Charmaine is a Toronto-born writer based in Berlin. Her work appears in publications including Newsweek, Dazed, Another, Atmos and Mono.Kultur. She is the founder of Oneiric.Space, a research platform exploring how dreams intertwine with our waking lives and futures.
Lush fruit trees bursting over a roof. A canopy of plants covering a facade. Intricate bamboo constructions spiraling from floor to ceiling. These are just some of the many inventive design approaches of Vietnamese architect Võ Trọng Nghĩa, best known for melding nature with architecture to minimize pollution and instill a sense of calm. In a new two-volume book, Võ Trọng Nghĩa: Building Nature (Thames & Hudson), readers get an inside look into how the celebrated architect has embraced two core themes throughout his career: “green” architecture and bamboo as a building material.
Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs (one-of-a-kind digital assets created using blockchain technology), have divided the art world: Some, like the artist Kenny Schachter (who speaks about the medium on Ep. 59 of our Time Sensitive podcast), see them as pathways to a promising future, while others express concern around the sky-high price points and carbon emissions they generate.
A sobering 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization laid out the striking impacts industrial animal agriculture has on people and the planet. In addition to the financial cost of its water and land use, and the potential for pathogens to flourish in feedlots, the practice puts out around 14 percent of global civilization’s greenhouse gases every year—more than that of cars and trucks combined.
