the insignificant ramblings of a disturbed graphic designer
Friday, August 22, 2008
Urge Sierra Pacific to be a better corporate citizen
Sierra Pacific Industries plans to cut down a million acres of California's forests in the next 50 years. SPI is one of the biggest landowners in California and owns most of the forest lands in the Sierra. Our forests are not all parks, like most American believe.
SPI has one of the worst environmental records of California's logging companies due to its years of clearcutting practices and steadfast resistance to adopting to a more sustainable forestry model.
ForestEthics is applying pressure to Sierra Pacific and you can help.
Posted by espd at 9:39 AM |
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Battle In Seattle
Next month will see the debut of an independent film about the 1999 demonstrations against the WTO in Seattle. The movie looks like it will be pretty good, not the average Hollywood tale in which the “terrorists” all have foreign accents. Independent director Stuart Townsend has taken pains to present the story from many points of view, including lead characters from amongst the protesters, the media, the police, and the general Seattle citizenry who got caught up in something they didn’t understand.
While the the film’s official site features the normal marketing pieces about the cast, et al, it also features three very personal and extremely interesting short clips in which Townsend talks about his impetus to write and make this movie. Even more interestingly, the site features a great deal of information about the issues the demonstrators were trying to bring to light (see screenshot below).
There’s even a separate site, Who Controls the World?, which acts as sort of a historical archive of the 1999 protests, featuring short video interviews with protest organizers and participants, a day-by-day timeline, participant memories, and much more about the pitfalls of globalization.
The film opens September 19 in San Francisco and a few other cities. For a higher quality version of the trailer, go to Apple.com. IMDB entry for Battle in Seattle.
Posted by espd at 7:16 PM |
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Monday, August 18, 2008
Free the Airwaves
Remember on old TVs how, when you used to switch from channel 5 to 7 (for example), there might be static on channel 6? Those unused spaces on the analog broadcast spectrum are called “white spaces.”
Currently more than half of the spectrum is unused. When TV broadcasters go fully digital-spectrum next year and discontinue their analog broadcasts altogether, there will be a lot more. A coalition including Google, Microsoft, Dell, and others, is asking the U.S. government to turn over white spaces to public use (broadcast spectrum is, after all, a legally recognized public resource). It could be used for better public access to wifi, Internet telephony, and many other things.
I predict this fight will get nasty when many other companies realize they stand to lose a lot too. Expect the traditional and cellular phone companies, for example, to form a similar coalition on the other side, lobbying Congress for strict licensing and fees which would effectively lock out public access the same way licensing has kept citizens from broadcasting their own TV or radio stations.
For more information, and to sign a petition, visit Free the Airwaves.
Posted by espd at 2:26 PM |
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Saturday, August 16, 2008
BushCo is trying to outlaw contraception, without congressional approval
From MoveOn:
Can you imagine living in a place where birth control is considered an “abortion” and health insurers won’t cover it? Where even rape victims are denied emergency contraception?
It seems unbelievable, but the Bush Administration is quietly trying to redefine “abortion” to include birth control. This could wipe out dozens of state laws that protect women’s reproductive freedom and protect rape victims. Access to basic health care for millions of women would be jeopardized. And it’s being pushed as a “rule change,” meaning: it doesn't need congressional approval.
Here’s what some others are saying about this proposal:
“The draft regulation would define birth control as abortion...it could deny access to critical family planning for women across the country.” [source: Letter signed by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and 26 other senators]
“The draft rule could void laws in 27 states that require insurance companies to provide birth control coverage for women requesting it [and] laws in 14 states requiring that rape victims receive counseling and access to emergency, day-after contraceptives.” [source: Houston Chronicle editorial]
“The administration needs to stop playing word games with women’s health and state clearly they will reject any regulations that will undermine women’s access to basic health care.” [source: Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.]
“The birth control pill, the IUD, and emergency contraception might all become unavailable — illegal — as a result.” [source: Brigid Riley, executive director of a Minnesota teen pregnancy prevention organization]
Posted by espd at 2:30 PM |
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Sunday, August 03, 2008
Hey "New York's finest," don't forget: You work for us
On July 25 a New York City rookie cop assaulted a bicyclist participating in a Critical Mass ride. According to the New York Times, Officer Patrick Pogan has sworn a statement that the cyclist, Christopher Long, rode straight at him. Clearly, the video (seen below) shows another story. Meanwhile, Long has been charged with attempted assault of a police officer, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.
This is why cops get a bad name. This is why people hate cops. The New York City Police Department needs a reality check. Perhaps forcibly making all officers learn the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights might help. Protest is not a crime. Bicycling is not a criminal activity. Assaulting a protester is a crime.
Hiring rookie cops who have anger management problems, gigantic chips on their shoulders, and the barest possible understanding of the concept of civil rights should be a crime, and the bureaucrats that do it should be put in jail.
Here's a second video that shows some of the tactics (and incompetence) of the NYPD in dealing with Critical Mass.
"Green" graffiti makes paint-free protests Photo gallery of culture jamming and graffiti techniques that don't rely on spray-paint. news.cnet.com/2300-13838_3-6242898-1.html
Posted by espd at 8:03 AM |
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Sunday, June 22, 2008
The girl effect
“70% of the world's out-of-school children are girls. Girls deserve better. They deserve quality education and the safe environments and support that allow them to get to school on time and stay there through adolescence.” www.girleffect.org
Posted by espd at 4:48 PM |
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Thursday, May 22, 2008
Junk mailers pay less for postage than you do – a lot less
While individuals now pay 42¢ to mail a regular letter, direct mail marketers have once again been granted a much lower rate by the government bureaucrats who make up the rules. It costs just as little as 14¢ to mail one of those credit card offers you got twelve of yesterday.
ForestEthics.org believes junk mailers shouldn't be rewarded for invading our privacy and destroying the environment. Less than 10% of Canada’s Boreal Forest is protected. It is being logged at a rate of 2 acres a minute, 24 hours a day, to make things like catalogs and junk mail.
The Do Not Mail campaign has collected over 40,000 signatures since March. If you haven't made your voice heard yet, do it now.
Posted by espd at 2:31 PM |
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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Tell politicians we need a Do Not Mail Registry
Unless you're a big fan of junk mail (I suppose there's someone out there like that) you may want to sign ForestEthics' petition to create a Do No Mail Registry that would work like the existing Do Not Call Registry.
An astonishing 100 billion pieces of junk mail are delivered in the U.S. each year, accounting for one-third of all the mail delivered in the world (!).
And guess whose forests are being cut down to make all that crap you just throw away?
Is Apple improving its environmental record, or is it just spin?
Did anyone else notice that Steve Jobs actually made it a point, albeit briefly, to talk about Apple's environmental goals at his MacWorld keynote last month?
When I was checking out the specs for the new MacBook Air on the Apple website I was astonished to see on the Tech Specs page, a big, bold box labeled Environmental Status Report.
A short while later I went looking for Apple's page on their environmental standards, which I had seen last year but wasn't sure where to find it since they've redesigned their site in the meantime. I went to the home page of Apple.com and figured I'd have to click on "Site Map" and then look for the link there, but I was surprised to see an "Environment" link at the bottom of the home page, right next to "Job Opportunities."
It all made me wonder whether Apple is beginning to do a better job with their product designs, or whether it's just their marketing department that's doing a better job with spin.
Likewise, in 2005 the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) launched it's Bad Apple campaign to criticize, among other things, the non-ubgradeability of the iPod and Apple's reluctance to institute a take-back solution for electronics recycling. (SVTC's campaign was itself criticized in a 2006 article on Roughly Drafted.)
I've been wondering if these two watchdog groups had been following Apple's progress and what their take was. Alas, the SVTC's website search sucks and Google doesn't seem to have even spidered their content (!), so I didn't find much there, although it seems that SVTC is still pushing Apple for shareholder resolutions that would improve its computer take-back efforts.
Meanwhile, Greenpeace seems to have discontinued its Green My Apple campaign after Steve Jobs issued a very public pronouncement last spring on a page titled "A Greener Apple," wherein he described the company's plans to, among other things, phase out some of the worst chemicals found in CRT monitors. I thought this was a little bit disingenuous on Apple's part, however, since it had been clear for a while that Apple was phasing out CRTs for business and product design reasons, not environmental ones. Jobs' letter also signaled improvements in e-waste reduction via upgrades to its electronics take-back program.
In a statement about Jobs' letter, Greenpeace said, "It's not everything we asked for. Apple has declared a phase-out of the worst chemicals in its product range, Brominated Fire Retardants (BFRs) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) by 2008. That beats Dell and other computer manufactures' pledge to phase them out by 2009... But while customers in the US will be able to return their Apple products for recycling knowing that their gear won't end up in the e-waste mountains of Asia and India, Apple isn't making that promise to anyone but customers in the USA. Elsewhere in the world, an Apple product today can still be tomorrow's e-waste. Other manufacturers offer worldwide takeback and recycling. Apple should too!" [Full article]
Greenpeace also issued a detailed analysis of Jobs' pronouncement last May. Almost a year later, though, they don't seem to have put out a follow-up yet. I hope they will.
Regardless of the potential for copyright abuses by P2P, BitTorrent and digital advocacy groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) make the valid point that Comcast, as the nation's second-largest internet service provider, has a duopoly on bandwidth and therefore a stranglehold on a public utility that shouldn't be subject to the whims of a single corporation.
This is core to the recent concerns raised about so-called "net neutrality," and SF Weekly's piece is a good primer. The EFF also has some additional information on Comcast's abuses of their subscribers.
"The Story of Stuff" is a 20-minute history lesson and an economics course all in one, but it won't put you to sleep like your professors did. It's a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns and was produced by Free Range Studios, the same folks who did "Store Wars" and "The Meatrix."
Posted by espd at 6:50 PM |
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Thursday, December 13, 2007
Thursday top 5 with extra sauce
The redgrrl and I shall be gone for the next ten days in Hawaii, so I'm graciously serving up this week's Top 5 with an extra helping to tide you over next week too. Don't gobble it all up in one sitting, you might get indigestion.
I hope you all have a good holiday, and I'll post pictures from Hawaii when we return. Oh, and the photoblog has been pre-loaded with new pics through Dec 30, so you'll get shiny new things to look at every day if you like. Come by often! Tell a friend! Take a number! Uh, I dunno what I'm talking about...
Terry Fator doing "What a Wonderful World" on "America's Got Talent" The Onion's AV Club included this song on their list of 23 Songs That Should Never Be Covered Again, but I gotta say this guy's rendition is entertaining.
PETA takes aim at the Olsen Twins Wow. I don't want to get on PETA's bad side. www.peta2.com/trollsens/
Inspirational corporate music video "El Pollo Loco and Denny's mah friend! Our future's so bright, We're gonna let it shine in!" Sooooo. Verrrry. Bad. How do the musicians who wrote and recorded this travesty look themselves in the mirror? www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f2jHaz25RE
Posted by espd at 3:35 PM |
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Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Design firms and ad agencies that work with environmental groups
I have a reputation for working with environmental nonprofits, so I still frequently get requests to do graphic design for green groups or companies. Usually I'm too busy and I just can't do it. Sometimes they ask for referrals.
So I finally compiled this list of other designers and firms that have worked with environmental groups. I'm including a few advertising and PR firms too, since green groups can almost always use some expertise in their publicity campaigns, plus those firms usually have designers on staff too, or work with freelancers.
I can't vouch for all of these. Some of them I've only heard of through the grapevine, but some of them I've met and really been impressed by.
LIST UPDATED 11-28-07: Innosanto from Design Action turned me on to a few more companies that specialize in design for social change, and I found a few others on a site called renourish.
a5 Group Inc. size: boutique location: Chicago IL, St. Louis MO, and Grand Rapids MI clients include:Green By Design, Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Environmental Protection Agency
Alto size: boutique location: Aotearoa, New Zealand clients include: The Sustainability Trust, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority
Another Limited Rebellion size: boutique location: Richmond, VA clients include: Vegan Action, Richmond Green Party, Center for an Urban Future
Eric Benson size: boutique location: Champaign, IL clients include: Whole Foods, MADD, Toyota
Big Think Studios size: boutique location: San Francisco, CA clients include: Bluewater Network, San Francisco Food Bank, United Nations World Environment Day, Center for Biological Diversity
Celery Design Collective size: boutique location: Berkeley, CA clients include: Elephant Pharmacy, The Natural Step, Alameda County Green Building
The Change size: boutique location: Chapel Hill, NC clients include: Fair Trade Resource Network, Higher Grounds, Sierra Club
Conscious Creative size: boutique location: Berkeley, CA clients include:In Defense of Animals, VegNews magazine, San Francisco Dept. of the Environment, Marin Environmental Film Festival
CSDesign size: boutique location:Melbourne, AUS, and London, UK clients include:Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenbuild Expo, The Fair Trade Company
Design Action Collective size: boutique location: Oakland, CA clients include: United States Social Forum, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Craigslist Foundation, Rainforest Action Network
Design for Social Impact size: boutique location:Philadelphia, PA clients include:Environmental Fund for Pennsylvania, The Nature Conservancy, Recycling Action, ForestEthics
Designarchy size: boutique location: San Francisco Bay Area clients include: Compassionate Cooks, Terrain magazine, American Cancer Society
Digital Hive Ecological Design size: boutique location: San Francisco Bay Area clients include: Institute for Environmental Entrepreneurship, WholeSoy & Co., Canal Alliance, Greener World Media
ecoLingo size: boutique location: Phoenix, AZ clients include: Phoenix Department of Health and Sustainability, Earth Accents, Valley Forward EarthFest
John Emerson size: boutique location: New York, NY clients include: Amnesty International, National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, Human Rights Watch
Fenton Communications size: large location: New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. clients include:Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Marine Conservation
Fibu Design size: boutique location: San Francisco, CA clients include: National Conversation on Climate Action, PG&E ClimateSmart, Media Fund, Help America Vote Act
Firebelly Design size: boutique location: Chicago, IL clients include: Sustainable Chicago, Awakening Organics, Midwest Wind Energy
Free Range Studios / Free Range Graphics size: boutique location: Washington, D.C. clients include: Amnesty International, Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy
Green Team size: boutique location: New York, NY and Tasmania, AUS clients include: Environmental Defense, World Resources Institute, National Geographic Society
Mark Bult Design How could I not include myself? size: boutique location: San Francisco, CA clients include: Amnesty International, Anne Frank Center, Bay Area Earth Day, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition
Metropolitan Group size: boutique location: Portland, OR clients include: Charles Darwin Foundation, National Park Foundation, The Wetlands Conservancy
Open size: boutique location: New York, NY clients include: EarthAction Network, Not In Our Name, Good magazine, The Nation
Palatal Collective size: boutique location: Kansas City, MO clients include: Pharos Project, Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Girl Scouts of Mid-America Council
Public Media Center size: large location: San Francisco, CA clients include: Earth Island Institute, Greenpeace, Foundation for Deep Ecology, Oceanic Society
Rizco Design & Communications size: boutique location: Manasquan, NJ clients include: Corbis, Huntington's Disease Society of America
Roughstock Studios size: boutique location: San Francisco, CA clients include: East West Herbs USA, Mission Arts Foundation, Search For Common Ground
Studio 7 Designs size: boutique location: Victoria, BC clients include:PESCO Environmental Solutions, Juniper Tree, UN Golden Chapter
Tumis size: boutique location: Oakland, CA clients include: Natural Heritage Institute, Strategic Action for a Just Economy, Urban Strategies Council
Underground Advertising size: boutique location: San Francisco, CA clients include: Environmental Defense, Union of Concerned Scientists, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Greenbelt Alliance
Vivace Design size: boutique location: Montreal, Quebec clients include:Tori Amos, Liberal Party of Canada (Quebec)
Willoughby Design Group size: boutique location: Kansas City, MO clients include:Hallmark, Kansas City Zoo, Women's Political Caucus, Sheridan's
The Friday after Thanksgiving is always Buy Nothing Day. "But wait," you say, "isn't that the biggest shopping day of the year?" Exactly. That's why it's Buy Nothing Day.
Adbusters has been trying to get a major network to air it spublic service messages for years, with no luck. This year, MTV said the message "goes further than we are willing to accept on our channels." To which Adbusters replies: "Gangsta rap and sexualized, semi-naked schoolgirls are okay, but apparently not a burping pig talking about consumption." Hunh.
Greenpeace has started a campaign against Kimberly-Clark, the company behind such brands as Kleenex, Scott, Viva, Cottonelle, and more.
Kimberly-Clark uses 100% virgin fiber for its Kleenex products and even boasts about it on their website. Because it's better for "softness." But their oh-so soft products come from unsustainably managed forests, predominantly logged by clearcutting.
While individuals now pay 42¢ to mail a regular letter, direct mail marketers have once again been granted a much lower rate by the government bureaucrats who make up the rules. It costs just as little as 14¢ to mail one of those credit card offers you got twelve of yesterday.
Likewise, in 2005 the 
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