As the Expo descends closer, this month noticeably marked by the completion of the Chinese pavilion, the GIGA blog will be featuring stories about the Expo. Incredibly the Expo is the third largest event in the world (economic and cultural impact) after the World Cup and Olympics. The Expo has been around for one and a half centuries with the first one held in The Crystal Palace in London in 1851. Titled “Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations” it exhibited manufactured products.

December saw Copenhagen thrust into the global spotlight. The world watched in suspense to see whether the 193-nation and 45,000 participant United Nations conference would yield a new global agreement on climate change. The outcome was disappointing to say the least - with delegates simply "taking note" of a climate deal that recognised the need to limit temperature rises to 2C.

循绿(GIGA)的理论支柱
循绿(GIGA)始终致力于推动积极的影响——为改善我们的环境而努力(比如让空气、土壤和水体变得更干净)。对于我们而言，材料是产生影响的基本单元，因为它们是构成我们周边事物的元素——您的衣服、电脑、建筑、汽车，所有的一切。为材料赋予价值促进了它们得以逐步改善，并立即触发积极的行动。还想更清楚吗？

以您的电脑为例，若想明天生产出能产生积极影响的电脑是不可能的。您的电脑一开始就是废弃商品的设计：它们最终都是要被废弃的。这种废弃行为一方面浪费了有价值的材料，一方面在电脑降解时还向环境排放了有毒物质(如镉)。为了产生积极影响，生产过程必须朝着循环经济的运行模式发展，生产商始终在一个循环圈中使用材料(没有废弃物产生)。这就意味着生产商提供的是服务而不是商品。您的电脑，而不是生产商的电脑，在回收再生产前的使用阶段都属于租赁关系。循环经济为材料赋予了价值——为制造商生产安全、高质、实惠的材料提供了经济上的驱动力，而且所有的材料都没有废弃物产生。在循环经济中需要优先改进材料，因为每种材料将直接关系到利润的增加。

GIGA's bread and butter...
At GIGA, we're pushing for positive impact - to improve our environments (ie: cleaner air, soil and water). For us, materials are the building blocks of impact because they create everything that surrounds you - your clothes, your computer, buildings, cars, everything. Placing value on materials supports incremental improvement, allowing positive action to begin immediately. Not clear?