Bertarelli Summer2024 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 78
ECO NO M ICS
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RE W I L D I NG
ART DRIVING CHANGE This still is from the short film Caught, which is about dolphins dying in French fishing nets.
The film helped to drive French lawmakers to change the laws, protecting the dolphins.
harnessing the power of seaweed to replace single-use
plastics. Together with them we are tackling a problem
in the luxury industry.
Do individuals have a role to play in this?
Dasilva: I think it’s really important for individuals to
feel like they can make a difference. But I also think
businesses and governments have to really step up. I
think you need startup DNA and business DNA in conservation, and I think conservation needs that business
energy to get to where we need to get.
Freudiger: I think even more than businesses, we need
to go from businesses that have a linear business model
to more circular models. That’s why we are collaborating with a lot of startups worldwide, because they
think differently. For example, we use the world’s first
packaging made out of seaweed fibers. Just 100 percent
seaweed fibers, no binders, no anything. And you can
dissolve it into water in hours and use it to fertilize your
plants at home. So we brand owners are saying, we will
never deliver you packaging that you end up cluttering
your home. As humans, we are good at accumulating
stuff, but we are asking, “how can you stay lean?” At
ID Gèneve, we like to talk about credible alternatives
and we try to create these alternatives through collaboration. So this seaweed packaging is made with
Notpla, which is based in the United Kingdom. They’re
What are your hopes and aspirations for the future and
biodiversity restoration? And what are other ways you
think business can help advance this cause?
Freudiger: Metal travels twice around the planet before
being remelted. And so at ID Gèneve we were thinking about how we can create a credible alternative to
how the luxury industry operates by making shorter
routes, for example. And I would like to see more tangible actions for corporations and more startups creating these kinds of alternatives. We need solutions,
but we also need to inspire. We live in Switzerland,
for example, and Switzerland is very good at recycling.
But recently, we voted against a law that would create a
carbon tax. And that makes me ask: “How can we make
this an aspiration? How can we make ecology more
desirable?” We need to collaborate with each other to
get a real solution to climate change.
Bebbington: Once you’ve done your design and your
implementation of your restoration projects as a
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