10th Grade Extended Research Project (ERP): 9 - Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure

In this illustrated volume, Steven Johnson explores the history of innovation over centuries, tracing facets of modern life (refrigeration, clocks, and eyeglass lenses, to name a few) from their creation by hobbyists, amateurs, and entrepreneurs to their unintended historical consequences. Filled with stories of accidental genius and brilliant mistakes--from the French publisher who invented the phonograph before Edison but forgot to include playback, to the Hollywood movie star who helped invent the technology behind Wi-Fi and Bluetooth--'How We Got to Now' investigates the secret history behind the everyday objects of contemporary life.

Johnson examines unexpected connections between seemingly unrelated fields: how the invention of air-conditioning enabled the largest migration of human beings in the history of the species--to cities such as Dubai or Phoenix, which would otherwise be virtually uninhabitab≤ how pendulum clocks helped trigger the industrial revolution; and how clean water made it possible to manufacture computer chips. A a new look at the power and legacy of great ideas. AVAILABLE: WSA Library and Kitsap Regional Library

Intended for the general reader, this accessible book explores how algae influence human life and what role they may play in the future. Kassinger’s loose style shifts from the origins of life on Earth and the role of seaweed in the evolution of our species to modern seaweed farmers in South Korea, scientists using algae to clean dead zones in waterways and others using algae to solve urgent energy problems, and entrepreneurs developing algae fuel and plastics. An appendix provides recipes for incorporating algae in the diet. AVAILABLE: WSA Library and Kitsap Regional Library

A manifesto for a radically different philosophy and practice of manufacture and environmentalism.

"Reduce, reuse, recycle" urge environmentalists; in other words, do more with less in order to minimize damage. But as this provocative, visionary book argues, this approach perpetuates a one-way, "cradle to grave" manufacturing model that dates to the Industrial Revolution and casts off as much as 90 percent of the materials it uses as waste, much of it toxic. Why not challenge the notion that human industry must inevitably damage the natural world?

In fact, why not take nature itself as our model? A tree produces thousands of blossoms in order to create another tree, yet we do not consider its abundance wasteful but safe, beautiful, and highly effective; hence, "waste equals food" is the first principle the book sets forth. Products might be designed so that, after their useful life, they provide nourishment for something new-either as "biological nutrients" that safely re-enter the environment or as "technical nutrients" that circulate within closed-loop industrial cycles, without being "downcycled" into low-grade uses (as most "recyclables" now are).

Elaborating their principles from experience (re)designing everything from carpeting to corporate campuses, William McDonough and Michael Braungart make an exciting and viable case for change. AVAILABLE: WSA Library, Kitsap Regional Library and Ms. Garvin's classroom

William McDonough and Michael Braungart envision the next step in human society and offer a plan to think beyond sustainability to solve our ecological crisis: We don't just use or reuse and recycle resources with greater effectiveness, we actually improve the natural world as we live, create, and build.

For McDonough and Braungart, the questions of resource scarcity and sustainability are questions of design. They envision beneficial designs of products, buildings, and business practices--and they show us these ideas being put to use around the world as everyday objects like chairs, cars, and factories are being reimagined not just to sustain life on the planet but to grow it.

McDonough and Braungart want to turn on its head our very understanding of the human role on earth: Instead of protecting the planet from human impact, why not redesign our activity to improve the environment? We can have a beneficial, sustainable footprint. Abundance for all. AVAILABLE: WSA Library