Cover Story
20 ideas for a better world
by Ruth Laugesen & David Lomas
Imaginative New Zealanders share their ideas on how to make the world a better place.
Christmas is traditionally a time of possibility and fresh hope. So, what more appropriate time to ask how we can make the world – or New Zealand – a better place? There are the obvious ones. Eradicate poverty and war. Get rid of those annoying little stickers on fruit. Wave a magic wand, and allow us to understand other languages. We can agree these would make the world a better place. (Although there are some surprising hold-outs on the issue of stickers on fruit.) But what else could we do?
How about a revolutionary form of transport that’s easy on the environment? Christchurch inventor Grant Ryan has done what might once have seemed impossible – improved the -bicycle. His electric bike – the YikeBike – costs just 5c a day to power, glides through traffic jams at 20km/h, and folds up into a compact package that can be carried into the house or office and recharged using an ordinary power socket. Live too far out of town to commute by bike? Yike to the bus stop, train station or ferry, fold it up and carry it aboard, then unfold it and yike to the office.
Time lists the YikeBike (see above) as one of the 50 top inventions of 2009. Long term, Ryan tells the Listener, it will be cheaper than an ordinary bike. “Our big hairy goal – which is so crazy as to be laughable – is to create something that could be the most commonly owned transport device in the world. Bikes are it at the moment, but you can’t take them on the train. People live in tiny apartments – if you visit someone in the UK or Europe you trip over bikes – and there are issues with parking. So if you can make it cheaper, smaller, easier to charge, it becomes very viable, and it’s a way of amplifying the usefulness of public transport and getting around congested cities.”
Hawke’s Bay fisherman Rick Burch is doing for the humble fishing net what Ryan has done for the bicycle – taken a prosaic and seemingly unimprovable design and made it much better. In wanting to lift his boat’s fuel efficiency, Burch started making nets that eliminated the wire and steel chain used around the edge of nets and to connect them to the boat. He replaced it with ultra-light, super-strong rope. And he was trying to reduce the drag on his vessel when he changed the mesh of his fishing net from the traditional diamond shape to a square shape.
From these innovations, Burch has got much more than he bargained for. His fuel use dropped 25%, and the modified mesh design has massively reduced his bycatch of small and juvenile fish. And because the whole apparatus is lighter, it doesn’t tear up the ocean floor like traditional nets. Burch, who has fished all over the world since 1967, says: “We have to try to improve the way we treat the ocean. I don’t think you can hold your head up and make too many statements unless you make some effort to tidy your act up.”
Burch’s innovation fits closely with Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s “idea” for a better world as published in New Scientist (see box, page 28). From the practical to the philosophical, New Zealanders are full of ideas to improve the world.
We asked a wide variety of imaginative Kiwis to propose one suggestion each on a change for the better and tell us why. Many focused on the environment. Two put forward alternative views on how to solve the Palestinian/Israel issue. Others called for a change on a personal level. All were thought-provoking.
As former US president John F Kennedy said: “A man may die, nations may rise and fall but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance …”
1. Expand your mind
Professor Richard Faull, director, Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland
One of the most exciting scientific discoveries of recent times is the finding that the adult human brain contains stem cells that can generate new brain cells throughout our life. This is revolutionary, with far-reaching implications for expanding our mind. Animal studies have unequivocally shown that stimulating environments and exercise increase the number of new brain cells. It follows then that we can generate new brain cells and expand our mind through mental and intellectual stimulation – reading, thinking, creating, doing cryptic crosswords, Sudoku, chess – and exercise. The idea that our brain inevitably shrinks with ageing is a myth that exists only in our minds. Keep your mind active and engage in a stimulating and challenging life, and stay fit – these are the vital ingredients for expanding your mind.
2. Power your house with house paint
John Watt, MacDiarmid young scientist of the year 2009
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