A Look at Art & Design

Keeping My Pledge - What I'm Doing to Go Green

The pledge that I took last week over at Design Can Change was pretty simple.  It goes like this:

In my professional practice, I will endeavor to:
Learn:  Engage in the topic and seek to understand the issue
Think: Make a sustainable mindset second nature
Act: Put my knowledge to use in my daily work
Inform: Share information and build awareness for sustainability
Unite: Spark change through collective strength.

I encourage you to visit the Design Can Change website, read the resources and pdfs and take the pledge.

I've been thinking about what it is I can do as an individual toward being a more responsible designer. Because I work from my home, I'm also including items I can do as a homeowner. Here's my list:

1. Use both sides of the paper from my printer. Reusing paper as scrap for notes, sketching etc.
2. Ride my bike to the post office.
3. Instead of using plastic bags at the grocery store and the office supply store, I'm committed to bringing the lovely tote given to me by my friend Pirjo Loisa for bringing home purchases. As a fellow tree lover, I think Pirjo will like this idea.
4. Replacing those old fashion lightbulbs in my office with CFL energy saving bulbs.
5. I'm faced with having to replace some appliances in my home, I'll be replacing all with energy star models which will also save some bucks on my electric bill.  Energy saving insulation, exterior doors and windows will also help.  According to Time Magazine's issue "The Global Warming Survival Guide," April 9, 2007, you can also get a tax break for going green. "This is the first year you can take advantage of incentives built into the landmark 2005 Energy Policy Act, which will reduce your tax bill if you simply buy a fuel-saving car or install energy efficient appliances."
6. I'll be including those Design Can Change PDFs in my proposals and client materials.

Going Green - How Designers and Clients Can Help the Environment

Those of you who have been reading ArtLOOK know I've endeavored to practice, speak and write about Responsible Design and how it can effect our global community. It was with great pleasure that I received an email from Peter Pimentel at smashLAB announcing their newest initiative: Design Can Change.

Pimentel writes, "This initiative works on the premise that designers are a critical hub to business, industry and the public; therefore, we have the ability to lobby, inform, and subsequently enable positive change, by working together. Key to this effort is the pledge: a set of guidelines for becoming more sustainable. It gives designers an actionable framework for embracing sustainability and also helps quantify our collective strength as we lobby for change."

SmashLAB and Design Can Change invites you to visit the website. Read and learn about sustainability, and please take the pledge. After having made the commitment to embrace responsible design you are welcome to download the logos (see my sidebar) for use on your blog/website with a link to www.designcanchange.org.  Download this PDF and send it to the designers you know.  Recommend and include in your studio materials this PDF for the buyers of design.  You can also read more about Design Can Change at Eric Karjaluoto's blog ideasonideas.

I salute smashLAB for taking this initiative and I firmly believe that together we can change design and our business practices for the better and make a positive impact on our global community.  Please join us.

I also include here again the First Things First manifesto.