| Project 001 Watch: wn-2 | |
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 Report：Report from the Baselworld 2009BASELWORLD 2009http://www.baselshow.com/ 2009.3.26-4.3 Think the Earth branded watches were exhibited at BASELWORLD 2009, the world leading show for watches and jewellery, for the eighth time. 2009: International Year of Astronomy It’ s been 400 years since Galileo Galilei first used a telescope and opened the door to the universe in 1609. In 2009, the world is celebrating “the International Year of Astronomy” and a variety of related events are organized. The vision of “the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009)” is “Everyone should realize the impact of astronomy and other fundamental sciences on our daily lives, and understand how scientific knowledge can contribute to a more equitable and peaceful society.” wn-2: watch northern hemisphere, a watch which embodies the vision of IYA2009 was introduced at BASELWORLD 2009. This year, we introduced “White Version”, with a silver dome with snowy white band. We renewed the panel that introduces Think the Earth Project（PDF:2.3MB）. A new panel enables visitors to learn about a variety of our projects in chronological order.    
 wn-2 has been accepted as a product applied for “the International Year of Astronomy 2009 Selection” in JAPAN.  The year 2009 also marks the 40th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon. Omega, who produces official watches for NASA, exhibited the watches actually worn by the astronauts on their voyages. Baselworld, the world's epitome Baselworld 2009 opened its door amid a financial crisis. The number of visitors were down from the previous year, but the show still attracted as many as 93,900* visitors in total. An article from ”THE BASELWORLD DAILY NEWS” （http://www.baselworld.ch/go/id/bbnf/lang/eng/） says this is because “Consumers are increasingly focusing on secure values.” （※Baselworld Press Release dated April 2, 2009） The tendency remarkable this year might be that there were many visitors from Russia, China, India, East Europe and Middle East as well as West Europe and the USA. I myself have received more inquires on wn-2 by the media from East Europe or China since last year. With visitors from over 100 countries and exhibitors from 45 countries, Baselworld is truly the world's epitome where you can directly feel the economic climate and cultural maturity of the participating countries. This is the first year I notice the words “fair trade”, “eco” or “green” blared in headlines of ”THE BASELWORLD DAILY NEWS.” On March 30, the fifth day of the event, “Rapaport Group” (offering information service on diamond and jewelry markets to clients in 70 countries) sponsored the first Fair Trade Jewellery Conference and I decided to join. Fair Trade Jewellery Conference At 10:30am, an hour and half after the opening of Baselworld, Mr. Martin Rapaport, the chairman of “Rapaport Group”, started introducing presenters in a conference hall at the Basel Congress Center located near the site of Baselworld. The number of the participants was approximately 60.    Seven presenters, including representatives from the organizations such as The World Jewelry Confederation (CIBJO：http://www.cibjo.org/) and Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM: http://www.communitymining.org/）, introduced their activities for more than three hours so that stakeholders in jewelry business could learn about fair-trade jewelry and initiatives to further the goals of fair trade and sustainable development. Let me introduce a little about “Green Gold（Oro Verde）” and “WBCSD”, which made the biggest impression. 【Green Gold（Oro Verde）】 http://www.greengold-oroverde.org/ingles/cov_ing.html Started in Chocó, Columbia which had been damaged by the haphazard exploitation, “Green Gold” aims at mining without ruining the ecosystem. They put an added value on the metals produced to ensure sustainable development of the area. Through the “Green Gold” projects, local people have learnt to plant as they mine. The video played at the conference showed their smiles shining with proud. 【WBCSD：The World Business Council for Sustainable Development】 http://www.wbcsd.org/ WBCSD provides a platform for member companies, 200 multinationals from over 35 countries, to realize sustainable business development by sharing knowledge and experiences. What Ms. Hicks from WBCSD empathized during her presentation was the idea of “Sustainable Consumption.” Backed by the advancement of technologies, manufacturers have already started addressing “Sustainable Production.” However, if consumers do not choose products produced in a sustainable way, there will be no positive change for the future --- To “change” consumers’ lifestyles, Ms. Hicks encourages us to undertake the following approaches: ［1］Innovation Development of the new products which are more sustainable and price-competitive ［2］Choice- Influencing Recommending sustainable lifestyles (Consumer education through marketing activities, campaigns etc.) ［3］Choice-Editing Defining sustainable products Eliminating non-sustainable products from the market in cooperation with politics, manufacturing and retail business.  A tag attached to a shirt bought at C&A（http://www.c-and-a.com/）, a local mass fashion retailer, which reads “To take care of the climate C&A recommends when washing to use lower temperatures and dry naturally.” A practice of ”Choice- Influencing.” It’s been more than eight years since I travelled to New York to learn about “CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)” (*Earth Report #1 Learning About Corporate Social Responsibility at the BSR Conference @USA) at the establishment of Think the Earth Project. Now in 2009, the word “CSR” is more commonly accepted and more than 90% of the consumers say they’d think about the environment when they shop* Baselworld 2009 gave me another opportunity to think about what kind of products/ projects we, Think the Earth Project, should offer to now-matured consumers, and how our PR and sales activities should be. (*Result of the monitoring research on the lives of Japanese citizens conducted by Social Policy Bureau of Cabinet Office in 2008 http://www5.cao.go.jp/seikatsu/monitor/kankyosyohi090225.pdf : Japanese only) Report by Aiko NAKAJIMA, Think the Earth Project staff  |