Eco-friendly Design Without the Eco-friendly Product

Posted on November 14, 2009 by itees

Recently, I was shopping in an office supply store and came across some notebooks with the cover design on the outside promoting eco-friendly thinking, but the product didn’t say anywhere on it, that is was printed on recycled paper, or have any kind of logo or seal on it. So, I’m wondering why design something with the right type of message, but not go the next step and print it on recycled paper or FSC-certified paper? Because it usually costs a bit more. Regardless, they should have printed it the right way.

A few weeks ago I was watching the HBO program, Real Time with Bill Maher and he was talking about being in the supermarket and seeing the Froot Loops packaging that is advertising it’s a healthy, fruity, product? Agreeing with him that thinking of that cereal as healthy is a bit of a stretch considering the amount of sugar in that cereal.

Then I went to Cartridge World recently, to bring in my cartridges for recycling, and I see a new package on the wall called Ecco, so I think it’s eco-friendly ink. They even created green swirly packaging to make us think it’s eco-friendly. Nope, that’s just the name of the company.

It’s important to promote eco-friendly and green thinking, but let’s not try to fool people into buying a product that isn’t what it appears to be!

Have you seen any eco-friendly designs, or “green” packaging and the manufacturers did not follow through and actually produce them the right way? Send your comments in!

Vélib Bicycle System in Paris France

Posted on November 1, 2009 by itees

What could better than a bicycle system that works and makes our lives easier to manage? The Vélib Bicycle Rental System put into place in Paris, France is helping tourists and everyday travelers get from one part of the city to another. However, these expensive to produce bicycles made in Hungary are being stolen, showing up in Eastern Europe and northern Africa, as well as being vandalized. Reading about this in the NY Times, the bicycles are expensive to produce because of the locking system and sturdy construction. They have opened repair shops around the city and must repair 1,500 bicycles a day. In addition, 80% of the initial 20, 600 bicycles installed, have already been stolen.

Still, they are planning to produce more bicycles, and will invest in advertising, so they can reach adolescents and vandals and perhaps change what’s happening.

From the NY Times article:

…”We miscalculated the damage and theft,” said Albert Asserat, director of strategy, research and marketing at JCDecaux…“We made the bike stronger, ran ad campaigns against vandalism and tried to better inform people on the Web,” Mr. Asséraf said. But “the real solution is just individual respect…”

Hoboken, Jersey City, New York City and other metropolitan areas, should install this type of system, which would be an improvement and eco-friendly. When I bike down to Hoboken I have trouble finding a place to park my bicycle and I think having a system like this installed would reduce overcrowded bicycle parking. Imagine if this system was installed in New York City? Less taxis, buses, cars, and train rides.

If we had this, more people would ride from uptown to downtown, crosstown, getting much needed exercise and it would help “green” our cities. Why wait for a taxi, bus or train to get to the other side of town, when you can just take a bike and lock it back up at your destination.

Photo Expo and Picturehouse NY 2009

Posted on October 23, 2009 by itees

“The camera doesn’t take the photo, you do. Use your eye and your heart…” This is what I heard from one of the instructors at the Photo Expo at the Javits Center, yesterday. This event every October is quite overwhelming. As you walk in and see the multiple aisles, most are drawn to either their favorite vendor, to try out new cameras & amazing lenses, to see all sorts of new techniques and equipment, or to the print companies who are showing the quality of their printers. It’s also a gallery, since the best way to show how great the printers and papers are, is to display work. They’re showing famous celebrities or amazing scenics from around the world, taken by well respected photographers. There are also instructors giving free technique lessons in Photoshop for those interested at various company areas.

photo-expo-javits

photo-expo-nikon-cameras

One thing that I noticed this year was that Hewlett Packard was distributing a small pamphlet “Green IT for Dummies” (not for sale) created by Wiley. They also handed out a sell sheet featuring recycling information for large format banners, and had on display an example of what happens to ink cartridges when we recycle them, the process of how they are broken down, and eventually can be made back into cartridges again. To read more about what HP is doing, visit: http://www.hp.com/recycle

I then walked over to the company area for Epson printers and since I use these, always like to see what’s new as far as paper and equipment. I asked one of the employees about what Epson was doing to recycle catrtridges, paper, equipment and whether they are creating any recycled paper. He informed me that they didn’t have any literature about it, and that I should remember that their paper is part plastic, but to look at their site about their commitment to the future, which I did. Here’s what I found on the Epson corporate site:

Environmental Vision 2050:

Epson is aiming to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% across the lifecycle of all products and services by the year 2050. At the same time, as a member of the ecosystem Epson will continue to work towards restoring and protecting biodiversity*2 together with local communities.

Epson has set the following four key conditions in order to work towards achieving Environmental Vision 2050:

1.Reduction of CO2 emissions by 90% across the entire product life cycle.

2.Inclusion of all products in the resource reuse and recycling loop*3.

3.Reduction of direct CO2 emissions by 90%, and elimination of global warming gas emissions other than CO2.

4.Restoration and preservation of biodiversity as a member of the ecosystem, together with local communities.

“…Epson is aiming to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% across the lifecycle of all products and services by the year 2050. At the same time, as a member of the ecosystem Epson will continue to work towards restoring and protecting biodiversity together with local communities.

Epson has set the following four key conditions in order to work towards achieving Environmental Vision 2050:
1.Reduction of CO2 emissions by 90% across the entire product life cycle.
2.Inclusion of all products in the resource reuse and recycling loop.
3.Reduction of direct CO2 emissions by 90%, and elimination of global warming gas emissions other than CO2.
4.Restoration and preservation of biodiversity as a member of the ecosystem, together with local communities.

________________________________________

Picturehouse NY

Last week I attended Picturehouse NY, and this is always a favorite event of mine. All the photo stock agencies in one place and they are all so friendly and welcoming. Maybe it’s because we all do business through the internet and sometimes it’s nice to meet the people we work with, in person. It’s also nice to meet stock agencies that are just starting out and see what they’re offering. In some cases, I met the actual photographers in their booths. One of the agencies, Bridgeman, Art, Culture, History, had huge blow-ups of famous paintings with small cut-outs, and took our photograph with our face in place of the actual face, that was so funny and then they slipped the printed picture into a mousepad which I’m now using.

If you’ve never been to either of these FREE events, I highly recommend marking your calendar for next year. For anyone reading this today, Photo Expo at the Javits Center is still on, go now!