"If pollinators designed gardens, what would humans see?" Over a video call, the London-based artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is talking about "Pollinator Pathmaker," an online tool she developed that allows users to design gardens for the benefit of pollinating insects, such as bees — many species of which are facing extinction. The planting designs are generated using an algorithm that prioritizes flowering plants that pollinators like to feed on, and the project has resulted in flower-filled gardens around the world, which Ginsberg calls "living artworks."
The project is one of many on show at "More than Human," an exhibition at the Design Museum in London, running until October 5. Exploring the interconnected relationship between humans and animals, plants and other living beings, the exhibition showcases ideas for how to live in better harmony with the natural world.
Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, wasps and hummingbirds, are essential for maintaining biodiversity and the health of the Earth's ecosystems. But bee populations have been declining.
"One of the main causes of declines (of pollinators) is landscape change and the decline of flowers in anthropogenic landscapes," said Harland Patch, an assistant research professor in the department of entomology at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of "The Lives of Bees." Scientists attribute the loss of natural, biodiverse habitat to climate change, pollution, pesticides and human-driven development.
Read more at the link in @cnnstyle's bio.
📸: Irina Boersma; Royston Hunt/Courtesy Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg Ltd; Harland Patch; Luke Hayes/Courtesy Design Museum; Maiju Suomi; Courtesy Layer; Gamaliel Mendez Garcia/SFER IK Museum; SFER IK Museum
Developers and contractors will need stronger whole life carbon assessment, lifecycle assessment, life cycle thinking in construction and life cycle cost discipline, backed by sustainable material specification, environmental product declarations (EPDs) and verified low embodied carbon materials.
The shift strengthens sustainable building design, low carbon design and eco-design for buildings, rewards low carbon construction materials and supports a circular economy in construction. It also raises the value of BREEAM and BREEAM v7 pathways for net zero whole life carbon, net zero carbon buildings and better control of the carbon footprint of construction.
UK backing for Agratas’s Somerset battery gigafactory and ITM Power’s Sheffield electrolyser expansion supports the industrial base behind green infrastructure, electrification and hydrogen systems, all of which matter for environmental sustainability in construction, energy-efficient buildings and low carbon building supply chains.
Record solar output is cleaning the grid faster, improving the case for all-electric sustainable design and carbon footprint reduction in operations. The harder challenge remains embodied carbon in materials, building lifecycle performance and the wider environmental impact of construction. A weaker UK market leaves sustainable building practices, circular construction strategies, end-of-life reuse in construction and the broader task of decarbonising the built environment dependent on execution, resource efficiency in construction and resilient supply chains.
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