i-tees

I am a member of various design, green and environmental groups on the site, LinkedIn, and recently joined “Green Publishing,” a subgroup of “Green.” I have seen discussions by those who are writing environmental blogs, and publishing green literature. Here are some of the sites I’m following and what they’re doing to help get some important information out there.

Greenprofs – Green Business Professionals Sharing Information, Insights and Best Practices On The Environment, Corporate Social responsibility and Climate Change

“Founded in August 2008, Greenprofs supports Green, a group of over 55,000 environmental professionals on LinkedIn. Greenprofs is a resource of information on ‘all things green’ a one stop shop for insights, employment and the sourcing of green business suppliers.”

GreenandSave.com - Green News, Tips, and Services for Saving Energy, Money, and the Planet

I found this site to be organized in a very easy, “find and click” way. Showing lead-ins to articles on a variety of topics, such as, most popular, discover, movers & shakers, podcasts & video, green columnists, and tips & lifestyle.

SEECFoundation.org – A Sustainable Future

From their site:
“The Social, Environmental and Economic Concerns (SEEC) Foundation is a sustainability-focused nonprofit organization that helps the community and businesses progress towards a sustainable future. To do this,  we provide strategies and resources that address environmental issues, social conditions and realize financial benefits. The SEEC foundation was created to help reflect the positive synergy that  exists when social, economic and environmental concerns are simultaneously addressed and work in unison.”

Her Guide To Green – A Better Living, For A Better You

Her Guide To Green is dedicated to incorporating eco-friendly products, people, and initiatives into the lives of women around the world.

The EcoSpheric Blog – Informing and inspiring those who want to live and laugh more sustainably

The most recent post title is: Don’t Leave Your Children A Dying Planet
I was just reading one of my National Geographic magazines and each page I turned was reporting on the decline of another species. Bees, fireflies… and if this wasn’t sad enough, the places with polluted water from the chemicals we put out there.

When I saw this post, I had to read it and I agree. We must do what we can now, so we’re helping, not destroying this planet and not leaving it to the next generation to fix.

Photo from Kids vs Global Warming

Also, check out Kids vs. Global Warming, a non-profit organization founded and led by 14 year old Alex Loorz.

Haddock Research & Branding – Understanding people’s relationship with climate change and the low-carbon economy

They are a full service market research agency with many years of experience in running international, quantitative studies.
From their site:
“The international Environmental Choices™ monitor is fully-owned by Haddock Research. Based on a very wide-ranging questionnaire, it provides a single-source to measure the interrelationships between people’s circumstances, attitudes and behaviour relevant to the low carbon sector. The survey provides both specific analyses and holistic understanding of people’s lives – particularly important given policymakers concerns about the ‘rebound effect’.”

Lollypop Publishing – Books For The way we Live

Lollypop Publishing Ltd is a small independent book publishing company in the West Midlands. They specialize in both children’s and reference books on environmental, social & sustainable transport topics.

From time to time, I come across interesting websites, helping to spread the message that we all need to conserve. Some of these resources are wonderful for graphic designers who wish to design “Greener.” Since we work with our clients to produce quite a lot of promotional materials, packaging, advertising, posters and more, we all need to do our part to institute eco-friendly design & printing techniques.

Here are a few resources I’ve discovered:

Unisourcegreen.com – A resource for environmentally-friendly products and specialized services distributed by Unisource Worldwide, Inc., providing a GREEN advantage. Visit us often as Unisource expands our green products and services.

Inhabit – Greening Graphic Design – From their site: “The green path of the future involves getting intimate with your favorite printer.”

“…While we wish it were as simple as specifying ‘recycled’ paper and soy inks, we were surprised and delighted to learn that the greenest printers and print technology innovators have moved beyond false promises of simple cure-alls. Instead, each link in the supply chain is coming forward with their own sustainable solutions, from Processless Printing Plates to eliminating the use of VOCs in inks and coatings.”

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Design Can Change – (This site is Flash) From their site: “Design Can Change is simple.It works on the belief that our industry can make positive change by working together. Use this resource as a starting point to help bring our community together to encourage sustainable practices.”

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Ecofont – I first read about this new font in National Geographic, and thought this was a great idea, so I visited the website and downloaded the font.
From their site: “Appealing ideas are often simple: how much of a letter can be removed while maintaining readability? After extensive testing with all kinds of shapes, the best results were achieved using small circles. After lots of late hours (and coffee) this resulted in a font that uses up to 20% less ink. Free to download, free to use. There is also a print solution for business environments: Ecofont Professional.”

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Design it Greener – From their site: “Designitgreener is an all-inclusive resource for the graphic, packaging, industrial, interior and architectural design industries. At designitgreener.com, we’re helping designers stay informed and educated on the latest and greatest in all realms of green design by providing news, tips and advice, a glossary of common green terms and a green design gallery where designers will find inspiration to help begin and continue to make green choices a part of their everyday design practices.”

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Green Press Initiative – From their site: “Green Press Initiative is committed to advancing sustainable patterns of production and consumption within the U.S. book and newspaper industries and within the paper industry at large. GPI also advances policy innovations related to paper and climate change and recycling and incubates pioneering new strategies for market transformation.”

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Re-Nourish – From their site:“…Re-nourish is here to help designers sort it all out. Sustainability, at its heart, is a framework for developing economic, social, and environmental systems that meet the needs of both current and future generations.”

Over the years I have donated my design work to various organizations including the Hoboken 9/11 Memorial Committee, Jubilee Center of Hoboken (for Children), The Central Avenue Special Improvement District, www.jcheights.com, Actors Shakespeare Company at NJCU, www.ascnj.org,  Hudson Theatre Ensemble,www.hudsontheatreensemble.com and Chameleon Theatre Company Ltd, http://chameleontheatrecompanyltd.org.

A few years ago, I launched this line of environmental concept t-shirts to promote “green” living. They are meant to be suggestive, for example, encouraging people to ride a bicycle or to stop littering. The response to these t-shirts was quite positive, but I knew there was still more I could do. I was inspired to make a greater impact environmentally, using my graphic design skills.

In April 2009, I partnered with Mary Jo Rhodes, author of nature books, to create a custom blog, FROGS ARE GREEN, with which we hope to increase awareness about the massive worldwide amphibian decline (up to one-third of species are threatened with extinction). Because frogs are an indicator species of a healthy environment, we also hope to spread the message that healthy frogs mean a healthy planet for all.

The joy of working on this blog has been that we are reaching people all over the world who care about our cause, and it’s a great way to spread our message.