Coolhunt 2 HM – Road to the future
What is it?
Air pollution is a big problem in the word. Exhaust gases from cars are one of the causes. When noxious subastances (pollutants) have fallen into air, water or soil (land), it’s very hard to get these substances away. Smog from the exhaust gases can cause major health problems.
I read an article at a Dutch news site – Nos.nl – about the smog problems in China.
They were telling that a lot of prosperous Chinese leave China and go to live somewhere else because of the thick smog that hangs over many cities.
And also in the Netherlands there is to find a lot of Smog. In the Netherlands people use the car more often than before. Trough the extensive use of cars, the roads in Holland become overcrowded and there often arise files. Even for short distances people are taking the car now.
Around the world, they have been thinking about new possibilities and they are inventing new things. This ensures that the world will change, and look differently, in the future.
I am going to show you 3 signals which show us that.
The first one:
‘Fietsklik‘ (Bike Click) makes sure that you are going to take your bike faster (quicker).
We already have seen a lot of crates which you can put on the front or at the back of a bike, but they never fit well on the bike and are not easy to take on and off, lock on your bike, or to take with you during shopping.
It’s even a lot of work to change the crate into a childseat, so a lot of people take the car when they have to pick up their child or are going to the supermarket.
Grocery shopping will become easier with the ‘fietsklik’. You don’t have to put your groceries in a shopping cart or basket when you have payed and to put them after that in your car or in your panniers.
It’s easy to take the ‘fietsklik’ inside the grocery store, it has wheels and extandable handles, and now you can roll your groceries trough the store. For the men you can even put a beer crate in it!
At this moment they are at the prototyping stages of the childseat. ”When it’s finished, the parent can bike to school, pick up their child, put them on the bike an ride back home and if they want to do their groceries afterwards they only have to exhance the child seat with a simple click, pick it off and put the crate on it. The system is multifunctional and so you don’t need the car anymore” (youtube).
Another invention is ‘zipcar’.
You sign up online, you type in the date or time, you can look up cars, based on locations and ones it’s reserved, walk over the car and open it up. The key is right in the car and you’re off and driving. At the website or the mobile app you can see which cars are available. They have all sorts of cars for a variety of purposes.
The ‘zipcar’ is very useful because it’s only there when you need it and you don’t have to worry about the extra costs for the car.
Because of the ‘fietsklik’ you don’t need the car very often and the zipcar makes it easier to don’t have a car.
And last but not least, they invented a car seat which inflates in 40 seconds, a new concept which Volvo revealed. Because it’s inflatable it fits in a bag what will make it easier to take it with you en you don’t have to use your own car for the normal heavy child seat which is made of metal and plastic.
These inflatable childseats are simple to use in the ‘zip car’ and so even with a child they don’t need their own car.
Why is it cool?
At this moment we’re using to much energie and fossil fuels. Because of the car more nuxious substances come free and more people will become ill.
The Co2 emissions also have a lot of impact on the global warming. Co2 arises upon the combustion of fossil fluels, like coals, oil or gas. Trough global warming the earth heats slowly. Due to the warming of the oceans, the polar ice caps will melt, causing the water level that rises. The consequences are clear: low- lying areas will be flooded. Holland is a low- lying country, he west coast will end up flooded/ swamped if no measures are taken.
So I think that it’s very important to try counter all of this. The three signals in this blog are a good example of it. They make it easier for people to change their daily routines.
Future growth potential
In the next few years the global warming will still increase and we really don’t want a part of Holland having flooded or a lot of natural disasters occurring.
In the future the number of cars has dicreased and also in other countries they are cycling more often. In mountain areas they invented new things, like bike lifts or other transportations. Holland will make good economic advances because all around the world they want the dutch bikes and want to know which cycle paths works the best.
QOL
These signals also have an impact on our quality of life.
Within the category ‘material wellbeing‘ it has something to do with security/ safety. People want to feel safely and don’t want to worry about natural disasters or that a part of the land has to stop existing.
This also has to do with living, being able to retain your own home or possessions, not having your own car anymore, but how can you personalize for instance the zip car?
It also relates with transport. Everyone is trying to get from A to B in different ways, people should have to be flexibel in it because it effects health and the environment.
In the categorie physical wellbeing it has to do with personal safety. Trough natural disasters a lot of people are losing their lives or get injured. But also, because of the toxins people will get sick and so it also belows to people’s health.
It also has a bit of social wellbeing as well at the parts social involvement and activities. To undertake things which are not in the neighbourhood you need transportation. You don’t want to be hindered at doing activities and with social involvement it’s important for you that everyone can live without natural disasters or a poor health.
Thanks for reading!
Links:
– http://freshgadgets.nl/fietsklik-briljante-fietsaccessoires-van-nederlandse-bodem
– http://www.fastcodesign.com/3029010/volvos-new-child-car-seat-inflates-in-40-seconds
– http://www.zipcar.com
– http://nos.nl/artikel/616699-smog-jaagt-chinezen-weg.html
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