Before air conditioning: Can we learn from passive cooling?
Once upon a time, let’s call it BAC (before air conditioning), we kept our homes cool in the summer without electricity. Even in the desert. Nowadays we can’t imagine life without air conditioning. Despite its electricity bills and links to poor health and, ironically, to global warming. From Indian skywells to Middle Eastern windcatchers: Can we learn from ancient methods of passive cooling?
The meaning of work: Can we change old beliefs? It seems we can.
What is the meaning of work? We used to think it was just about a salary. That work was there to give a life direction or personal identity. We called it a 9 to 5 rat race and were proud of it. But today, the meaning of work is more about corporate social responsibility and doing meaningful work. A shift not many people would have considered possible a few years ago. Are our perspectives less ”fixed” than we think, and is work showing us this?