This post goes out purposefully one day after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to honor the necessity for this man’s message to remain vital and ever present. We cannot contain the vast scope and importance of his work and its higher calling in a one day tribute, but rather should consider it a part of who we are each and every day.

The social aspects of sustainability are often overlooked, misunderstand, or misinterpreted. Recently at Compostmodern in San Francisco, some of the best and brightest designer minds were gathered to address the issues of sustainability as it relates to the design of our systems and society, but mostly the focus, feature, and understanding revolved around the environmental impact and considerations. And while respect for a clean and healthy living environment is critical in the big picture, even more important is our respect for others in the grand scheme of things. If in our pursuit of all things pro environment, we discover that we have lost our humanism, the trees have obscured our view of the forest, and we are in deep trouble. Understanding the quintessential nature of how our social systems interact with and complement our environmental ones is the key to understanding the true meaning of sustainability.

For today’s post we show a viral campaign we created about ten years ago in honor of the day and the mission of the man. Also included is the photograph that inspired the vision for the idea, which was to post these signs around Seattle above pairs of urinals, water fountains at airports, telephone booths and seats on buses.

The message below the words simply reads, “Thanks to Martin Luther King, Jr., signs like this don’t exist anymore. Remember him on January 18th.”

Perhaps it would have been better to say, January 18th, and beyond.