The Doors Of Perception Conference, 28 Feb-4 Mar

(Disclosure: I work with CKS on projects from time to time. CKS is the Indian partner and organiser of the Doors of Perception Conference.)

The Doors of Perception Conference is an annual event that has been taking place for the last eight years. Every year, the Doors Conference brings together designers, architects, writers, filmmakers, people working in the NGO sector, and most importantly, tech innovators, to talk to each other and about several other things.

Each year, these ‘other things’ are broadly brought under one thematic umbrella. This year, the theme is Juice. The focus of the conference this year is to find ways to re-design and use technology to discuss solutions to the growing crisis concerning food and energy.

Last year I was supposed to do a workshop on Text and Image and I passed that up for what I thought was going to be a good, huge, amazing, superlatively enormous (ya, well, ok) project. Needless to say, the huge amazing project fell through and all the people who might have signed up for a damned good workshop will never know what they missed.

This year, I wasn't asked to do a workshop, because clearly, though I can put some food on the table - edibility guaranteed - I have no gyan to offer on any of the design, architectural, academic etc. possibilities to make the production of it less wasteful and more sustainable.

So, the least I can do is pass on the word to anybody who might be interested in participating.

From the press release:

When an iceberg lettuce is shipped from its US greenhouse to Harvey Nichols Food Hall in London, 127 calories of energy are used in its shipping and merchandising for every one calorie of nutrition that enters your mouth. There are 52 transport and process stages in one bottle of ketchup. The CO2 emissions attributable to producing, processing, packaging and distributing the food consumed by a family of four is about 8 tonnes a year.

The number of food miles has increased by 15% in the ten years to 2002. 19 million tons of CO2 emitted from foods transport in 2002. Household and individual trips to
grocery stores and other food outlets contribute a significant portion to urban transportation volume. San Franciscans made approximately 4 million trips to shop for food and non-food items in 1990 (23% of all trips) about 86%-in private automobiles. Food waste including food packaging makes up close to a third of the total waste that ends up in many city landfills thereby and deprives households and farmers of a valuable organic fertilizer. City water pollution problems are exacerbated when chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used on farms in the city’s region.

City households spend from 10 to 40% of their income after taxes on food purchases for the home and meals outside the home. Food sector establishments such as restaurants, fast food outlets, supermarkets, specialty food stores, taverns, and food wholesalers are an important part of any city's economy. And yet one fourth to one half of elderly patients in the US suffer from malnutrition rates ranging from 25 to
85%.

In reaction to these unsustainable trends, demand is growing for living arrangements involving food co-ops, collective kitchens and dining rooms, community gardens, and other enhancements of community food systems.

Oh, did I say? this is happening in Delhi, 28th Feb to 4th March, ending with one hell of a Holi party. Sigh.

Here's where you go for:

The complete Programme

Registrations (if you're from outside India)

Registrations (India and South Asia)

That's The Doors 9 Conference from the 28th of Feb until the 4th of March.