Help Renourish Get A $50K Grant

Re-nourish, the excellent online sustainable graphic design resource, is in the running for a $50,000 grant to help them expand and improve their services via the Pepsi Refresh Project. Please take a couple minutes to help them get the grant by registering and voting for them HERE (voting is open through the end of February and you can vote once a day!).

Greening Your Nonprofit's IT - Virtual Conference

On February 10th I'll be speaking as part of the panel on Sustainable Design & Printing that's included in the online conference "Greening Your Nonprofit's IT ’Äì How to Save Environment and Money. presented by NTEN & the Green IT Consortium. Here's the full schedule:

Keynote Address (10:00 am Pacific / 1:00 pm Eastern) 
Joseph Khunaysir, Founder, CIO & CTO of Jolera Inc., will talk about how non-profit organizations are going green and the role that IT plays in that transition to sustainable operations.  Joseph authored a chapter on Green IT in the recently-released book, Nonprofit Guide to Going Green.

Breakout Track I (11:10 am Pacific / 2:10 pm Eastern)

Introduction to Green IT: What is it, what your organization needs to know
Presented by: Hank Dearden, Virsant

Creating a Green IT Strategy: What is the right strategy for your organization, how to start, what to plan for
Presented by: Jennifer Woofter, Strategic Sustainability Consulting and Jim Lynch, TechSoup

Overview of Green IT Software and Hardware: Types of software and hardware you’Äôll want to know about to green your IT
Presented by: Anna Jaeger, TechSoup 

Breakout Track II (12:20 pm Pacific / 3:30 pm Eastern)

Virtualization: What is it, what it can do for your organization, green benefits
Presented by: Peter Campbell, Earth Justice and Matt Eshleman, CITI DC

Case Studies: How Non-Profits and Foundations are Greening Their IT
Presented by: Michael Sola, National Wildlife Federation and Bill Schaefer, Care2.com

Sustainable Design & Printing: What is sustainable design, what you should know about printing
Presented by: Noah Scalin, Another Limited Rebellion, Amy Hartzler, Free Range Studios and Dave Michaels, Ecoprint

For more information and to sign-up go HERE. If you select 'GreenIT' in the "How did you hear?" field after registering you'll receive the member rate of $60!

Urban Farming : Hydroponics in NYC

New York City has thousands of empty rooftops; flat, unused, full sun, vacant land. It’Äôs enough space to feed 15 million people. Check out this video about state of the art urban farming techniques.



"Keeping agriculture sustainable increasingly means keeping it local. Besides the environmental benefit of reducing reliance on fossil-fuel guzzling transportation, eating local food is a more seasonal and often healthier experience. With concern about food security growing, it might turn out to be safer, too. The folks in charge of the Science Barge, a new urban farming experiment in New York, are bringing local food production closer than ever. In this video Vanessa Rae learns about the floating greenhouse facility, which is designed as a demonstration of how urban space, especially rooftop space in big cities like New York, can be used to efficiently produce food. Self-powered by solar panels, wind turbines, and a biodiesel generator, the Science Barge uses state of the art computer technology and an agricultural technique called hydroponics to grow fruits and veggies using much less water and space than field farming. Watch out, city slickers. Farm country is coming to your neighborhood."

via River Wired.

H2Oil - Alberta Oil Sands Industry

The Canadian animation company La Moustache has created these 3 animated sequences for the new documentary H2oil. The documentary, produced by Loaded pictures exposes the Alberta Oil sands industry was made entirely under AfterEffects. Art Direction and animation by Dale Hayward and Sylvie Trouvˆ©. Illustrations by James Braithwaite. Narrated by Catherine Kidd.

Extracting bitumen from tar sands (Oil sands) is a very high energy intensive process, requiring industrial scale heating (using natural gas) and 4 barrels of fresh water to produce one barrel of oil. So clean water resources shrink very quickly, along with the burning of natural gas to create another carbon emitting fuel, and it goes on. For more details about this environmental disaster, check out the animation.

For a fairly neutral overview of tar-sand mining check this link.

The Big Book of Green Design

I recently found out that several of my recent pieces are included in the new book from Crescent Hill Books: The Big Book of Green Design. This is the latest in a terrific run of environmental/socially conscious themed books coming out for graphic designers in the past two years*, which is a welcome relief after the long drought that preceded it. The Big Book of Green Design is definitely more of a coffee table book than a reference manual, but with an intro by Re-Nourish founder Eric Benson, hundreds of visual examples, and several detailed case studies it should be a fairly inspiring resource for anyone interested in the environmental direction businesses big and small are taking. The book is scheduled for release later this month, ask for it at your local independent bookstore.

*See also my reviews of: Green Graphic Design, SustainAble, and Do Good Design.

Waterlife

This is the Story of the last great supply of fresh drinking water on Earth : Waterlife. A documentary about the Great Lakes that has won the National Film Board Award.

Jam3 has created an interactive companion for this documentary and used all the major themes from the documentary to create this amazing online experience about the distress the Great Lakes are in.

Full credits and a Q&A with Jam3 on the site are here.

Linkage: From Kafka Pest Kontrol to B'eau Pal Water

Yikes, where does the time go?! After heading down to Austin to talk at the How Design Conference and then opening After Life my art show at Quirk Gallery and finally a business trip to NYC, I've finally caught up with things enough in the office to return to my non-skull related blogging. First up, a bunch of links that have been sitting on my shelf that haven't quite hit their expiration date yet...


Literary reference trucks deliver books and a message about reading. (image shown, more HERE) via

SpecWatch keeps you updated on the insidious world of design competitions/crowdsourcing. Thanks @PrixMadonna

Captcha graffiti to tell if you're human or not. (image shown) via

A public bicycle counter shows that you are not the only one on two-wheels in Copenhagen.

Get a free brochure on how not to greenwash from Roughstock Studios.

You know you want a USB-powered chainsaw! via

Traitor Joe's gives you the dirt on a well-known (and similarly named) grocery chain's seafood sources. via

Bizarre attempt for a multi-national corporation to "localwash" (the local movement's equivalent of greenwashing). via

Boring flyers get free makeovers from Cardon Copy! (image shown) via

Reincarnated McMansion is going to take 1 wasteful house and turn it into 2 green homes! Thanks Stephanie!

The 3/50 Project wants to save local brick & mortar stores with your help. Thanks Mim!

Eco-Mag, a magazine about art, design & sustainability, is available as a free downloadable PDF via

B'eau Pal Water is the Yes Men's response to Dow Chemical's toxic waste in Bhopal. via

What happens when you put pianos on the street for anyone to use?

No Longer Empty turns vacant storefronts into art venues. via

Artist Favianna Rodriguez explains why is graffiti a good thing.

Eco-friendly cardboard coffins, come with the image of your choice printed directly on them. Thanks Amy!

Jamba Juice rips off Get Your War On! Thanks Kate!

Grand is turning their junk mail into self promotion. (image shown)

A newspaper in China goes from printing press to recyling bin with no stops in between.

SafeLink provides free cellphones and airtime for lower income Americans.

Linkage: Art Crimes and Clothing Punishment

The Onion Network is looking for socially conscious design and marketing partners.

Does the gay flag need a makeover?

Getting the word out with mud stencils (image shown).

What to do with reusable bags, when they're used up. Thanks Mim!

A hand-cranked eco-vibrator for the ultimate environmentalist. Thanks Leah!

Would you wear the same dress every day for a year if it was for a good cause? via

Making a barrel monster will get you arrested in North Carolina (image shown) Thanks Carlos!

Who doesn't like free books?

Linkage: From Green Guitars to Green Weddings

Students help Break The Jam and encourage people to Give Way in DC. (images shown)

Jobs for Change wants to help you work for nonprofits.

Patching cracks with Legos. (image shown) via

The greening of guitars.

The greening of weddings.

Free books for London commuters.

Mapping the NYC advertising takeover. via

Starbucks Twitter campaign hijacked by documentary of their anti-union practices. via

Book Review: Green Graphic Design

Green Graphic Design, by Brian Dougherty of Celery Design Collaborative, is the second new eco-graphics handbook I’Äôve read in the past year. This is a pretty big deal, considering I’Äôve spent the previous six years using out-of-date (and often out-of-print) books to introduce the subject to my socially conscious design students. It’Äôs a nice problem to actually have some resources to choose between and while I may have a bit of bias towards Aaris Sherin’Äôs SustainAble, since my own work appears in it, I like to believe that I came at Green Graphic Design with an open mind. However, it is impossible for me to read and review it without comparing the books.
Two of the major advantages of Dougherty’Äôs book are clear from the outset: it’Äôs a smaller-sized paperback, which makes it less of a coffee table book and more useful as a day-to-day manual and it costs nearly half as much.
After a strong introduction, which speaks to the broader idea of socially conscious design, even though it sticks with the term ’Äúgreen design’Äù, the book settles into a fairly solid overview of the issues and techniques of environmental graphic design. In terms of technical information covered, both Green Graphic Design and SustainAble are on fairly equal ground.
Where Green Graphic Design falters, however, is in the question of audience. The text more often than not seems geared towards people who have little or no professional experience. This would be ideal for a student audience, except that the practical examples, the majority of which involve projects for Celery’Äôs large corporate clients, will be most useful to people who are already able make choices about custom pocket folders and mass-produced consumer packaging. Package design seems like something that is better covered in a book on green industrial design (a topic which has many more books already associated with it) and most graphic design students I know won’Äôt be dealing with work at the scale that Celery handles for a long time (if ever).
In the end, Green Graphic Design reads more like an elaborate self-promotion for Celery that is supplemented with some useful information on working environmentally rather than the other way around. The diversity of the projects and voices in SustainAble still make it my primary recommendation, but Green Graphic Design is an acceptable choice for those who are new to the topic, especially if portability and cost are your primary concerns.

Green Graphic Design
by Brian Dougherty
Allworth Press
$24.95

Reef Art

An artist who creates underwater art installations that become an artificial reef...



Thanks Leah!

Polar Bears in the U.K.

On January the 26th, 2009, people in London witnessed a rather interesting event : The sculpture of a polar bear on a iceberg floating on the Thames river. This very realistic looking bear was made by 15 different artists who spent 2 months constructing this 6 by 6 meters (20 by 20 ft) structure to raise awareness of melting ice caps but also of the already beginning extinction of Polar bears, one of the first victims of the global warming.

The sculpture is now in Birmingham since February the 6th. They plan on sending it to Glasgow and other cities.

This event was organized by the natural history tv channel : Eden for the launch of their new Fragile Earth Series, presented by Sir David Attenborough.

On the same subject, Polar Bears from Alaska have been added on the endangered species list in the USA (Endangered Species Act (ESA)) because of the destruction of their ecosystem, the ice cap. A half victory for ecologist as this decision is not followed by any other initiatives to fight the global warming. According to scientists, by 2050, 2/3 of the polar bears will disappear if not protected. As others (Sarah Palin) say that the polar bears are not in danger.

Watermarks Project

"Watermarks is a public art project that will use a series of large-scale projections at sites across the centre of the city of Bristol, U.K. to explore these questions.

Flood level marks will be projected on to the sides of buildings, showing how high water levels could potentially rise as the sea inundates the central, low lying areas of Bristol. By displaying these levels in real space, the project aims to help us to imagine the depth and extent of this potential future flooding - allowing us to measure them against ourselves in familiar environments.

Although the message is stark, the flood levels shown are as if the city is undefended and adaption measures have not been put in place. As the waters gradually rise over the coming century, there is much we can do to adapt and defend!

This project contends that the future of our cities and landscapes and our responses to rising sea levels are not just left to scientists, politicians, engineers and the built environment professions but emerge from as wide a base as possible with participation and involvement from all sections of the wider community. Ultimately the mitigation and adaptation measures will be social and cultural as much as scientific and technical."

Linkage: From Green Screams to Green Goodbyes.

How strong are your state's gun laws? Virginia, where I live only got 18 out of 100 points!

Artist Linda Hesh helps you make a statement with where you put your butt (image shown) via

The Yes Men Fix The World in a new documentary.

House your computer in recycled cardboard...maybe one day. Thanks Leah!

Raising Awareness vs. Direct Action a guide for donors. Thanks Mim!

Green frights on a pedal powered roller coaster (image shown) Thanks Justin!

Edible diapers are the greener choice (and happily not real). via

Dust to human powder Dust: The greenest form of burial? Thanks Robert!

Green Christmas

MC Lars wishes you a Green Christmas...



Thanks Mica!

Green Earth

One year after the 2007 "Love Your Earth" competition, Designboom.com along with TOBU department store and the Design Associaton Japan (DA) launched a new competition last summer : "Green Earth". This is an international design competition open to everyone created to raise awareness of the environmental issues affecting the planet.

There are two categories, the first one being "Green" and the second one being "Earth".
Green: Create a graphic artwork that illustrates the environmental protection and how human beings and nature could coexist in a greener world.
Earth: Give the gift of a greener world at Christmas. Create a graphic artwork that will make this festive time of the year a moment to consider what we can do to help our planet’Äôs survival.

The designers of the 5 winning entries were granted with cash prize awards

Also, TOBU department store printed a selection of the shortlisted entries on their "eco-bags" and other promotional material, which have been shown during the Tokyo Designer’Äôs Week 2008 (30 October - 03 November, 2008).

3966 designers from 91 different countries participated and the winners are :

1st Prize : "greening" design by : ji yoon yang from korea.

2nd Prize : "recycle at xmas" design by : benjamyn cox + lloyd moffat from uk.























3rd Prize : "plain cloud" design by : glen baghurst + matthew cullin from australia























santa's readjustment ' design by : camila gimeno from chile

See the results.

source.

Designing for Forever

Public Radio International's excellent series Studio 360 had a recent segment on folks trying to design signage for radioactive waste storage areas that need to last (and be understood) for millennia...

CheatNeutral

CheatNeutral allows you to offset your infidelities by funding others to be faithful. Sounds ridiculous? That's the point. The creators of the site want to point up the problems with the idea of carbon offsets by parodying it with an analogue that easier for most people to understand:

Jealousy and heartbreak are a natural part of modern life. And sometimes, no matter how hard we try, it's just not possible to be faithful.

At Cheatneutral, we believe that we should all try to reduce the amount we cheat on our partners, but we also realise that fidelity isn't always possible.

That's why we help you neutralise your cheating. Your actions are offset by a global network of fidelity, developed by us. By paying Cheatneutral, you're funding monogamy-boosting offset projects - we simply invest the money you give us in monogamous, faithful or just plain single people, to encourage them to stay that way.

This video tells more of their story and response to their business idea...


What's your take on carbon offset/carbon credits: An effective tool for environmental change or a way to feel less guilty about business as usual?

News Roundup

From the Christian Science Monitor:

First bicyclist union in Canada.

"Borrow a Muslim" from a living library.

Environmentally conscious reason to "Just Say No".

From the Gaurdian:

Genetically modified crops will not solve food crisis.

From Ode Magazine:

Former nun takes on Ecuadorian gang and wins.

Carbon farming fights global warming.

From Mother Jones:

Can greed be green?

SustainAble Book + Interview

SustainAble is an invaluable new practical handbook on environmentally conscious graphic design from Rockport Books. Author Aaris Sherin, has done a fantastic job of compliling the latest information on materials and techniques for designers interested in working with the environment in mind [full disclosure, my company is featured prominenetly, but I really would recommend it regardless]. Not only is the content on point, but the book itself was printed using a range of sustainable methods (a rarity in publishing). Going beyond standard recycled papers, they actually used make-ready sheets for the covers and end papers. The last real handbook on these issues (The Complete Guide To Eco-Friendly Design by Poppy Evans) came out in 1997 and has been out of print for years, so this type of book has been long overdue. Considering the massive increase in interest in going "green" by corporate America, the need for designers knowledgeable about these issues will only continue to grow as well. Kudos to Rockport being the first to fill the void.

Aaris kindly agreed to a mini-interview about the book, so I sent her a few minimalist questions to answer however she interpreted them...

ALR: Why now?
Aaris Sherin: Graphic Designers tend to be concerned about social and environmental issues, and yet many have not idea how to apply this ideology to their professional practice. Increasingly clients are asking for eco-friendly design solutions and many practitioners are tasked with having to learn the relevant problem-solving and technical specifications for environmentally preferable production. To date there really hasn't been a comprehensive resource to go to for this information. My idea was to make a sort of one-stop reference for
those interested in the topic. The book covers topics that include sustainable forestry, basic history and theory, as well as practical information about eco-friendly production materials and techniques. The second half of the book is devoted to case studies that trace how designers approached specific projects with the environment and social systems in mind.

ALR: How?
Aaris Sherin: The book is filled with tips for how to approach design problem solving and production with sustainability in mind. Here are a few of the most basic. 1. Using proper sizes or asking for custom sheets is an easy way to reduce waste 2. Every designer should be able to identify and understand the value of FSC and other third part certifications 3. Eco-friendly paper doesn't always cost more. 4. Creating customized environmental checklists is a great way to bring consistent value to clients

ALR: So what?
Aaris Sherin: I really believe that design has a crucial role to play as we move toward the cultural shift that will need to happen in order to become more sustainable. Graphic design is so often the conduit between manufacturing/services and customers/audiences; as such we can bring value to clients who working with environmental and social consciousness in mind. By making simple changes in the way we work and offering our services to like-minded organizations there is an opportunity to make fantastic, visually arresting work that doesn't have to cost the earth.

ALR: What's next?
Aaris Sherin: There are so many people (many of whom were early adopters) who have created their own resources, libraries, and community groups for teaching and practicing sustainable design. As I talked to people I realized that a lot of them are duplicating each other's work. We really need more resources and more sharing of information so that the next generation isn't tasked with replicating our work.


SustainAble is in stores now and of course available via Powells and Amazon.com.

The State of Green Business

The folks at the environmental business news site GreenBiz.com have created State of Green Business 2008 a free downloadable report on what US companies have done in recent years to reduce their environmental impact. To that end they have tracked progress with a 20 point index including items like: Building Energy Efficiency, Employee Commuting, E-Waste, Paper Use and Recycling, and Toxic Emissions. Get your copy HERE.

What Izzit?

IzzitGreen is a new community review site that allows visitors to rate their local businesses not only on the usual factors of service, quality, etc., but also on their environmental aspects as well (i.e. Is it green?). The site is currently only beta testing for the Boston area.

Heal Your Home

Co-op America, has created a great primer for making healthy environmental choices in your home. The section called "Heal Your Home" is broken down into Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom, Exterior, and Overall Health Homes and includes a glossary and additional related articles. You can browse the articles online HERE or download the entire thing as a PDF.

News Roundup

A bunch of recent-ish stories I've been meaning to post for a while...

Ode Magazine:

The ins and outs of Eco-Tourism

An overview of the friendlier, funnier "New Activism"

Earth-Friendly Fast-Food?

Christian Science Monitor:

Using bikes instead of trucks for transport.

Why organic farming is good for Africa

"Just how 'green' is that shirt?"

F*&@# Planet Earth!

A funny take on the truly lovely Planet Earth series (warning: contains NSFW language!)...


Thanks Leah! Via Current

ReThinking The Environment In The Carolinas

The Raleigh AIGA recently asked me to be one of the judges for a poster competition promoting environmentalism in North and South Carolina called: re|THINK. The 20 winning posters, selected by myself and 2 other judges, will be on display (and for sale) at the Designbox gallery in Raleigh, NC for the month of April, with an opening reception on April 4th. Even if you're not in the area you can preview all of the winning designs online now HERE.

The Sins of Greenwashing

If you're not familiar with the term Greenwashing, the environmental marketing firm TerraChoice has a great primer on this dastardly practice just for you: The Six Sins of Greenwashing.


Thanks Kara!

News Roundup

Some more recent articles worth reading in the Christian Science Monitor:

New Alternative Fuel: Chocolate!

Is Bioplastic a Viable Alternative to "Paper or Plastic"?

Person-To-Person Lending: Internet Based Microloans Helping Internationally.

Spotted In Hawaii part II: Protect The Cute Fish

I've seen warnings about dumping spray painted over sewer drains in several cities, but I've never seen one etched in stone! Kudos to the folks in Honolulu's Chinatown for going the extra mile to protect the ocean.

No More Paper Catalogs!

Catalog Choice is a free service that helps you get rid of unwanted catalogs in your mail. By utilizing customer codes that are printed on catalogs you can even get rid of ones that come in someone else's name to your address! Find out more and sign up HERE.

Free Wayfinding Graphics

I recently discovered that the classic wayfinding graphics, seen in most American airports and other transportation hubs, are available as free vector art from the AIGA.

The icons were developed by the AIGA in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Transportation and were originally released in 1974 and added to in 1979. The entire set of symbols are Copyright Free(!) and can be downloaded HERE.

News Roundup

Sorry for the long quiet from me, I've got a bunch to post and hope to be updating more frequently in the coming weeks. First off some news clippings I've been collecting...

From the Christian Science Monitor:

Ethiopians tradmarking coffee to ensure Fair Trade.

Eating "green" at environmentally friendly restaurants.

Study finds White House manipulated climate science.

Africa begins banning plastic bags.

e-waste documentary

eDump is a documentary by Michael Zhao about the problem with electronic waste. It follows America's 2.6 million tons of annual e-waste as it travels to foreign countries for recycling and the pollution and health problems it causes along the way. This powerful short film can be watched in its entirety on Zhao's site HERE. Find out more about e-waste HERE.






Thanks Anne!

Compact Fluorescent Recycling

You now have another way to recycle your dead compact fluorescent light bulbs, you can take them with you to Ikea. The store's new program allows you to bring in any brand of CFLs thus preventing the toxic mercury within from ending up in landfills.

via EcoGeek

News Roundup

Several great articles have appeared in recent issues of the Christian Science Monitor:

Ugandan women improve their lives making paper beads.

Green roofs appearing on New York houses.

Trash ovens in Kenya save trees.

Reducing the racist disparity between crack and cocaine sentencing.

And from Mother Jones:

Chinese toy imports and the lack of U.S. safety regulations.
Which is followed by a short list of stories about the problems with a self-regulating industry including this gem:

HASBRO EASY-BAKE OVENS In 2006, Hasbro overhauled its iconic oven with a new design and heating system. By the following February, the company had to recall nearly 1 million ovens because children had suffered burns after getting their hands caught in them. Rather than taking the ovens back, Hasbro got the cpsc [consumer product safety commission] to sign off on an easier fix: It would send a repair kit to any consumer who requested it. The ovens were recalled again this July, after 77 kids had gotten burned; one five-year-old had to have a finger amputated. This time, consumers got to return their ovens’Äîfor a voucher, good only for another Hasbro product.