Posters (Asynchronous Session)
Consumer Preferences for Labels Disclosing the Use of Neonicotinoid Pesticides View Digital Media
Poster Session Hayk Khachatryan
Despite increasing concerns about the potential negative impacts of neonicotinoid insecticides on pollinator insect health, public attention to this issue is limited. To investigate consumers’ knowledge about and preferences for labeling neonicotinoids, we analyzed the effects of two different pollinator related information treatments (negative and neutral) on U.S. consumers’ preferences for labels disclosing the absence or presence of neonicotinoids. The effects of the information treatments were asymmetric with the negative information treatment having a larger impact on individual choices. In general, information treatments were more effective at influencing participants’ willingness to pay for labels disclosing the absence of neonicotinoids, but less effective for labels disclosing the presence of neonicotinoids. Preexisting knowledge toward neonicotinoids had a significant impact on how individuals responded to product information and thus their choice preferences. Implications for policy makers and industry stakeholders are discussed.
Climate Change in Tabo, Himachal Pradesh, India: Toward Sustainable Development
Poster Session Biren Vora
The paper considers the impact of Climate Change on the Tabo Monastery. The Tabo Monastery is located in the Spiti Valley, in the town of Tabo in Himachal Pradesh, India. The Tabo Monastery has been in existence since 996 AD, and is home to several ancient relics. During a visit to Tabo town, I witnessed a torrential downpour, and wondered as to how such weather was occurring in an area that was essentially a cold desert. Similar incidents were reported in other areas such as Ladakh, which is also located in a cold desert. In addition, I had witnessed the impacts of climate change on treks to Gaumukh and Sandakphu. The common thread across all of them was climate change, and this got me thinking of the need to research the topic. The materials of construction of the Tabo Monastery reflect its ancient culture and the local climatic conditions prevalent during the time of its construction, nearly 1000 years ago. The Monastery is in a deteriorating condition, and this research proposes to look into the aspects of climate change and its impact on the Monastery.
Current State of Sustainability Labeling : An Exploration of How Manufacturers Are Communicating Sustainability Information to Consumers of Packaged Goods View Digital Media
Poster Session Alyssa Harben
A label optimized for communication must garner consumer attention, facilitate understanding of the message being presented and ultimately inspire an appropriate action regarding behavior. For packaging to be disposed of in the least impactful manner, consumers require access to information about package systems on the label as well as accurate disposal options for their region. This is especially important for package systems that have multiple components that would require separation before both or either could be recycled. One labeling strategy to help consumers with sorting and disposing of packaging in the United States is the How2Recycle Label, which includes information about package material and recycling instruction, however it is not universally adopted. This study seeks to benchmark the information content and placement of messaging regarding package composition and disposal is prevalent on food packaging in the United States. To conduct this assessment, inclusion criteria for which product-package systems are surveyed, sampling criteria, and message coding criteria were developed. Then comprehensive data from the Mintel Product Database were gathered to analyze the packaging for thematic trends in the placement and types of package content and disposal messaging.
Evaluation of Physical Properties of Eco-bricks to Use as Retaining walls: Idealization of Models View Digital Media
Poster Session Gabriel Mauricio Camargo Buitrago
As a reusable building block, the ecological plastic bottles (Eco-bricks) are an innovative construction material that can help the environment by giving another use to the plastic wastes. Plastic has many suitable characteristics which include versatility, lightness, hardness, and resistance to chemicals, water, and impact. By analyzing the physical properties of Eco-bricks, this project aims to set up a retaining wall using the ecological plastic bottles as a construction material. A sample of 20 Eco-bricks of two different types was carried out. They were averaged to obtain their respective densities; and the analysis of the bottles will be made by laboratory tests to know the stress and strain behavior. In the same way, using the obtained data to feed a model and simulate the slope stability response, it was found that a clear gabion design must be used, also, that a mixture must be made with a few percentages of rock to achieve the stability of the slope. Considering the quantity of plastic waste, the purpose of this study is to show that recycled material can be used effectively in slope stability and reduce plastic pollution.
Improving Sustainability of Products and Services in Design Projects Developed in Higher Education View Digital Media
Poster Session Anna María Biedermann, José Luis Santolaya Sáenz, Natalia Muñoz López
Current generations are faced with the responsibility of dealing with a global ecological problem capable of determining the future of human societies on our planet. Promoting sustainability means taking into account socio-ethical principles and a model of production and consumption that is economically feasible. Thus, the effective introduction in higher education of practical methods and tools, which can be used by final year students to develop more sustainable projects, is an increasingly important requirement. Most sustainable design studies are focused on the product level and are intended to quantify the sustainability of different alternatives or scenarios with an emphasis on the environmental dimension. In this work, a practical scheme for the development of sustainable design projects of both products and services is proposed. This method is composed of three main phases, makes use of practical indicators to evaluate the environmental, economic, and social impacts, and includes a redesign phase integrating initial specifications and sustainability strategies. Different sustainable design projects (products and services) were carried out as part of the Degree of Engineering of Industrial Design and Product Development at Zaragoza University. The development and results of the experience are revealed.
The Cattle Culture and Symbolic Disputes on the Amazonian Frontier Expansion: A Case Study of Riozinho da Liberdade Protected Area View Digital Media
Poster Session Karla Sessin Dilascio, Charles Borges Rossi
This study contributes to the discussion of the cattle expansion frontier in the legal Amazon, focusing on material-symbolic aspects related to the “cattle culture”. It is well known that cattle rising drivers Amazon forest deforestation throughout land use change, but there is insufficient research that relates cattle culture and its symbolic identification by Amazonian traditional communities and its growing percentage of cattle rising in protected areas and amazon deforestation. For this purpose, the study starts from the economics of symbolic exchanges and theory of practice, by Pierre Bourdieu, aimed to understanding the influence of the “cattle culture” in the symbolic identification of the traditional communities placed in two protected areas in Acre Sate, Brazilian Amazon. Based on Riozinho da Liberdade case study empirical findings as result of four months of participant observation, in living within the communities, and in structured interviews. Results shows that although the Riozinho da Liberdade community maintain pasture and a considerable cattle raising activity as the growing economic importance of the livestock in the area, the cattle culture has not affected their habitus, in contrary to what has been observed in Chico Mendes communities, pointing to the direction that it may be possible that the cattle rising economy is not enough to support a significant land use change toward a high deforestation levels in protected areas. There is still a need for further research regarding the regional's economy and culture influence in habitus maintenance or change in communities that live in protected areas.
Sustainability of Fashion Subscription Services in Japan View Digital Media
Poster Session Hyunyoung Lee, Yasuyo Yoshizawa, Yuka Sakamoto
Unsold clothing and personal hoarding are increasingly serious problems in Japan, and although many unsold items are incinerated, little is being done to recycle them. Fashion subscription services (FSSs) enable users to enjoy fashion as well as contribute to the effective use of resources and reduction in waste. Although FSSs have been considered to be a type of product service systems that contributes to circular economies (CEs), only a few empirical studies have examined their contribution to CEs. This study investigates the contribution of FSSs to CEs by examining the business models of two major companies in Japan that offer FSSs and analyzing FSS users’ consumption patterns when purchasing clothes. In Japan, FSSs help extend a product’s life, share the product, and offer the product as a service to a certain extent. They can thus change the focus of apparel consumption from possession to use; however, considering current practices, it will take time to achieve this goal. For a CE in clothing, the FSS business model must be developed further to change users’ apparel consumption patterns.
The Private Cost of Climate Change on Kenyan Women: The Relationship between Severe Weather Events and Domestic Violence in Kenya View Digital Media
Poster Session Elizabeth Allen, Leso Munala
Climate change-induced crises can aggravate gender-based violence; the loss of income when weather affects the agricultural industry can exacerbate violence at home. In Kenya, 98% of agriculture depends on rainfall. Changing weather patterns challenges farmers in planting and harvesting of crops. The aim of this research is to assess patterns in domestic violence (DV) and severe weather events (SWE) in Kenya. We examined IPUMS-DHS data from 2008, and 2014 (9418 women) for patterns of DV. We used EM-DAT weather event data and GPS coordinates to identify SWEs by county in Kenya. We conducted a logistic regression using a mixed effects model grouped by county to evaluate the association between SEWs and DV. All analyses were controlled for rural/urban residence, husband drinking status, husband working in agriculture. We identified a significant association between SWEs and reporting DV. Having a partner who worked in agriculture increased the odds of reporting domestic violence (OR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.1-1.3). The odds of reporting DV were greater in areas that experienced a major flood (OR = 1.4, 95% CI: 1.3-1.6) and in areas that reported an increase in floods as compared to areas where no floods occurred (OR = 1.6, 95% CI: 1.4-1.9). Climate action is essential in the ongoing fight to eliminate violence against women and girls. This analysis adds to the urgency of addressing action to stop environmental degradation, action to stop gender-based violence, and demonstrate that the two issues often need to be addressed together.
How to Feed the World: The Need to Change Focus and to Break Paradigms in the Production of Nutrients from Animal Sources View Digital Media
Poster Session Marcos Franke Pinto, Laís Celemi, Max José De Araujo Faria Junior, Manoel Garcia Neto, Felipe Ponsano Franke
The similarity of world demographic evolution to a classic microbial growth curve is undeniable. Exactly like any microbe growing in a finite system, the humanity is depleting the Earth's nutrients and suffering the consequences of its own metabolites accumulation. The objective of this work was to diagnose the loss of nutrients that occurs in the production process of animal products - in this case, specifically, eggs. Fitting results from international databases by mathematical models, the behavior of the main nutrients consumed by birds in the feed and nutrients available in the eggs produced were compared using the Practical Modeling Program at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Araçatuba - UNESP. The egg mass produced corresponds to less than half of the feed mass that the bird consumes throughout the production cycle. The protein contained in this egg mass corresponds to one third of the total protein contained in the ration necessary for these eggs production. The metabolizable energy made available in the eggs corresponds to just over one fifth of the metabolizable energy contained in the total feed consumed by the birds. These data demonstrate the need for awareness and change of paradigms in the various sectors of the egg production chain, as well as in other animal foods production systems. Research and development efforts must take this reality into account and realign their goals, aiming to optimize the efficiency of nutrient production processes and minimize the production of undesirable compounds, and, thus, delay the ecosystem imbalance and degradation process.
The Rubber Impact Project: Modern Industrial Skins and Direct Reuse of Inner Tubes View Digital Media
Poster Session Mandana Mac Pherson, Gigi Obrecht
In 2019-2020, The Rubber Impact Project focused on disrupting the bicycle inner tube waste stream in San Francisco. This rhizome-like project took a broad-based approach by collectively harnessing various design drivers—data, technology, products, experiences, systems, and implications—to model needed systemic change. To track waste tubes, we partnered with local bike shops. The research showed San Francisco discards over 100,000 tubes annually. This dead-end material flow goes straight to landfill. Used tubes are modern industrial skins whose flexibility, surface quality, and shape offer unique potential. In the 1980’s our lead designer established waste tubes as a design resource, and today online searches yield numerous upcycling examples. To prototype reuse channels, we supplied samples to California College of the Art's (CCA) Materials Library as their first self-sourced, used raw material. We provided K-5 curriculum for San Francisco Unified School District’s Every Day Earth Day program and tubes to a K-8 school as superior substitutes for chair fidget bands that engage active feet. We distributed rubber to Friends of the Urban Forest, landscapers, and gardeners as an improved method for tying and staking young trees and plants. To encourage collection and reuse in art/design we installed a “material exchange station” at CCA and supplied tubes to Academy of Art University’s School of Fashion. The result is an “opportunity template” that leverages a community’s unique components to facilitate increased sustainability. The project also functions as a gateway for discussing further environmental issues surrounding transportation rubber—ubiquitous globally and a significant contributor to microplastics pollution.
