Posts Tagged ‘postcards’

Crafting Mementos

black bearThis past week, I had the amazing opportunity to visit and enjoy Yellowstone, our nations first national park. I had never been and was completely amazed and overwhelmed by the vast mountains and wondrous landscape. I had the chance to see grizzly bears, wolves, bison, elk, otter, antelope and so much more.

Seeing such amazing wildlife just reinforced why I care so much about this planet and why we need to find a balance between people and wildlife. It solidified in my mind just how precarious that balance is and how precious clean air, water and land really is.

Like a typical tourist, I spent some time perusing gift shops at various points of interest throughout the park. I was taken aback by the amount of well, stuff, to put it politely, that I found in them. Much of the, ahem, stuff, was made from China, too. All I could think of was lead and the recalls. Ick. But I really wanted to bring back something special to the special people in my life.

Give a Hoot

Blue Journal Based in Birmingham, “Owlbama,” Night Owl Paper Goods is a letterpress stationary company that gives a hoot about the environment.

Their letterpress designs are printed on sustainability harvested yellow birch, creating unique postcards and journals. The wood is sliced thin to produce a large number of cards from a small amount of raw material. Each piece is different due to the variation in the wood grain and very little water and power is used in [...]

Earth Hour: Tooth fairy delusion or one hour vigil?

Image source: http://timblair.net | Lights out for Sydney, Australia 2007

An http://greenprinteronline.com dispatch. 

Earth Hour is tonight, March 29th from 8 to 9 pm. The idea is to turn off the lights as a symbolic gesture that us citizens, business owners, uber-corporations (hello, Google’s black screen, hello McDonalds in Toronto saving 10 000 kilowatt hours) local governments and non-profit groups are taking climate change seriously.

Despite gripes that Earth Hour falls on the NCAA basketball regional, it’s lights out for over 23 major cities worldwide like Toronto and Bangkok.

(Not So New) Markets for Green Businesses: Law, accounting and architecture firms

Image source | www.jiinjoo.com

An http://greenprinteronline.com dispatch.
When asked: how “green” are you, the brains behind accounting, IT and architectural firms who, kudos to them – both the closet greens or eco-warriors who proudly bear their eco-badge on their sleeve – jump up to say that they are helping their clients drive sustainability solutions.

Even lawyers are realizing their impact on their environment. No seriously, lawyers are sharp enough to know that using all that virgin paper cannot be good to the environment.

But when it comes to driving internal sustainability initiatives? Many still respond by: “we recycle”. Period.

A green biz guide to recycling electronics - Origin Design does “Mission Zero”

 

Photos by Chris Jordan | “Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption”

Design Goes Green - The first of a series of articles by Green Printer on the cross-section between the environment, business and the creative communications industry.

According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, used or unwanted electronics amounted to 1.9 to 2.2 million tons in 2005, with most of that ending up in landfills. We did a post earlier on the how the chemicals that seep into the soil, even decades later, can have harmful human health effects and the fact that heaps of the stuff are often left abandoned in developing countries.

Designer Nate Burgos on Internet innovation, Sustainability + ‘Design Activism’

Image Source: http://www.replate.org

We ask design guru Nate Burgos, named Fast Company’s debut “Fast 50 Champions of Innovation“, to reflect on how the Internet changed how designers ‘make connections’ and why government and ‘big business’ should care about environmental sustainability and design activism.

Our take: major organizations should take a cue from the incredibly creative and nimble ways designers (who often, historically speaking, have a pulse on how online mediums work faster than business) are using the Internet and multi-media platforms to attract highly engaged users - not to mention high web traffic rates.

Here are nine websites to watch and more on what the ever quotable Burgos said on design activism, the Internet and sustainability…

40 tips to “Eco” your Marketing Package in 60 Seconds or Less

Image source: www.futureproofnola.com.

Design Goes Green - The first of a series of articles by Green Printer on the cross-section between the environment, business and the creative communications industry.

At some point, one comes to the inevitable conclusion that in order to “green” your marketing material, one needs to take a little extra time to plan ahead and live a “slow food” version of marketing. Yes, I hear the snickers and yes, even marketing speed demons can learn a thing or two from the slow movement.

So, for all you energizer bunnies out there, here are a few tips from Montreal based Vivace Design‘ s Karine Himbeault that, incidentally, we found take 60 seconds or less to actually carry out.

The “Story of Stuff”: too Mulch Design?

Image source: www.inhabitat.com

Design Goes Green - The first of a series of articles by Green Printer on the cross-section between the environment, business and the creative communications industry.

Today, I caught the “story of stuff“: a 20-minute, fast-paced look at the dark underbelly of our consumption patterns. The clip exposes the links between a host of environmental and social issues while showing you the real cost of that $5 radio (metals from South Africa, 14 years olds from the Congo dropping out of school to work in factories…).

Green Your Ad Material: easy trends for 2008

Image Source: World Wildlife Federation - caption “15 km squared of rain forest disappears every minute”

A Design Goes Green Series by www.greenprinteronline.com.

Kevin Thompson of Rising Phoenix Design shares easy tips to green your advertising and marketing material in 2008.

Less is more.
If you’re smart, you can say a lot with very little. Thompson swears by low ink coverage for all Rising Phoenix Design printed pieces to create the sexy white space that you saw the big name ad firms use in their 2007 marketing material (the “Dear Ketel One Drinker. Can you find the subliminal message in this advertisement?” Followed by two-thirds of a page of white space ring a bell?)

Cut out “greenwashing” in 2008: a short guide to creating a real campaign

Image source: www.greenpeace.org

Design Goes Green - The first of a series of articles by Green Printer on the cross-section between the environment, business and the creative communications industry.

The market for sustainable goods and services is gigantic – an estimated $209 billion or 35 million consumers in the U.S. alone, according to a Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) study.

Think jumping on the “environmental-Armageddon-is-upon-us-we-are-doing something-about-it-hear-me-roar” business bandwagon will be easy? Think again.

Global warming deniers denounce Congress’ move to CFLs and LEDs

An http://www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.

LATEST in CFL Debate: No Actual Data on CFL migraine scare in The Daily Green

Conservative bloggers denounce US Congresses’ move to CFLs as a mercury health hazard and a “High Priest Al Gore of the Church of Global Warming of Modern Day Idiots (MDI)” falsity while of course, sourcing the “science” behind their claim as, what else, another conservative blogger’s opinion.

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