Getting Started: Sustainability

To kick off our semester, we explored scientific methods and issues relating to sustainability in the SustainLab. As a theoretical object, we dealt with a bicycle helmet made of EPS. From the cradle to the grave. We explored the following aspects and methods in greater depth:

Life cycle inventory
Quantification and compilation of inputs and outputs of a product in its life cycle.

Environmental impact 
Direct and indirect effects on the environment. These could be chemicals in waste water and transportation routes that cause noise pollution.

End-of-life 
What happens to the helmet / product after its use? Is it recycled for materials or energy, landfilled, reused or biodegraded?

R-Strategies 
Refuse, Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Repair…
Repurpose a bicycle helmet as a hamster swing? Or what if we could do without helmets altogether? Cycling bubbles, in which you can move safely from A to B, replace them.

Sustainable Development Goals 
The SDGs are 17 global goals designed to promote sustainability for people and the planet. What impetus do they give us in the project? 
We could imagine that, as a preventative measure, health insurance companies could provide free helmets in order to offer safety regardless of income.