Design · Eco-Chick

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The Designer's Accord

by Ann Benoit · 06/06/08

At this year’s AIGA’s Compost Modern event I was really excited to be introduced to The Designer’s Accord, “a coalition of designers, educators, researchers, engineers, business consultants, and corporations, who are working together to create positive environmental and social impact.” Originally referred to as the “Kyoto Treaty of Design,” the coalition was formed by designer, Valerie Casey of IDEO as a collective way to increase intelligence about sustainability within the business community.

To join the Accord, you must follow the coalition’s guidelines of:
1. Do no harm;
2. Communicate and collaborate;
3. Keep learning, keep teaching;
4. Instigate meaningful change;
5. Make theory action

Depending on your level of involvement in the coalition, your specific guidelines for upholding these 5 main guidelines are different. Members are divided into 3 categories: Adopters (design firms, corporations, educational institutions), Supporters (artists, freelance designers, students) or Endorsers (organizations).

For example, the guidelines for “Design Firm Adopters” are:
1. Publicly declare participation in the Designers Accord.
2. Initiate a dialogue about environmental impact and sustainable alternatives with each and every client. Rework client contracts to favor environmentally responsible design and work processes. Provide strategic and material alternatives for sustainable design.
3. Undertake a program to educate your teams about sustainability and sustainable design.
4. Measure the carbon/greenhouse gas footprint of your firm (includes operations and client engagements), and pledge to reduce your footprint annually.
5. Advance the understanding of environmental issues from a design perspective by contributing actively to the communal knowledge base for sustainable design.

It’s great to see that as more people take an interest and are more informed about the environment and the impact we have upon it, that green practices within the design field are finally being seen as mandatory vs. being optional. The Designer’s Accord is a great place where designers can educate themselves and find tools to educate their clients about what “being green” in our field really means.

There’s a great article in Business Week about Casey and the Accord here. An interview with founder, Valerie Casey about how the Accord came to be created can also be found here.

AIGA, design, designers, graphic design

Eco Chick News Tweets!

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by Starre Vartan · 05/11/08

Tweet This!

How The Media Abandoned the Environment, at new techie-with-a-heart-of-green EcoTechDaily.

Check Chris Baskind’s op/ed on the lack of environmental coverage in mainstream media:

No, you’re not imagining things.
With U.S. gasoline prices edging toward $4.00 a gallon; oil prices at an all-time high, demand for materials such as copper outstripping demand; worldwide food shortages; major cities running short on water; Antarctic ice sheets crumbling into the Southern Ocean; and continued uncertainty over our climatological future, you’d think the environment would be front-and-center on the evening news. And you’d be wrong.

14 New Species Discovered in Brazil, from The Daily Green

Dan Shapely reports that there are indeed new things under the sun (at least to humans). Check the gorg flipbook!:

….at the top of the Serra Geral in Brazil’s Cerrado region, where 14 new species have been discovered during an expedition to the wooded savanna.

Another new Bike Chic page (I keep writing about this subject; check it here and here) and Carectomy has found another one!

If full body Spandex isn’t your speed, check out Cycle Chic, a London-based blog that offers tips on how to look devastatingly hot (wear designer pants from Stella McCartney, or your boyfriend’s t-shirt), stay sweat-free (don’t go too fast and sport a light, summery dress), and “cycle yourself slim,” all while biking to your intended destination.

arctic, bikes, book, Brazil, car, cars, cities, design, designer, dress, Eco-Chick, Food, gas, London, mainstream, media, new species, News, oil, Op/Ed, rum, skin, spa, sport, style, summer, t-shirt, Vogue, water, wood

Upcoming Exhibition: Fashion Conscious Designs that will change the world one garment at a time @ UC Davis

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by Ann Benoit · 04/24/08

As part of their “Year of Eco-Exhibitions,” the UC Davis Design Museum & Design Collective in Davis, CA will host Fashion Conscious, an exhibition focused on sustainable fashion design from May 15th thru July 13, 2008.

This exhibition explores sustainability and how it relates to the current clothing market, from the environmental impact of eco-friendly textiles to the re-evaluation of industrial manufacturing.
The exhibiting designers and companies demonstrate a commitment towards developing clothing that provides viable alternatives to the imperfect traditions of the fashion industry. Changing a long standing paradigm will not happen overnight, but by choosing fabrics and methods of production conscientiously, designers have the power to change the way farms and factories operate. The key to success is diversity and compromise.

In conjunction with this exhibit will be the Designing with Conscience ::: A Sustainable Fashion Symposium on Sunday, May 18, 2008. This symposium is focused on “looking into the fashion industry and the move towards eco-consciousness,” and includes speakers from the fashion industry and 4 panelists from the exhibition. To register for the event go here. For more info on the exhibition & the exhibitors involved, and some great info on sustainable fashion, check out this blog.

clothing, design, designer, designers, exhibition, fabric, fabrics, farm, farms, Fashion, sustainability, sustainable, sustainable fashion

SIGG for the Fashionably Parched

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by Olivia Zaleski · 04/14/08

Need another reason to ditch the disposable plastic water bottle? How about fourteen reasons?

SIGG (you know the hardwearing yet elegant water bottle Co.), Elle Magazine and Laurie David’s Stop Global Warming have joined forces to up the anti-plastic rationale. The iconic dream team has commissioned fourteen leading names in fashion (yes, were talking Zac Posen, Diane Von Furstenberg and Stella McCartney) to create one-of-a-kind limited edition designer water bottles. Here’s a sampling. Click here to preview all fourteen.

Photo courtesy Elle.com.
Diane, how girly and flirtatious. I like it!

Photo courtesy Elle.com.
Very cool Anna.

Photo courtesy Elle.com.
Come on Tommy . . . just a signature? That’s weak.

Hmmmmm . . . there’s something funny about the idea of “designer water bottles” . . . then again, disposable plastic water bottles have long been a must-have accessory for the stylish and parched. Hopefully, these leading designers will convince fashion followers, world wide, to forgo the Evian and get hip with a SIGG.

In addition to launching a major fashion trend, SIGG and Elle will be auctioning the inimitable bottles to raise money for StopGlobalWarming.org. The bidding starts at 7pm tonight!

To learn more about the SIGG Auction visit Elle.com.

car, design, designer, designers, farm, Fashion, fur, Global Warming, magazine, plastic, sigg, stop global warming, Tea, water, Water Bottle

I'm Blogging for Elle's Green Issue!

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by Starre Vartan · 04/13/08

Go check it out! I’m the guest-blogger for Elle Magazine’s annual Green issue (on newsstands the month of April)! I’ll be reposting some of my pieces here, but for more- plus all the behind the scenes reports from their other bloggers, go to the Elle Tell All blog.

Besides the blog, their online content is great- with new stories every day, and some of the mag content is available here (though it’s worth picking up the issue if you get a chance because it’s not all featured on the Elle site).