Chinese youth choose health, education as most important life quality factors

Chinese youth rank health, education as most important life quality factors

Throughout November and December of last year, we collaborated with enovate to gather insights into the minds of China’s socially aware, progressive youth. This was the first nation-wide survey of youth attitudes towards environmental issues and awareness!

Through an online survey of over 400 students and young employees from around China, as well as in-depth interviews in Shanghai, Greennovate and enovate sought to discover what defines a modern quality of life for Chinese youth in 2010, as well as attitudes and perceptions towards green products and brands.

So what were the findings? Put in short, Chinese youth have indicated a desire for a healthier, more environmentally-conscious lifestyle, and have demanded that green brands prove their “greenism” through products – not just marketing!

Special thanks to the Shanghai youth-insights group enovate for all their help!

Click here to see the detailed results!

Visiting the Plastiki!

February 7, 2010

Mihela poses with David and Renée in front of the Plastiki, SF Bay

Mihela poses with David and Renée in front of the Plastiki in SF Bay

The inspiration for MaGiC – showcased as an adventure on the MaGiC Tour and our Chinese blogs to inspire MaGiC participants – is in the water! 12,000 plastic bottles were used to show cradle-to-cradle, innovative material solutions representing a new approach towards waste and design.

In May 2009, this was just a prototype. Now, the Plastiki is a real boat that will sail from San Francisco to Sydney to expose and record the floating plastic waste and islands of trash in the Pacific Ocean. Our director was there in San Francisco Bay to check out the scene! To see more pictures, click here.

Check out what the Plastiki Expedition is all about at www.theplastiki.com. Congratulations and good luck to David and the crew!

The results are in from the first round of MaGiC Design Competition. These prototypes from Chinese university students impressed us with their creativity, beauty and functionality, and more than anything else, they show a different way of looking at waste – as a resource! Choosing from the many great entries was a challenge, so we brought in our friends from frog Design and Super Nature to help us out. With the talent, dedication and green sense that these young designers have shown, we are thrilled to invite all 5 to join us for MaGiC Experience, a green design internship. So, without further ado, here are the 5 winning prototypes:

1st Place: Chopstick Lamp by Tee

Tee decided she could create a romantic atmosphere out of used disposable chopsticks, some old wire and a CFL bulb. Put it altogether and you have beautiful lamp that casts a mysterious glow while saving trees, aluminum and electricity!

chopstick lamp

2nd Place: Hello Kitty Bag by Kaya Lee

Kaya took a broken umbrella and some old fabric and fashioned them together to make this darling Hello Kitty Bag. Now you don’t need to cry when the wind destroys your favorite umbrella; it can have a stylish new life!

hello kitty bag

3rd Place: Corn-Husk Flowerpot by Emma

What should you do with your corn husks: trash them or compost them? Well, Emma had a better idea: turn them into a cute flowerpot. If you follow this nifty step-by-step guide she included, you can even make your own. Thanks Emma!

corn-husk basket

4th Place: Color-Grid Plant Holder by Cindy, Alison and Carolyn

This design team used packaging and water bottles as the inspiration and materials for their prototype of a Rubix Cubist Flowerpot.

colored-grid flowerpot

5th Place: Jeans Bag by Rachel

Rachel found a way to give her old jeans some new life, in the form of both bag and wallet.

jean bag

Bigger picture of peopleDear MaGiC fans,

I hope you all had a great new year. After a short break, MaGiC is back in action for 2010! Click here to check out what we’ve done in 2009 and what we plan for the year ahead!

Dear MaGiC fans,

As the year comes to a close, we are finalizing our MaGiC activities. But don’t worry, we’ll be back in January with new plans and new fun! We spent great time with some of you at your universities and we are hoping that next year we get even more invitations;)

The MaGiC Survey is finished and we will post the results in early January. We are also in the final stages of the MaGiC Design Competition – stay tuned for the winners at the end of December! If you have any suggestions for next MaGiCal year, please don’t hesitate to send us an email at info@greennovate.net. Thank you!

The Greennovate Team

AIESEC Volunteers present at Green Energy Now Founding Ceremony

November 23, 2009

AIESEC Volunteers Thomas Bley, Calvin Duong, and long-time Greennovate volunteer Winnie Rui presented to 40 students at Shanghai Jincai Middle School, for the opening ceremony of AIESEC’s Green Power Now! Initiative. As part of the initiative, Thomas and Calvin have used our materials and training to present to over 365 students across 6 schools in [...]

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MaGiC Tour Comes to Guangzhou

November 20, 2009

Earlier this week, our MaGiC Team visited 2 Guangzhou universities – South China University of Technology and South China Normal University. We reached out to over 150 students, speaking on our Made GREEN in China Initiative, sustainability issues, and how students can get involved in the transition toward a sustainable China, including reducing their environmental [...]

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MaGiC tour in Guangzhou next week

November 12, 2009

Students, we are having two MaGiC lectures next week in Guangzhou. The first one is on Sunday at 6.30PM at South China University of Technology in High Education Mega Centre. The second lecture is scheduled for Tuesday at 7PM at South China Normal University, Building 1-104. Welcome to join us, for more details about the [...]

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MaGiC video is here!

November 6, 2009

Everyone, Louis Xu did a great job putting this video together, you can watch it here. It’s time for action: become a part of MaGiC with giving us your voice on greenism, apply for MaGiC competition or join our Become a Trainer program! Plenty of opportunities for all kinds of interests. We look forward to [...]

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MaGiC Team to Visit SIVA

November 6, 2009

On November 10th, our MaGiC Team will continue the MaGiC tour and travel to Fu Dan University’s Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, where we will speak on sustainable design and introduce our green design competition. The event will take place at 1:30 pm at SIVA, Building 1, Room 105.

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