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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Using AI to build animal-free proteins and preservatives
CategoriesSustainable News

Using AI to build animal-free proteins and preservatives

Spotted: Lab-grown food is no longer science fiction. As alternatives to traditionally farmed ingredients, cultured meats can replace almost any animal product with a more sustainable version. Now, Chilean biotech startup Protera is using artificial intelligence (AI) to copy the amino acid structures of naturally occurring proteins – such as those in flowers. Once a complete protein is built, the company uses fermentation to produce the ingredient at scale.

Fermentation produces the proteins much faster than a farmer can grow a crop or raise an animal, and in much less space. Far fewer resources are used, and emissions are much lower than in traditional agriculture. Since the proteins are exact copies of naturally occurring ones, they can be used as direct substitutes for a number of ingredients, including palm oil, chemically hydrogenated fats, and additives that extend the long-term shelf life of foods.

Currently, the company has four proteins in pilot or development stages. Protera Guard is a protein with anti-mould properties designed specifically to help make baked goods last longer on shelves. Protera Sense is a plant-based oil used for texture in foods as an alternative to dangerous trans-fats and palm oil. Antioxidant and foaming and emulsifying proteins are two others that are also being developed, with the foaming version capable of being used as an egg replacement.

Springwise has spotted a number of developments in the cultured food industry, with fermentation replicating the tasty fats from animal meat for better tasting plant-based meat and dairy substitutes, and a new molecular process turning plant crop cells into dairy proteins. 

Written by: Keely Khoury

Email: info@proterabio.com

Website: proterabio.com

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