|
leaders from the nuclear energy ecosystem convened this week at the globe and mail to discuss canada’s new era of energy needs from policy and financing to supply chain and exporting.
following are speaker highlights. re. history & policy: “canada has a storied history as an early adopter and exporter of traditional reactor technologies, as well as being a supplier of uranium. we are one of the rare, few nations that can design, build, implement, and export some of the most sophisticated machines ever invented.” ryan macdonald, senior editor, energy and natural resources, the globe and mail “nuclear projects are 93-95% made-in-canada. for wind and solar, ~60 and ~80% of materials respectively come from china. if you care about the environment, the economy, intellectual property, and the workforce, this is why we've chosen this path. what alternative creates this value-chain benefit?” stephen lecce, minister of energy and mines, government of ontario re. current momentum: “when you export nuclear technology, you’re building a 100+ year relationship, whether through national labs, the regulator, or utilities. if we’re not exporting this technology, someone else will.” george christidis, president & chief executive officer, canadian nuclear association “we had about 8,000 lessons learned from our first nuclear refurbishment project. these lessons are extremely valuable for our next projects, and to help other jurisdictions with unlocking nuclear.” kim lauritsen, senior vice president, enterprise strategy and growth, ontario power generation “we’ve built up skilled trades capacity over a decade. thousands of people can now move from one project to another. that’s what puts us in a good position.” scott ryan, senior vice president, operations, nuclear, canada, aecon nuclear re. project financing: “government needs to tell the private sector: we’re going to be there. we will not change course, or if we do, you will be made whole for the time you spent. we have to make decisions that are in some way irreversible.” patrick chabot, managing director, projects and cleantech, canada growth fund investment management “the completion of refurbishments on time and on budget fundamentally de-risked the life extension of this fleet. building that track record will set private capital in motion in a big way.” david manii, managing director, corporate banking, td securities "once you've got a track record it becomes financeable. the challenge now is: what are the models that share some of the risk with owners and lenders so that it doesn't all fall on ratepayers and taxpayers?" sashen guneratna, managing director, investments, canada infrastructure bank re. supply chain: “we need to ensure indigenous businesses are not just involved in one-off projects. we need to establish with them work packages that would see their involvement in the full lifecycle of the development.” adrian davies, vice president, supply chain management, candu energy inc. “i’m hopeful for the time we’re in now we’re going to start addressing the transferability of credentials across provinces and make sure the strategy is not just provincial and sectorial, but national.” karen hamberg, partner and national low carbon fuels lead, deloitte canada “we’re not just talking about a history of excellence in operations. we’re talking about $12.8 billion refurbishment, four months ahead of schedule, $150 million under budget.” lisa mcbride, country leader, ge vernova hitachi nuclear energy re. global exporting: “energy security and the climate imperative aren’t going away. clean baseload power is the solution. nuclear is becoming the dominant enduring technology for the future.” john gorman, president, westinghouse canada “many places don’t make large nuclear components. we can go into those markets and leverage what others don’t do. that’s how we can really be effective.” john macquarrie, president, commercial operations, bwxt “in addition to electricity nuclear enables things like medical and industrial isotopes, and that’s an important part of the value proposition.” leslie mcwilliams, president and chief executive officer, laurentis energy partners ‣ moderators: ryan macdonald, adam radwanski, emma graney, april fong — the globe & mail ‣ references: event listing | video recording as life would have it, more hours have been passed watching and learning about sport in my last two years than possibly ever. with great enthusiasm. spend night after day watching hockey and baseball? let’s do it. learn the life and history of alex pereira? tell me everything. join the football fantasy pool and host weekly watch parties? don’t ask me twice. winter olympics followed by the world cup? bookmarked and in the calendar.
unless beer-league baseball or bambi-legged skiing and skating count, i am no athlete. still, something about sport became utterly insatiable. looking back, it feels like a response to a broader yearning. for something gravely human and governed by rules we agree to. if you’re reading this, it means that you, like me, are tasked to live out life while bombarded by immense hostility that saturates and frazzles every cell in our body, and that alone, if we're privileged. fuelled by decade-long rivalries and resentments grown too large to ignore, society’s leaders, with exceptions, seem stuck in neutral or lost in overdrive. in this role-model dead zone, the most dramatic noises get uplifted in spaces designed to reward intensity over insight. this is the consequence: ideas projected onto populations with so much vigour that our natural inclination is to accept them as inevitable. this illusion on inevitability is what keeps our agency stifled. and, where a there’s-no-point mentality flourishes. luckily, there are benefits to resignation. one being the overwhelming longing for role models. may we choose wisely. sports fans will tell us the stakes in a game can change in an instant. athletes prove, time and again, when there’s time on the scoreboard, the game is on. even when bad calls and shady deals cloud the integrity of the institution, the towering force of the athlete endures. experiencing sport allows our shared reality to meet in real-time. we watch the way winners win and losers lose. we become so attached, they become an extension of us. their win is our win, and we’ll absorb each one of those gut-punching losses like our own. we see the way athletes reach magnificent triumphs and confront ugly mistakes in front of millions of people everyday. we see the way they keep going. what more could we ask for in a role model? commit to a goal, and no matter the odds, keep on trying until the clock runs out. then, of course, there’s the magic. those moments against the odds. we saw it in the fourth quarter throw by drake maye to kayshon boutte for a tie-making touchdown in a game they won. in the numerous, yet impossibly charming, flops by super-hyped shohei ohtani in the world series. it’s there in the twenty-three trophies earned by serena williams to crown her a grand slam legend. in the remarkable rally of the edmonton oilers forcing their opponent to game seven twice, and after years of getting painfully close, in canada’s women’s olympic hockey team reclaim gold. sport reminds us that no matter how brief or unlikely, and no matter how many mistakes, change can happen when we keep our will connected to our chance. this is somewhat easy to write and read. it is mostly brutal to put into action. connecting our will to our chance leaves no excuse. in the land of claim-your-agency, there is no one to blame and no certainty to hide behind. what makes this place especially brutal is that it’s the only place where we can find magic. no effort goes wasted here because if it’s not a victory, it’s a lesson in self-mastery. team sport is particularly interesting for thinking about agency. where the success of the whole depends on the parts, a team has the opportunity when each player connects their will to their chance. as puka nacua showed us in the rams versus falcons match-up, out of favour with refs and key teammates injured, we keep connecting our will to our chance until we make a play that’s undeniable. maybe that’s the difference between athletes and other public figures. athletes have so much more to lose, and we can see it. putting their mind and spirit and body on the line every time while ignoring all the noise, their performance does not feel at all performative. there are no words, including these, that can spark the same level of brightness as embodied agency. as we confront our losses and claim our victories in the arena of civic life in the years ahead, our agency will be tested. more bad calls and shady deals will cloud the integrity of the institution. but as our role model athletes show us, as long as there’s time on the scoreboard, we’ve got work to do. may the towering force of the citizen endure. seven voices in food systems and public health convened last week at the walrus talks to discuss the quality of our future tied to the flourishing of animals. following are speaker highlights.
“imagine this: you’re in the atlantic forest of brazil on a family farm using traditional, locally-adapted farm practices passed down through generations. chickens and pigs forage and roam freely. the farm is diverse, the soil is rich, the water is clean.” the industrial food system is not doing what we expected it to. it’s causing 80% biodiversity loss, soil and water quality decline, and restricted food autonomy. the system can change by divesting from industrial food stocks, buying whole local food, and asking officials to support eco-farmers. —dr. alison blay-palmer, unesco chair on food, biodiversity, and sustainability studies “like most physician colleagues, i was not taught in training about the profound link between diet and disease. now i talk to all of my patients about food because the evidence is clear. one of the most powerful levers for change is on our plates.” non-communicable disease accounts for 3/4 of global deaths. a significant portion of which could be prevented by lifestyle behaviours. in canada, of ~$372 billion spent on healthcare in 2024 (~$9,054 per person), little was directed to prevention. —dr. zahra kassam, radiation oncologist, stronach regional cancer centre “the invention of antimicrobials was revolutionary. we would not be where we are without them. but antimicrobial resistance, this inevitable response, is counter-revolutionary.” antimicrobial resistance in food animals is estimated to cause loss equal to the needs of 750 million to 2 billion people by 2025. in canada, the cost is $1.4 billion+ a year. one way to reverse this is to reduce antibiotics to only when all other measures for improving health have been taken. —dr. scott weese, professor, ontario veterinary college, university of guelph “when a politician knocks on your door in the next election, ask them what they’re going to do to make sure environmental health, human health, and animal health are being dealt with together.” one health is a framework recognizing animals, humans, and environment as interconnected and unable to pull apart from each other or treat in isolation. this has informed policy planning around animal protection and attempts to operationalize the new food guide. —nathaniel erskine-smith, mp, beaches—east york “action doesn’t automatically change behaviour unless the environment supports it. this is where choice architecture comes in.” how choices are framed, like food on a menu, shapes decisions without limiting freedom. though plant-based support slowed under strong competitor influence, citizens can still influence restaurants, grocers, and officials to prioritize it, multiplying one choice into millions. —nital jethalal, executive director, institute for future food systems “even though animal farming is one of the biggest contributors of methane and nitrous oxide, we don’t see it mentioned in the news or on government agendas when the climate is discussed. but it’s starting to change.” people are saying no to factory farm expansion due to the harm it causes. conversely, on farms that let animals to roam freely and return to instinctual behaviours, the surrounding land and sky are naturally revitalizing. —tricia croasdell, ceo, world animal protection “the truth i’ve learned is that every animal has special powers. these powers have evolved through the pressures of life and death. every animal has its own niche.” wild animals remain connected to the web of life. they feed themselves, build shelter, stay warm or cool, find joy, and live with purpose. they do this by following the law of enough. to live by this law is to live within the web of life, held together by reciprocity. humans can do this again, too. —dr. joseph leblanc, vice president, social accountability, association of faculties of medicine of canada references: ‣ https://youtu.be/xVZxnRwz7ts?si=Dg6Bgh1b-IlnCFrl ‣ https://thewalrus.ca/the-walrus-talks-the-power-of-animals/ recreation & leisure can get overlooked as an unserious line item in a city’s budget.
that assumption is shifting. reports on play increasingly point to play for not just improving physical health, but also for sparking creativity, building conflict-resolution skills, and strengthening neighbourhoods. plus, it’s fun. now, as cities respond to changes in socializing and free time, and their impact on health, city halls are pulling out their recreation & leisure strategies and asking: what does it take to create more play? to answer this question, doors open toronto convened playground designers, landscape architects, and culture planners to create a public conversation about play as a pillar of healthy civic life. following are speaker highlights. enriching playgrounds for expanded play. beneficial risk, or non-hazardous decision moments like jumps and puzzles, teaches children about strategic thinking, which keeps them active for longer and encourages other ages to participate. discovery opportunities, like atypical designs and climbing levels with clear sight lines, inspire a sense of wonder. when we don’t know what to expect from a playground, we are driven to play by a desire to explore. non-prescriptive play, like wave structures abstract enough for sitting, climbing, or becoming an imagined ship or mountain, lets the same place be whatever the players wish to imagine. alex waffle, landscape architect, earthscape play building skateparks for social cohesion. once considered an outlaw activity, skateboarding has become a social fixture across identities, ages, and skill levels, with low barriers to entry as an affordable, self-directed activity. much of this growth started by families seeking energetic outlets close to home, which led cities to start including skateparks in their master plans and recreation strategies. now, the once fringe movement has grown into a city-sanctioned sport with professionally-designed terrain surrounded by seating, shade, lighting, and pathways that connect to the neighbourhood. bill gurney, landscape architect and project lead, new line skateparks activating scenes for unexpected connection. the best-case scenario of social infrastructure is when it compels both friends and strangers to gather and engage in a unique way. these tools help: familiarity prompts (you see a swing, you know how to use it), colour (if a structure stands out, it signals attention and use), and sustainability (repurposing materials that model education and intentional use). then there’s the magic ingredient: people using the space in ways you didn’t expect, and embracing it all the more because of it. coryn kempster and julia jamrozik, artists and designers designing play into public works. not all play happens on the playground. when public works are equipped with play prompts, it stimulates interaction in otherwise barren spaces. less restricted by safety rules as non-formal play areas, parking lots become concert venues, plazas become exhibition spaces, and stormwater ponds become natural swimming pools for public enjoyment. configuring civic infrastructure in this way challenges where play belongs and makes the most of the public space that surrounds us. elise shelley, director of landscape, gh3* transforming voids into public treasures. underpasses and other overlooked infrastructure can feel off-limits, but with the right design cues become places where people want to spend time. invitations are key: public washrooms, comfortable shelter, organized programming, regular promotion, and clear signage all welcome people in (or under). transforming forgotten spaces into welcoming ones is an affordable, high-impact strategy for cities where every square metre counts. ilana altman co-executive director, the bentway resources: + torontosocietyofarchitects.ca/events/doors-open-toronto-2025-architects-talk-spaces-for-play/ + vimeo.com/1088561128/fd992416b0 leaders in agriculture, housing, economics, and policy convened in toronto this spring to discuss advancing policies that benefit the environment and economy.
following are speaker highlights. farming connectivity as climate policy as significant weather events test the resilience of food systems and farming infrastructure, the agriculture sector is growing its appreciation for cybersecurity. the challenge is, a knowledge gap in ag-iot (using technology in farming to monitor and manage crops and livestock) and a reluctance to trust farm-level data with the government, make the path to digital connectivity complicated. still, the technology exists and canadian farmers remain in competition with global peers who are often held to lower standards in supply and distribution. key to digital connectivity, say the speakers, includes: the agri-food sector aligning on principles for sharing data to accurately and publicly disclose quality standards, telcos expanding satellite reach to provide competitive connectivity options, technologists engaging farmers before building products to improve usability; and governments ensuring licensing criteria target last-mile connectivity, ag-iot investment incentives are strong, and climate impact assessments are conducted to support longevity. speakers: * anna kanduth, canadian climate institute * sangeeta lalli, telus agriculture and consumer goods * matthew mendelsohn, social capital partners * scott ross, canadian federation of agriculture indigenous economics as climate policy as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy, the materials needed to build renewable energy systems, like copper and lithium, will come from indigenous land. the challenge is, a duty to consult rights-holders as a “check the box” problem, combined with few equipped to navigate regional sensitivities with knowledge and clarity, slows the ability to work together. still, a profound intergenerational call to care for their members and protect the environment means there is great wisdom in understanding the distinctions within first nations, métis, inuit communities. key to indigenous economic development, say the speakers, includes: bringing diverse community views into broader societal debates; boosting community investing with loan guarantees and other capacity building supports; fostering support through distinctions-based dialogue; and providing equitable ownership, control, and participation in supply chain and project development processes. speakers: * kayli avveduti, confederacy of treaty six * marissa nobauer, telus reconciliation and community relations * jesse mccormick, first nations major projects coalition * matthew foss, canadian council for aboriginal business housing affordability as climate policy as the government sets a target of 3.5 million housing units by 2030, solving the housing puzzle calls for an “all-sectors-on-deck” approach. the challenge is, builders are struggling to meet the demand for affordable, sustainable, and climate-resilient homes. at the same time, rising energy prices and unpredictable weather continue to transform what our future housing needs to be. still, the tools and ideas to build and update our homes and neighbourhoods, resourcefully and at scale, exist. key to sustainable housing, say the speakers, includes building and updating homes for ‘lasting affordability.’ this means helping builders facilitate mutually-beneficial contracts with utility and mortgage providers, making flood maps publicly available to identify where to build, and including transportation, infrastructure, and energy costs in the calculations of a home’s value. speakers: * mike moffatt, place centre * steve mennill, independent consultant * phillip santana, mattamy homes * rachel samson, institute for research on public policy reference: + thewalrus.ca/unexpected-climate-connections + youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbi4iNa8MkNICsRqg22IqTnN2LU3vhsQP scientists, artists, cyberpunks, professors, and architects from the hague, sheffield, new york, denver, toronto, montreal, and singapore met virtually to discuss the complexities of dematerialization.
in a two-part series by designto, dematerialized discusses the process of breaking down our relationship with matter and converting physical experiences into virtual realms—and visa versa. following are speaker highlights. meandering on neo-futurist walks. long walks that begin with a route and end in a chat. neo-futurist walkers drift through cities to study the glitches, gather historic and scientific data, develop the sixth sense, and create new stories. they believe in wild nature’s right to thrive, stimulating collective imagination, and the urgent call to form new habits. “walking is our closest immaterial form of architecture.” —spatial designers aušra česnauskytė and goda verikaitė storing data to propagate wildlife. design interventions that turn parasitic situations into mutualistic ones. by integrating cloud computing (gaming, media, transactions, servers) into earth’s natural patterns, like taking excess heat to desalinate water, green deserts, and protect animals, co-existence in the technological anthropocene possible. “instead of attacking relationships, create new ones.” —multidisciplinary designer justin park defining the self through telco’s past. collective and evolutionary phone identities. redefinition design, a speculative research method, suggests our devices are more traditional than we think. drawing on lessons from the historic, telco-disrupting carterfone, what if our devices reflected our uniqueness, connectedness, and stages through life? “can we step beyond the system of the international mobile subscriber identity (ismi)?” —interdisciplinary research professor austin houldsworth seeding the sky with poetry. a return to cloud-seeding experiments to geoengineer climate mitigation—and maybe rethink our interactions with the sky. put on hold after military use intensified geopolitical risks, renewing exploration of cloud-making bacteria and technology could look like embedding its DNA, and our skies, with literature and music. “the most valiant motivation of science and art is that of discovery.” —ecologist and research professor joel ong pixelating the five (plus) senses. sensations capable of 0 and 1 translation. while digitization offers an infinite number of outputs like the analog world, we can’t yet broadcast all a pixel can do—or pixelate all we can sense. because few senses are measurable with quantifiable data, the sensory experience remains exclusively analog, for now. “our worlds are made up of what we can sense.” —artist and research professor lynne heller getting serious about archiving. archives in the era of ‘mnemophagy,’ or of devouring memory. the walls of the web are mutable, with (often shock) interface changes, purgeable content, and changing terms of service. with platforms a repository of artifacts for 21st century life, a loss of the era’s lore would mean a future based on pre-digital history. “forget what you’ve lost and save what you can.” —cyberethnographer and professor ruby thélot reading the particulate signals. material representation based on inherent logic, not outward appearance. by ‘rehearsing’ with materials and zooming on the behaviour of substance, we can understand how it’s held up, manipulated, and formed. computation allows us to think through time, gravity, energy, and geometry to understand our activities. “how do we draw and represent the immaterial?” —architect and practice owner alex yueyan actualizing what’s imagined in cyberspace. ‘machinima’ or making movies in virtual realms to tell stories and conceive futures. with customizability to make avatars, live in improbable spaces, and time travel to historic events, immaterial places are a medium to explore our heritage, experiment with our imagination, and practice bringing new ideas into the physical. “making them in real life is realizing the imaginary.” —cyberpunk and multimedia artist skawennati reference: + designto.org/event/designto-talks-dematerialized danish builders and other european participants in emerging tech convened in copenhagen to discuss the future of decentralized web and distributed ledgers.
organized by the nordic blockchain association, the two-day event was backdropped by the immaculate urban planning of copenhagen, raising the question: is the nordics in the best position to showcase the transformative power of “new internet” to the world? following are conference highlights. owning internet europe lost the web2 battle (social media, online shopping) due to lack of investment. it did not build and then became a secondary market to american builders. unlike web1, which was read only, and web2, which was read and write, web3 is about reading, writing, and owning. this makes europe well-suited to lead an ownership-focused internet because of intrinsic value alignment: prioritizing governance and protecting individual freedom. comments by armin zadakbar, president of the european web3 organization governing paradox challenges in emerging tech are not technical issues but governance issues. from sourcing materials and delivering healthcare to managing refugees, processing payments, and powering energy grids, the concept of “digital privacy for the sake of social good” is contentious and debated. jurisdictions around the world hold deep and divergent beliefs around how to manage personal information. mediating these differences is key to unleashing their full potential. comments by andreas holbak espersen, brian christensen, simon ousager engaging fans giving governance control to fans via blockchain infrastructure has drawbacks. fans have emotional connections to athletes and entertainers and may not bring a context certain situations require. involving fans in some decisions but focusing on using the tech to create intimate fan experiences is more sustainable. comments by juan fuentes fernández, luis ferreira, michael jeppesen, lars-erik ravn, elgin kim. negotiating innovation few european startups go global, typically. with the lines of crypto governance blurred in the us while mena regulation merges with eu practices, this may change with emerging technologies. notably, while us-led negotiations are typically driven by contracts, the common negotiating practice in the eu and mena is conversation. comments by yulin liu, samuel arvidsson, andreas baand larsen, bugge holm hansen evolving crypto crypto adoption is highest in africa because there’s an immediate need for simplified transactions, where the amount of choice and level of confusion in western countries is slowing down adoption. at the same time, if no one were to challenge or provoke regulators, the industry wouldn’t progress or be clarified. comments by caner sevinc, tony evans, marius smith, adrian larsen, erina penkovsky powering lifestyle a shared challenge in the nordic startup ecosystem is the gap between those with funds and those with ideas focused on leveraging emerging technology to maintain a lifestyle as the primary incentive. this is in opposition to the conventional view of building tech infrastructure, products, and services for generating wealth as the primary incentive. comments by morten rongaard issuing identification an evolution of the non-fungible token (nft), a soul-bound token (sbt) cannot be transferred. with this protocol, the entity or individual issuing the document, the issuer, holds the key. this concept is said to be the future of identification and recognition for critical documents such as for degrees, certificates, licences, subscriptions, finances, and travel. the question is: who should be the issuer? should it be the government, banks, tech, or teco? the easy answer is government. most likely, it has to be everything. comments by nizzar ben chekroune, sander gansen, hanne shapiro, jake hirsch-allen, raido saar, armin zadakbar, frank poncelet reference: + https://www.nordicblockchain.com/ on september 23, legal advisors and corporate directors convened virtually to discuss new standards and best practices in climate-related oversight.
following are speaker highlights. re. standards. the international sustainability standards board (issb)'s inaugural standards were issued june 2023 and come into effect january 2024 for the 2025 reporting period. choose standards based on principles and values (to be debated and established between board and management) and set systems in place now. re. liability. boards can mitigate risk of director liability by aiming for a transparent, authentic sustainability reporting strategy and being esg literate. litigation risk, class actions, shareholder activism are increasing and boards must be prepared. re. oversight. map out climate oversight responsibilities for board and committees: who is responsible for what, how is it being evaluated, how much time is being allocated to understand and substantiate climate risks and opportunities? standards are evolving and duty of care is expanding: are oversight processes evolving and expanding too? re. reporting. identify and explain the factors that will get you there and the factors that will not. ensure esg reporting is fact-based and avoids unattainable future performance or targets to avoid litigation risk. in capital markets, reporting on value creation is as important as reporting on risk mitigation. re. communications. discern what to share and what not to share, and why, to level set stakeholder expectations. if the organization’s journey is not publicly documented, it's a missed marketing opportunity. communication needs to be consistent and updated continuously. re. offsets. there is a lot of conflicting advice on carbon offsets, with standards frequently established and updated. generally, most companies are reducing carbon emissions as much as possible and using offsets only for those that they cannot reduce. insurance. review and understand insurance cover related to weather events. do not make any assumptions. companies should be talking to energy distributors to understand what plans they have in place: understand their disaster management plans to develop your own disaster management plan. seminar participants: * andrew mclaughlin, major drilling group international * joan hertz, atb financial * patricia koval, transmountain corp * sharon singh, bennett jones references: + https://www.icd.ca/education/icd-national-webinars/navigating-climate-governance-legal-update-for-directors + https://www.ifrs.org/content/dam/ifrs/project/general-sustainability-related-disclosures/project-summary.pdf on march 7, industrial designers, professors, architects, and startup founders met virtually to share use cases on designing for alternative economies.
in a two-part series by designto, sustainable futures reviews contemporary issues, research, and creation from the perspectives of 'do it yourself' and 'circular systems' to achieve the above at scale. following are speaker highlights. conducting speculative design, a practice of forming an image around a future scenario, is a means of questioning prevailing agendas in commerce and stimulating debate with the help of a visible reference point. industrial designer and public artist, khalil jamal bringing people together to teach and learn lost skills, like mending and repairing, is a way of performing quiet activism in opposition to rampant consumption while building self-agency. textile designer and lecturer, anna schlimm taking material creations into public spaces and letting others add to it can activate others to get involved in an issue because art has a way of visualizing what's intangible to most people. multidisciplinary artist and gardener, melanie billark partnering with spacious, high-traffic spaces like malls make it possible to gather frequently discarded materials and create products to sell to the public. designing on-site can drive awareness to passersby and local residents to get involved. industrial designer and founder, renee lee adapting construction waste like metal and glass and preserving organic material like stone and wood from demolition projects to furnish public spaces. creating a network of shipping operators, recycling facilities, material makers, and governments can scale this practice beyond one community. architect and creative director, anna horváth solving the plastic waste situation may not be as simple as not using the material. plastic is durable, long lasting, low cost, and easy to produce. instead, we can eliminate the use of non-recyclable plastic, minimize the practice of single use, and view end-of-use plastic as a resource. industrial design researcher, tnachon benjapipatkul references: + https://designto.org/event/sustainable-futures-part-1-diy/ + https://designto.org/event/sustainable-futures-part-2-circular-systems/ from january 25 to 27, builders, investors, and advisors in web 3 met in miami to discuss sector developments and next steps for bridging blockchain infrastructure to mainstream industries.
following are highlights from quantum miami on-site panels and off-site meetups. space and web 3 are the most promising, if polarizing, sectors of our time. together, they can incentivize the exploring of new frontiers because web 3 tools have the capacity to validate and monetize original research, to the benefit of contributors. notably, this includes the protection and cultivation of water, food, energy, and healthy habitats. proponents include: sean graham, dionna bailey, ryan blowers, scot bryson, jim thomas crosschain interactions—the communication between blockchain databases—are challenging to build and currently risky. but, they are also the future for achieving interoperability (reliable data exchange between networks) and decentralization (data ownership by users vs a central governing force) together. community moderation and regulatory frameworks can mitigate abuse and misuse, but the "how-to" remains up for debate. builders include: polygon labs, sushi, thor chain, ledgerama, giddy, edge, fantom foundation, tacen women in (technical) leadership make companies more productive. the gap between them and technical teams remains wide. talent exists, but it's being cultivated outside traditional learning, such as through self-teaching, mentorship, and independent courses. bridgers include: justyna osowska, erin gee, petal walker, cleve mesidor giving digital asset ownership to users, the big nft idea, is a power-to-the-people creative utility. this is why brands who have been testing it as an advertising tool aren't seeing value. in web 3, community uplifts the brand and what gets uplifted is radical authenticity. participants include: lauren halstead, jessica ragzy, evan luthra, samuel verreault, scarlett arana. securing capital as a founder means translating code into utility by pitching ideas without buzzwords. Investors look for calmness in a founder, their treatment of others, their hiring of staff and advisor expertise, and the way headquarters is talked about, where it is located, and why. investors include: nine realms, elaine kunda, maja vujinovic getting practical use cases into the public domain seems to be the consensus for what's next. mainstream adoption may not look like retrofitting products into fortune 500 infrastructure, however. instead, builders of web 3 would like to let market participants (users and investors) decide what’s valuable, and how to use it, in order to achieve utility and scale web 3 organically. explainers include: blockbytes, cointelegraph, growic, the block |