4 things a week: Move over America
1. World
The unlikely consequences of banning one Chinese app has caused over 1 million Americans to download another Chinese. Very similar to TikTok and Instagram, Rednote is a reel based video sharing platform that has 300 million monthly users, the vast majority of which are Chinese. Americans have been signing up and sharing their stories with the hashtag #tiktokrefugee to a whole new audience on the other side of the world. And of course - seeing into the lives of those living in China.
On a call with a Far East supplier this week the team were super excited by what’s happening, loving that there was suddenly so many Westerners using their Chinese app and really enjoying watching the interactions unfold. Fortunately there is a useful translate button, although interestingly the number of people seeking out Mandarin on Duolingo has soared. Not wanting to miss out, I also downloaded Rednote and was genuinely surprised by some of the videos. Americans feeling like they had found a safe space on the internet and had felt so welcomed, people commenting on how they had learned so much by reading the comments on posts and how it had broken down their assumptions about the Chinese people.
OK, it's not going to last. With the ban on Tiktok postponed many Americans will be moving back to the app, but at least for a moment, over a million people from two nations so often at odds, found a space to connect, share and learn from each other. I think that's pretty special.
2. Innovation
With Trump making it abundantly clear what America’s stance is on climate change this week, eyes should now be on China for new climate tech innovations. In fact, the should have been on China anyway. They have been leading the way in the development of solar panels, batteries and electric cars for years. What they need to work on however is de-carbonising manufacture, especially as their steel industry makes as much of the metal as the rest of the world combined. To do this there seems to be a couple of options on the table: address the emissions with carbon capture, or reduce the emissions in the first place by using a different energy source. When it comes to the former Chinese scientists have filed three times as many patents in carbon capture and storage (CCS) methods to date as their American counterparts, so it’ll be interesting to see what comes of this. When it comes to energy; hydrogen seems the best bet.
Obviously there is still the issue of where the hydrogen comes from, but if you have a big windy, sunny region (say Mongolia), the worlds cheapest electrolysers (which can split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen) and a workforce that can build infrastructure faster than anywhere else in the world to transfer that hydrogen into cities… well it might not be too long before the plan to make Shenzhen the ‘hydrogen capital’ of the world is realised. With this year set to be the year that Chinese carbon emissions stop rising and start to fall, there is much work to do, but at least something to be hopeful for. Especially when you realise that China alone counts for 35% of global CO2 emissions.
3. Morrama
We are working on something exciting behind the scenes to celebrate our 10th anniversary and it’s got me going back through the archives. I thought I would share with you the very first project I worked on at Morrama that went to market. It’s a suitcase, with a compression feature in it. [Which was pretty cool and I’m surprised isn’t in more suitcases because it worked like a dream]. Having launched on Kickstarter and raising almost $0.5m, I worked on it with the team for almost a year getting it to market.
Looking back with the knowledge I have now though, I would do so many things differently. It was such a mix of materials, all riveted together with zero consideration for end-of-life. The fact that it was a soft-side suitcase (not my choice) made the construction horrendously complex and I spent months out in China making it work. To top it all off, we went with a soft-touch finish on the handle. What were we thinking! The fact that the company went bust after a year probably did the planet a favour.
But do you know what, I don’t look at this project as something to be swept under that carpet to pretend it never existed. It makes me realise how far we’ve come as a business when it comes to understanding, prioritising and educating our clients on sustainable design. Plus, it taught me some invaluable lessons on design for manufacture that I could never have learnt in a book.
4. Inspiration
Some good news: Thailands marriage equality law came into force this week, meaning that all couples, regardless of their gender identity and sexual orientation, have equal access to marriage and legal recognition, and benefits. This makes them only the third country in Asia, after Taiwan and Nepal to legalise same-sex marriages, but here’s hoping others follow suit. Maybe India, so I can set up an office in Mumbai and move my family over there where it's warm…
