![\"The](\"http:\/\/landartgenerator.org\/blagi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/ThePipe1.png\")
<\/p>\nWe need it to bake our bread,\u00a0to refrigerate our medicine,\u00a0and to\u00a0light up the night\u00a0after sundown. But dominant sources of fuel used to power global contemporary life are killing us \u2014 and not\u00a0just metaphorically. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way.<\/p>\n
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Taking\u00a0a big picture\u00a0view of energy production, the\u00a0Healthy Energy Initiative\u00a0details\u00a0numerous ways our existing paradigm\u00a0destroys\u00a0environmental and human health.\u00a0In\u00a0their report\u00a0The Health Impacts of Energy Choices (PDF link),<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>the group writes,\u00a0“<\/em>From mining to transport, and combustion to waste disposal, the lifecycle of fossil fuel production pollutes the environment and exacts a toll on population health and the political and economic stability of entire nations. Because pollutants can be transported through the air, water, and soil, fossil fuels [sic] pollutants may be distributed well beyond their point of origin.”<\/p>\n Air pollution\u00a0is\u00a0perhaps the best understood\u00a0byproduct of fossil fuel combustion. A study published in the journal\u00a0Nature<\/em><\/a>\u00a0found that global air pollution in 2007 alone\u00a0contributed to the early deaths of 3.45 million people. That’s 3.45 million brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles. And of course we can’t forget that\u00a0resulting\u00a0greenhouse gas emissions\u00a0are\u00a0blowing up the giant heat-trapping blanket in our atmosphere that drives planetary warming. Depressing, right? Well, it needn’t be, because we<\/em> have the power<\/em> to\u00a0design a\u00a0far more appealing\u00a0reality.<\/p>\n Through its biennial design competition<\/a>, which invites artists, architects, designers, landscape architects and others to imagine site-specific\u00a0works of public art that also generate clean energy, the\u00a0Land Art Generator Initiative\u00a0has collected at least 800\u00a0examples of energy generators\u00a0that\u00a0could contribute to a healthier future. Going beyond\u00a0the kilowatt hour,\u00a0LAGI strives for\u00a0an\u00a0energy renaissance that evokes imagination\u00a0and creativity<\/a>. With\u00a0these regenerative designs,\u00a0we can give\u00a0global ecosystems a well-deserved rest from our extractive mania, improve our physical health and boost our collective\u00a0psychological\u00a0well-being.<\/p>\n Colin Ellard<\/a> is a neuroscientist who\u00a0observes\u00a0the impact of\u00a0urban design\u00a0on human psychology.\u00a0In an essay for Aeon called\u00a0<\/a>Streets with no game,\u00a0<\/em>Ellard demonstrates how “boring cityscapes increase sadness, addiction and disease-related stress.” In Psychology Today<\/a>, he writes about a simple urban intervention in Toronto \u2014 the temporary\u00a0artistic beautification\u00a0of a run-down construction site \u2014 which\u00a0slowed the pace of urban\u00a0walkers by roughly half.\u00a0 He writes, “This simple experiment and its convincing result shows the great power of public art to influence how we move, think and feel in city environments. If such a clear result can be obtained for a fence surrounding a field of poison gravel, then what are the greater possibilities for enhancing city life through thoughtful treatment of the facades, building skins, and walkways that we use as we move about the city?”<\/p>\n Likewise, what if we replace\u00a0sooty smoke stacks with Solar Hourglasses? Designed by\u00a0Santiago Muros Cort\u00e9s<\/a>, this more creative approach to energy generation, equipped with concentrated solar panels,\u00a0has an annual capacity of\u00a07,500MWh.\u00a0Or, since water scarcity is a real and prevalent problem that gives us\u00a0no choice but to expend energy to convert salty water into something we can consume, we could\u00a0substitute\u00a0dull concrete desalination plants with gleaming Pipes<\/a>.\u00a0Khalili Engineers from Vancouver envisions using photovoltaic panels and electromagnetic desalination\u00a0to generate 4.5 billion liters of drinking water each year, while adorning\u00a0the cityscape with a gorgeous work of art. These are just two designs that envisage a healthier, more aesthetically-pleasing future.<\/p>\n Here’s the thing: we know that even renewables<\/a> have an environmental impact. If nothing else, they\u00a0require materials to produce. But, as my stepmother is fond of saying, there’s no such thing in (human) life as perfection. There are only degrees of imperfection.\u00a0Our greatest hope as a species\u00a0is to edge\u00a0as close to perfection as we possibly can, and we’re already seeing signs of an encouraging shift.\u00a0In 2002,\u00a0William McDonough & Michael Braungart\u00a0stunned the world with a concept so at odds with our consumer culture it seemed almost inconceivable: the idea that human growth\u00a0need not be so darn destructive. Their book, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things<\/em>,\u00a0describes the possibility of<\/a>\u00a0“economies that purify air, land, and water, that rely on current solar income and generate no toxic waste, that use safe, healthful materials that replenish the earth or can be perpetually recycled, and that yield benefits that enhance all life.”<\/p>\n Now, in 2018, such a reality is increasingly\u00a0within reach as dozens of products and materials have been C2C-certified<\/a>. The non-profit Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute calls it the next industrial revolution. Surely, as time goes on, we can\u00a0apply such innovations to global energy infrastructure,\u00a0catalyzing a new aesthetically-bold era that\u00a0revives\u00a0both body and mind.<\/p>\n Featured projects:<\/p>\n![\"The](\"http:\/\/landartgenerator.org\/blagi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Hourglass11.png\")
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<\/p>\n![\"The](\"http:\/\/landartgenerator.org\/blagi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/ThePipe3.png\")
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