Readymade, the book by the founders of the magazine with the same name, is a perfect marriage between sustainability and stellar book design. It features dozens of useful projects (organized by material: paper, plastic, wood, metal, glass, and fabric) most of which can be created with discarded materials from around the house. Although the publication has been out for a few years, I constantly return to appreciating the clarity of its design vision. If you love DIY and/or an amazing book with tons of projects and humorous tidbits and facts, this is the must-have for your library.

Our design organization, Spark, and the AIGA/NY (Association of Professional Design, New York Chapter) are coming together to host the AIGA’s first series of green events for graphic design on April 6th, 2010. As the current President of Spark and Director of Outreach for the AIGA’s Center for Sustainable Design, I will be moderating the panel discussion on “How to Lead Clients Towards Being Green.”

Aimed at principals of design firms and directors of new business, this conversation will dig into the sales process, and seeks to uncover  practices that firms large and small can implement to lead even the most ecologically unaware clients towards more sustainable practices.

In a small victory for the environmentally friendly, The Cottonelle Roll Poll unveiled yesterday that 72% of Americans roll their toilet paper over instead of under. Surprisingly, it seems that this popular habit is also good for the environment as well. In an independent study, the blog Current Configuration reported that the mechanics of unfurling toilet paper over the top actually uses less toilet paper. In their full report, Current Configuration studied the angle of users sight lines, the number of sheets exposed, and the number of squares pulled off as a result of rolling over versus under. For those of you who roll under perhaps this is  the final reason to switch.

Much like snowflakes, no two MSLK business cards are alike. The reason for this is simple: we use recycled paper as the base, and wrap pre-printed stickers around them. It’s all part of our firm’s environmental commitment, repurposing makereadies — the waste from offset printing — to use as business cards.

It’s an approach that caught the attention of Marc Praquin, designer, author, and publisher of the 288 page, full-color book, “MyOwnBusinessCard – VolumeOne”

Skipping the plastic bag while shopping isn’t just great for the environment – the alternatives can also be so much more fashionable. Stockholm’s Stadsmission, the Swedish equivalent to the Salvation Army, repurposes clothes and fabrics that can’t be retailed into super eco-friendly shopping bags. Created in collaboration with the renowned Swedish architecture group Claesson Koivisto Rune, this line of shopping bags is marketed under the brand Remake.

Despite the frigid cold after a giant snowstorm, a glimpse of spring was in the air today as I walked by the Anthropologie flagship in Rockefeller Center. Their store window displays were not only spring-themed, they also have a wonderful eco-theme, too. They’re made from plastic bottles collected from their customers.



MSLK’s two eco-art installations “2663 Urban Tumbleweeds” and “Watershed” are featured in a new art compilation entitled “Urban Interventions – Personal Projects in Public Places.“

The editor, Matthias Huebner, states:
Evolving from graffiti and street art, urban interventions are the next generation of artwork to hit public space. Using any and all of the components that make up urban landscapes, these mostly spatial works bring art to the masses. They turn the street into a studio, laboratory, club, and gallery and challenge us to rediscover our environment and interact with it in new ways. This is the first book to document these very current, personal art projects in a comprehensive way. It shows the growing connections and interplay of this scene with art, architecture, performance, and installation as it turns public spaces into surprising and provoking individual experiences.

To order an advanced copy, click here.
For more information, follow the jump…

Influenced by the economy, it seems that the eco message in the 2010 Superbowl was heavily downplayed this year. Gone were commercials of companies promoting their sustainable track records and making a difference. Instead there was very little green message at all, except this spot for the Audi A3 TDI® clean diesel. The notable message is, while other cars are stopped in traffic at an eco-check point, the Audi driver is allowed to pass on through. However, based on consumer reactions, the bigger take away seems to be, “There’s those eco-nuts again, overreacting about my garbage and getting in my business.”

This spring, Socrates Sculpture Park will be producing a show that seeks to examine the presence of nature within the fabric of urban life. We at MSLK are always looking for opportunities to create awareness on the impact of our mass consumption and have retooled our two eco-art installations to fit this bill. Since we believe in acting locally and thinking globally, we’re always thrilled when we get the opportunity to display our work in our own Long Island City community. Here are our two proposals:

If a takeout container is a temporary vessel designed to transport food from a restaurant to your home, then why is it made out of plastic, a material which is most enduring? Worst yet, containers like polystyrene clam shells leech toxins into your food and are currently not recyclable in any state due to their lightweight and high cost of recycling.

As a resolution for 2010 I’ve decided to make a change. I’m saying no to plastic takeout containers. I don’t want to buy food that comes in them, and I most certainly don’t want to take home my leftovers at the end of a meal in them.

This is the kind of design innovation we all should all be doing. Why can’t all our outdoor lighting be solar powered? It’s an even input to output exchange, no coal power should be expended.

From lanterns, to garland, and pathway lighting it looks like IKEA’s got you covered. Look for the items to enter stores near you this spring! If you see them let me know; I’ve got my eye on some myself.

Ever feel like you have problems that no one has any solutions to? Help Remedies may have an answer for you.

Don’t know what to wear?

Never been kissed?

Or maybe you just have a song stuck in your head?

Help Remedies have collected humorous (yet helpful) answers to all these questions and lots more. The brand is known for its elegant, minimal design and eco-friendly packaging, but they’ve also come up with great ways to get their customers involved in the brand.  The Help I’m Bored page is amusing and a great way to start a Monday morning.  It also gives a good idea of what the brand stands for: making it simple to solve simple health issues.

The October issue of Graphic Design USA was dedicated to green design, and featured MSLK prominently:

- Page 20 turns its attention to our project Watershed, with a quote from Sheri Koetting about our eco art installation.

- Page 45 runs an agency profile about MSLK with an interview with Sheri and I speaking about the ways in which MSLK is a green design firm, and why.

We’ve re-run the interview after the jump…

Today is the first day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. For the next 11 days representatives from 170 countries accompanied by non-governmental organizations, journalists, business representatives, and personal enthusiast totaling an estimated 8,000 people are gathering to advocate reform to prevent global warming and climate changes. We met some of these advocates back in September during the UN’s Climate Week when they were beginning their rally cry.

One of the efforts to raise awareness and support for this global effort is grass roots effort called “Hopenhagen”. The people behind Hopenhagen are volunteers  from the International Advertising Association, advertising, marketing and communications industries who have donated their time and resources to do what they do best, create an awareness campaign. Through this campaign, they hope to, “Connect every person, every city, and every nation to Copenhagen. To give everyone hope, and a platform from which to act. To create a grassroots movement that’s powerful enough to influence change.”

Twelve months after resolving to give up bottled water I can safely say my days of drinking bottled water are 100% behind me. With a new year’s goal to reduce my consumption down to no more than 12, or one per month, to date I have consumed only 4 disposable bottles of water, 3 of which happened in the first few months getting started. Since March I’ve been able to completely eradicate disposable bottled water from my life. Here’s how:

The holiday season is just around corner, and its time to start thinking about gift-giving.

To some, holiday shopping can be an overwhelming task with all of the consumer clutter out there. Fear not, our studio has compiled a comprehensive list of our favorite tips and places for gift-giving with panache.

From the design geek to the philathropist, we’ve got you covered for virtually everyone on your list. Click below to see!

If a picture tells a thousand words, then a movie shot at 24 frames per second surely has even more to say. Months ago when we set out to tell compelling stories of MSLK’s process, our environmental commitment, and the people behind MSLK, we found that words and pictures alone were simply not compelling enough.

Thus begun a long process of creating short movies.

In an effort to think cradle-to-cradle Starbucks is taking on the 58 billion paper cups American’s use annually. As a company contributing an estimated 3 billion cups into the waste stream annually, Starbucks goal is to make all paper cups 100% recyclable by 2012.

In a twist of sustainability meets alchemy, Washington, DC-based Envion can turn  plastic back into oil, producing a net gain in energy recaptured. The Envion Oil Generator™ uses proprietary low temperature thermal cracking technology to transform almost any type of plastic (without presorting or cleaning) into light oil, medium oil, and emulsified oil.

According to their website this is possible because as a derivative of petroleum, plastic has a high level of stored energy content. Apparently the energy stored is almost equal to gasoline and is 51% higher than the energy stored in coal.