The Green Bridge Project

Brian Bjerketvedt of Design Furnace in Minneapolis needs your help. Or, more precisely your photograph. He's volunteered to create a poster for The Green Bridge project which will feature a huge collection of faces to make the point that all of us need to get behind initiatives to get our buildings to be much less wasteful. Europe is leading the way which shouldn't sit well with us competitive Americans. This effort which has taken hold in the area of commercial and civic buildings is starting to move into residential architecture. Good news for those of us in cold climates because the resulting designs are not only really beautiful but much warmer in winter!


+ What you can do
Send a photograph of yourself and a few words of encouragement to brian@design-furnace.com

Learn more about the growing green, carbon neutral and zero emission movement. The US Green Building Council is a good place to start or Google LEED certification.

+ Deadline
April 20, 2007

Inhabitat T-shirt Design Contest

Inhabitat a site devoted to "future-forward design for the world you inhabit" is a great source of information and inspiration about a smarter and more sustainable world through thoughtful design. They are holding a t-shirt design contest so now is your chance to make your mark among the cognoscenti of the green design movement.

+ Deadline
April 20, 2007. The guidelines are simple in an effort to encourage a wide variety of interpretations.

Architecture for Humanity

Architecture for Humanity is a really amazing organization of volunteers who are building some innovative and successful projects around the world in response to global, social and humanitarian crises. The important word there is "building" not just talking about. This organization has local chapters the world over, is very active and led by a really incredible guy by the name of Cameron Sinclair.

They recently held a logo contest in which I participated that received 811 entries. Proof of two things. They value a meaningful identity and graphic designers want to use their skills for the forces of good. AFH used Flickr to post all entries and openly critique the finalists. This was an interesting view into the process. If, like me, you work in advertising you may not see the view from the moral high ground all that often. It can be difficult to make a permanent move up the hill but try contacting a local group for a visit. You never know where the adventure might lead.

"Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers."

- Lord Alfred Tennyson

The Hurricane Poster Project

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast of the United States well over a year ago. The devastation and chaos were extreme as I'm sure you recall. But, the problems have not gone away simply because the news vans have.

The Hurricane Poster Project was created by the folks at Moxie Sozo with the goal of raising one million dollars to aid hurricane victims. It's an opportunity for artists, designers and those who who can't be trusted with hammers to help ongoing efforts to rescue and rebuild. The project is totally volunteer and the dough goes to the Red Cross so it all gets down to the people who need the bread.


+ What you can do
1. Visit TheHurricanePosterProject.com browse the collection (currently 164) and purchase a poster. Don't delay because these are signed, limited editions and prices go up as quantities go down.

2. Design a poster to contribute. Visit the site for details but they've allowed plenty of flexibility for you to create your own vision and donate what you can manage.

3. Spread the word. Tell your friends and peers or put a link to the project on your website.

+ Implications
If you are interested in learning more about rebuilding the Gulf Coast and issues of sustainability, environmentalism and social justice Planetizen is a good place to start.

+ Architects
If you are an architect, landscape architect, or urban planner posters may not be your thing. You should consider getting involved with Architecture for Humanity. They are an innovative bunch, involved in a variety of humanitarian effors and getting inspiring stuff done.

Introduction

CREATIVETHICS is about connections. It is a place where those of us in the creative community can find opportunities to contribute to the causes we care about as well as discover causes we didn't know about. It is a place where creatives can share what they have achieved and what they hope to achieve. It is a place where creatives and causes can both come to find each other.

In the process of trying to feed and house ourselves those of us in the creative arts (art directors, photographers, writers, product designers, etc.) have contributed to some pretty serious problems. For instance, we managed to make something as asinine as the Hummer a desireable object and a market success (at least with the target audience) in just a few short years despite its environmentally and physiologically destructive qualities. On the other hand, solar power which is a no brainer good idea has had decades to take hold and still hasn't been embraced the way we should expect. Many of us in the creative fields feel just as bad about this fact as the people canvassing for Green Energy do. Let's connect as many creative minds and as many good causes as we can and change that.

Please join in.

+ Dig
According to the US Department of Energy
Solar = 40.7 percent efficient
Internal combustion = 30 percent efficient