The Beijing Olympics are in full swing, and as the fever of national pride and the glory of breaking records sweeps through the world, Jonathan Barnbrook is asking designers to raise awareness about Tibet. Barnbrook, a well-known British graphic designer and typographer, has created a site called Remember Tibet with designer Pedro Inoue. The site encourages people to remember Tibet’s struggle for independence while the entire world has their eyes on the undemocratic government of China. The Olympics have brought to light many of China’s pollution problems as well as their not-so-stellar human rights record. But, instead of improving their human rights conditions as a result of being awarded the Olympics, China has actually made basic freedoms less available in its goal to create ‘stability’ and ‘harmony’ before the games.

The site was created in an effort to support the independence of Tibet through peaceful, non-violent resistance. Artists and designers are asked to contribute visual projects that raise awareness, but the site isn’t simply for people who want to express their discontent with the issue. Barnbrook says, “I don’t really want people to get hung up on the idea that this can change anything in isolation, it can’t. These works are just one tool of many which people will use to keep Tibet as a central issue in mainstream politics, as that is the only way things will change.” The creative arts have always played a role in forcing issues into the mainstream political agenda, and designers play an especially important role because we know how to put the pieces together in an effective way. It’s our job to bring visuals into the world that catch people’s eye. Why not use our skills to turn the focus towards Tibet. Thanks to the Olympics, half our job is done- the whole world is already looking that way.

www.remembertibet.org
www.barnbrook.net

There’s a mystery I’m trying to solve. It started with a swarm of people in a room, all abuzz about sustainability and its many guises. I overheard somebody talking about a particularly profound example of conspicuous conservation that seemed almost unbelievable to me, and I made a mental note to research it when I was next united with my laptop. My google skills are usually creepily good, but I was unable to track down anything definitive about this particular claim, so I remain in a state of skeptical curiosity, and am therefore reaching out into the no-doubt-vast network of sustainability-savvy folks who read this blog, in hopes that somebody somewhere will be able to provide an answer.

The mystery at hand: Are there people in Japan who put fake solar panels on their houses, just for the ecochicness of it all? Or is this just an urban legend, perhaps created by a clever Chindogu and a telephone gamey misunderstanding?

On the face of it, it just seems wrong that such a thing would exist. Yes, solar panels are so expensive that they’ve come to be seen as a luxury item in Japan, and yes, we know that people want to appear so green these days that 9 out of 10 people in the UK admit to telling little green lies to appear greener than they really are, but I simply cannot fathom the depravity of somebody who would actually go to the trouble of purchasing and installing fake solar panels. It would be like driving around in a fake Prius.

So you can see why I’m determined to find out whether these panels are real or not. If so, it would mean that conspicuous conservation has veered into new and disturbing territory. Our own research at egg has delved into the gap between green beliefs and green actions, but this data point, if true, would introduce a new category: the eco-fraud. It’s one thing for companies to greenwash, but quite another for individuals to go so far out of their way to blatantly misrepresent their energy sources. (Yes, I suppose one could make the tortured argument that fake panels will ultimately promote sales of real ones, but I’m not going there right now.)

So here’s what I found so far: a googlesearch for “fake solar panels” japan yields a paltry 28 hits. But no definitive answers. A handful of blog posts reference a now-defunct link to a TV show that apparently mentioned the fake panels. One guy thinks they’d make a great biz idea, but seems to think he came up with it. I uncovered no primary sources, no news articles, no images. So I expanded my search a bit, and learned that Japan makes 50% of the real solar panels in the world, that they’ve got big plans for solar (30% of homes by 2030), and that 80% of solar panel sales in Japan are made door-to-door. This last article was most revealing — it discussed how the panels are indeed considered a luxury item, but it had a captioned photograph of a standard-looking roof, saying Japanese prefer unobtrusive solar panals like these roof tiles. So at this point, I’m thoroughly confused.

I know that there are plenty of deeper mysteries out there, but I’m still rather curious about this one. So have at it: ask around, trawl the wayback machine, hop a carbon-offset flight to Tokyo. If you’re the first person who solves this little mystery, I’ll send you a special gift.

This will be perhaps the longest post yet of the egglog. But don’t worry, we aren’t going to start getting verbose here. It’s just that this particular post requires some storytelling.

In order to better understand consumers and their orientation towards sustainbiltiy, we frequently use the notion of a metaphorical pathway to describe the journey that people take in moving toward a more sustainable view on life, and the actions that go along with that way of thinking. Each step usually leads the traveler further down the path to the next milestone. Note: this is a conceptual framework with a hypothetical set of circumstances and milestones. Every person will have their very own unique version of the path to sustainability, with some lingering for quite a while at a certain point, and others leaping ahead in bounds.

The Path to Sustainability

Healthy
Local
Social responsibility
Environmental responsibility
Simple living
Control

First, keep these things in mind. They’re all part of sustainability.

Then, imagine a path that starts with a glimmer, a flicker, a desire for some sort of change, some sort of control over a chaotic situation. Maybe you’re trying to eat healthier, or starting to recycle, or starting to drive less, or maybe you’re just sick of the work buy consume die cycle and feeling the need for something higher, something more connected.

It often starts out with concern about me me me — my health, my kids’ health, my pocketbook, and then once you’re on the path for a bit, the systems thinking begins to kick in, and you start thinking about the deeper impact of the things you do, the impact not only on yourself and your family, but on other people in distant communities (like sweatshop workers), and the impact on nature, on animals, on the environment.

At the beginning of the path, maybe you start eating healthier, feeding your kid organic babyfood because you heard about the toxic effects of all the pesticides on human development. And maybe you read about the toxics in plastic babybottles, so you move to glass, and maybe you get rid of your old waterbottles and get some ones made of stainless steel. Maybe you start recycling because you have to, but then you start thinking about composting too, as you become aware of what you’re doing with your food waste, and the great effect of compost on your garden. Maybe you also read about the toxic effects of chemicals on your lawn and decide to let it go natural so it’s safe for your kids and pets to play on.

And continuing down the path, you realize that gas prices are insane, so you start to drive less, carpool, take the bus. You start thinking of the impact of fossil fuel consumption on the planet because you’re hearing more and more about global warming these days, and they say that by 2100 the coasts will be completely flooded and certain areas will be completely uninhabitable, so you try to minimize your fuel consumption more than ever, and you really want to buy a Prius when you get your next car.

You eat organic food all the time now, as low on the food chain as possible because you read about how badly animals are treated in factory farms, and how meat production is bad for the environment. You’d love to get solar panels for your house, maybe even a wind turbine. You use a water filter because you read about chlorine and fluoride being bad for you. You buy clothing from thrift shops sometimes, and you’re starting to shop less….

And maybe you start to collect rainwater from your roof and use if for your garden (which is by now completely chemical-free.) You won’t shop at Wal-Mart anymore, and all the coffee and chocolate you buy is fair trade. You read the labels on everything, and have stopped using toxic cleaning products in your home and toxic personal care products on your body. You shop at Whole Foods all the time, and try to get to farmers markets whenever possible. You’ve turned down the thermostat in your house, and everybody in your family has to wear more layers inside during the winter. You’ve eliminated most plastics now, and you’ve started making your own babyfood, and you’d love to get one of those cool urban chicken coops that you read about in Treehugger — fresh organic free-range eggs every morning!

In fact, you’re becoming more and more connected to things that feel more “authentic.” You’re getting into home remedies — using vinegar to clean, and taking echinacea for the flu. You’d love to learn how to can all that extra fruit you find at the farmers market. You’ve started volunteering with a local environmental group — you take the whole family out to do trash pickups every few weeks, and you’ve signed a few petitions about endangered species too. You’re really upset about the polar bears dying out because of global warming. You’d love to move out of the city and into a place that’s more connected with nature.

You start doing yoga more and more often, and you still haven’t gotten that Prius yet, but you take the bus and walk a lot, so it doesn’t really matter. You’ve done a home renovation to capture some passive solar rays, and you used all recycled materials and low VOC paint. You’ve turned most of your yard into a garden, and you use one of those old-fashioned push mowers. In fact, you seem to be doing a lot that might be considered “old-fashioned” these days. You’re unplugging as much as possible, spending more time with friends and family, simplifying your life in all sorts of ways. You consider the origins and impact of everything you put in your body now, and you also think carefully about how you spend your time and what you produce and consume. Every time you read about global warming getting worse and worse, you feel emotional and frustrated about the dire state of things and about all the progress that’s yet to be made.

You’ve finally done it. You’ve moved off the grid. You’re totally solar-powered now, you have a goat and chickens and you finally feel like you have control over your environment. You had an air purifier and a water filter when you lived in the city, but it just couldn’t compare to the feeling of purity you have now. Each of the steps you’ve been taking has given you such a sense of satisfaction, of greater connectedness to the whole, and you become more and more aware with each passing day at how far you’ve come from the mainstream. You cannot even enter a mainstream drugstore or grocery store without being acutely aware of how unsustainable most of the world still is — so many toxic products being sold, so much treating the symptoms and not the source of an illness, so much gratuitous commercialism and marketing that plays on people’s insecurities, such a glut of irrelevant parity products flooding the market. Yeah, once you’ve come this far down the path, it’s impossible to go backwards. But you really wouldn’t want to, anyhow, despite the challenges of living a considered life…..

The Duke Blue Devils Basketball team extended their record to 19-1 this Saturday, beating the Miami Hurricanes by a 15 point margin. And in the process, they burnished their brand just a bit more.

What might you ask, does this news event have to do with egg, our blog, the egglog, or anything at all related to sustainability? Well, besides the fact that Duke is the alma mater of each of egg’s 2 co-founders, Marty McDonald (a somewhat avid Blue Devil basketball fan himself) and Mindee Nodvin, the Devils put on quite the green show at Cameron this past Saturday, while handedly thrashing their ACC opponent. In the name of Focus The Nation Day, a national teach in on global warming solutions, and to symbolize Duke’s ongoing commitment to sustainable environmental practices, recycling and water conservation, the Cameron Crazies -– Duke’s enthusiastic student fans — donned green shirts, emblazoned with the slogan: BLEED BLUE, LIVE GREEN. The more enthusiastic fans skipped the shirts and just went for green paint. (VOC free, non-toxic, hopefully.)

Duke will purchase carbon offsets equivalent to the electricity, steam and transportation consumed by the game, working in partnership with the renewable-energy company NativeEnergy.

“Grassroots movements have a way of starting with the students,” said Jennie Dean, 24, a first-year graduate student in environmental management and one of the coordinators of Focus the Nation at Duke. “Global change is something we’re very concerned about, and it’s our future, so we’re doing something about it. We hope Focus the Nation starts a national dialogue.” We do, too. And if it means getting national exposure for the cause by suiting up for TV camera exposure during the popular Duke basketball games, more green power to them.

In many college communities, including Durham, the university represents the largest consumer of power and water. With thousands of residential units, fleets of vehicles and dozens, if not hundreds, of buildings, an American campus is like a city unto itself. But unlike most cities, a university can take sweeping steps to improve its environmental behavior.

And the issue has hit home recently as North Carolina is in the midst of a very serious water crisis. Duke’s sustainability coordinator, Tavey Capps, says, “We’ve been working quietly for several years now to improve the campus’ sustainability in water and energy use and to build more sustainable new buildings because it’s the right thing to do.”

You can find out more about what Duke is doing around sustianability by visiting their site. And of course, to find out more about how the Devils are doing on the hardwood, you can go here.

Go Duke. And Go Green.

After a very energizing weekend with the folks at LinkTV in San Francisco, we stopped by Compostmodern 08 on the way to the airport to get wound up even a little more. It was a great line up for this event’s 4th year, where “brilliant ideas, practical solutions, drama, inspiration, eye candy and some tough questions” all converge in consideration of a transition to a sustainable society.

Our green guy emcee and man of many green properties Joel Makower kicked off the gathering with a framing of the green business timeline, and then handed the mike over to the always entertaining Alex Steffen from World Changing, whose powerful, pointed Powerpoint usually gets the crowd thoroughly roused. The day was filled with leading designers presenting case studies on their work in design toward a less unsustainable world. There was Mark Galbraith of cool green clothing company NAU, Jeff Walker of VSA Partners, who made a solid enough pitch of (his) work with GE on Ecomagination, Valerie Casey of IDEO, Jane Savage from Nike who we shared a panel with at Discover Brilliant in Seattle last year, and Scott Stowell of Open Studios whose work on Good magazine is better than good. Adam Werbach of Walmart “Personal Sustainability Project” fame keynoted out the affair to end on an upbeat we-can-do-it-one-small-step-at-a-time note (which ironically was quite the opposite message coming from Alex at the outset, who made it clear what he felt about individuals’ small efforts to address the planet’s problems).

Here’s to AIGA in the Bay Area for a very good event. Keep up the good work Phil, Gaby, Marc, and Jeff. And bring it to Seattle, please.

This past weekend, we attended the 2007 Net Impact Conference at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN to discuss and discover what the next generation of MBA students will do to make our world more sustainable.

This year’s conference, the world’s largest ever gathering of socially responsible graduate business students and young professionals, attested to the dramatically increased interest among leading corporations in corporate social responsibility with more than 30 major organizations, an unprecedented number for this fast-growing event, pledging their support and sponsorship for the conference. We saw flagship logos from the likes of Dow, Dupont, Starbucks, McDonalds and Microsoft purposefully displayed throughout the conference, and Dow even sent their Chairman & CEO, Chad Holliday, down to keynote the conference. There was no mistaking that the era of CSR has arrived in full force, and it’s no surprise considering the following stats:

• 79% of MBA’s indicated they would seek employment that is socially responsible in the course of their careers, and 59% said they would do so immediately following business school.
• 89% said business professionals should take social and environmental impacts into account when making business decisions.
• 81% agreed with a statement that businesses should work toward the betterment of society, although only 18% believed most corporations are currently working toward that goal.

We found the opening remarks by Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard quite refreshing in a creatively pessimistic way. Interviewed by Andy Savitz, author of The Triple Bottom Line, Yvon pulled no punches in his brutally realistic outlook of the status quo, indicating with abrupt hand gestures the dissonance between projected population growth on the one hand, and non-renewable natural resources and ecosystem stability on the other.

Along with an overabundance of fantastic panels, covering everything from The International Business Challenge: Balancing your company’s identity with local culture to Making Waves: How social entrepreneurs bring about change, egg’s own Marty McDonald was a featured speaker on the subject of Green Branding: Engaging the Consumer, along with Nick Aster of TreeHugger.com, Perry Goldschein of SRB Marketing, Inc. and Brian LaValle of EcoMedia.

Happy takeaways: the conference’s use of the old-school Hatch Show Print shop for all of their design and printing, and a few memorable foodie visits including the very well-known Loveless Cafe, and the considerably less well-known Smokin’ Ed’s Barbecue.

In our last installment of Running the Talk, we began the journey towards carbon neutrality, and quite the journey it has been. Finally, a few weeks ago, we pulled into the garage, parked the car, got out and came inside. The trip is over, our itchy eyes have been opened, and we have seen the carbon neutral world. Sorta’.

egg has been a green power buyer since 2005, but story after story weighed down on us like a high-pressure front until one news item led to the last carbon that broke the compound’s back, and we felt the burning urge to take a stand. After all, not too many companies out there have undertaken such an endeavor, much less ad agencies—none that we are aware of—so if not us, who? We declare, the carbon neutralization of the branding and advertising worlds starts here!

In spite of the warming debate among the few holdouts, we felt the need to step up, not only to the green power purchasing plane, but beyond. Nothing less than a strategic carbon reduction plan, with the ultimate goal of full-bore carbon neutrality, would do.

Our carbon inventory included all of the energy emitted from our staff and contractors employed to make the powerful stuff we create, but not clients, supply chain, or media. It’s a start, right? In the process, though, we decided our next steps should include quantifying the carbon inventory for the execution of an average website, online ad plan, event, print ad and TV spot, so that we can add these carbon neutral marketing tools to our powered up list of socially responsible solutions. Next up: The Carbon Neutral Super Bowl spot with offsets starting at $100,000.

Overall, our steam heat and bus use were the biggest carbon hogs, with airline travel and paper usage a close second. Recommendations for energy efficiencies include “the little things” like (#3) installing SNAP CO2 savers to reduce computer energy usage by up to 80% in sleep mode, and (#11) opting for two day UPS shipping instead of overnight, (# 12) adjusting paper margins to reduce the # of pages printed, but we are most charged with (#19) the idea of organizing other tenants to create critical mass to encourage our landlord to install waterless urinals in the men’s bathrooms, low-flow faucets, and hopefully bike racks, and lockers. Communal compost bins would be icing on the carbon cake. Now if we can just find the time to gather all of those tenant signatures.

In the fleeting shafts of summer sunlight, we trekked through Discovery Park to the Daybreak Star Center to attend Salmon Nation’s AMERICAN HERITAGE PICNIC today. Open to members of both Chefs Collaborative and Slow Food Seattle, we were obviously anticipating great food, but keynote and RAFT founder Gary Nabhan was the main course.

Gary Paul Nabhan, Ph.D., is a writer, lecturer and world-renown conservation scientist. He is Director of the Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University, and has become a leading voice for conserving and renovating native plant agriculture in the Americas. Over three decades, he has worked with more than a dozen indigenous communities on cross-cultural initiatives to revive indigenous foods to prevent diabetes, to restore ancient agricultural landscapes and to honor traditional knowledge. Gary spoke of the need to support (by enjoyment) the threatened foods of “the Salmon Nation”, which constitutes the extensive water and food shed of the many Pacific Northwest Salmon species.

A food conservation rockstar in his own right, Nabhan shared the spotlight with luminary Seattle chefs such as James Beard Foundation award winners John Sundstrom from Lark, Thierry Rautureau from Rover’s, Tamara Murphy from Brasa, and Fernando Divina from Tendrils. The local vittles bill of fare was mouth-watering beyond belief and constituted such delicacies as Lummi Island Wild Salmon’s wild reefnet-caught salmon with heirloom tomato and roasted corn relish, mountain niche farm rotisserie leg of Navajo-Churro lamb stuffed with chard and olives, wild chanterelle and lobster mushrooms, Makah Ozette potatoes, local corn, peppers, and tomatoes, wild huckleberries, and locally made cheese from Mt. Townsend Creamery and wines from Willamette Valley Vineyards. Phew! A perfect case study of how the idea and precepts of sustainability can work through the notion of what we extol at egg as “enlightened self-interest”. Indeed, today, selling sustainability couldn’t seem easier.