SF IDSA Digging Deeper Conference

Last Tuesday evening nearly 200 designers, consultants, architects, students, and other industry professionals gathered at the San Francisco Temple Club for an evening of presentations, panel discussion, green design dialogue, and eco-material petting. The event was an after-work conference hosted the the San Francisco IDSA chapter. The conference was titled “Digging Deeper: Building Blocks for Sustainable Design”. The mission of the panel discussion was to dig deeper and stir up the questions less comfortable to approach about sustainability and to discuss how to move forward into the next level of sustainability within design influenced professions. The conversation had a heavy focus on our impact as professionals in the field of design and our responsibility to represent educated sustainable design to our clients. The panel, with representatives from the field of design to life cycle analysis to trendspotting, went as far as to mention our responsibility to reject some product requests from clients if they are deemed unnecessary and to react with options for innovation in a more sustainable direction.

The six person panel was comprised of Ted Howes, panel moderator and Director of Sustainability at IDEO, SF; Travis Lee, Sustainable Engineering Lead at Lunar Design; Alexander Rose, Executive Director of the Long Now Foundation, Joep Meijer, founder of The Right Environment; Fransciose Serralta, Strategic Research and Planning Director at Peclars Paris; Nathan Shedroff, chair of the ground-breaking MBA in Design Strategy at California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco; and finally Dawn Danby, Directory of Sustainability at Autodesk;



As Ecolect, we made our presence by hosting an “eco-materials petting zoo”. We featured 20 chosen materials from the Ecolect website that have unique properties with a leading sustainability performance. The zoo was a hit! We observed people petting, reading, inquiring, and even sharing their newly found material inspiration. The “zoo keepers” were Ecolect Co-founder and President, Joe Gebbia, Materials Correspondent, Elizabeth Redmond (myself), and all-the-way-from-Italy Ecolect intern, Alice Bertola.

Also, presenting and speaking on the panel was Ecolect’s LCA collaborator Joep Meijer of The Right Environment. Joep linked up with the Ecolect team nearly four months ago and is now our primary LCA collaborator on all Ecolect Consulting, through which we are actively working with a fortune 500 toy company to green 4 product lines. Joep is also actively helping us define the framework for our soon to be released Ecolect Eco-Materials Nutrition Label which we shared with many of you attendants.

For those of you who attended last Tuesday and have questions for us, want to share something with us, or simply want to reach out…leave us a comment. For those of you who missed the evening’s event, we hope to be in a town near you in the near future with our travelling eco-materials petting zoo.

Come See the VW Tiguan in San Francisco Tomorrow!

On Thursday, June 12, Volkswagen will host an exclusive media preview to showcase the latest innovations toward environmental sustainability. The event is the debut for the Tiguan HyMotion, the company’s first fuel cell hybrid compact SUV concept vehicle, powered by a zero emission electric motor.  Those attending the event will have a rare opportunity to view and test drive the HyMotion prototype, one of only two hydrogen powered compact SUV’s in the world.  As an added bonus, Volkswagen’s new “Clean Diesel” Jetta will also be available to test drive.  This sounds like a great opportunity to check out Volkswagen’s efforts to develop their own line of fuel efficient vehicles!

*If you are interested, RSVP to lzantop@mww.com

Thursday, June 12 2008
12-1 PM (Lunch)
1-4 PM (Press conference, demonstration, Q&A, test drive)

W Hotel
181 3rd Street
San Francisco, CA

Strategies for Shaping a Sustainable Future: THINK B.I.G. at Brown University

In order to keep the motivation level rolling beyond Earth Week, please turn your attention towards several climate change initiatives that have been going on within the college student community. In one example from Thursday, April 24 to Saturday, April 26, Brown University took their environmental stewardship to the next level by launching their first Brown is Green 2008: Strategies for Shaping a Sustainable Future, with a series of amazing lectures from a range of disciplines. While bringing together a wide range of prominent leaders, from renowned scientists, policymakers, and CEOs, to designers, community leaders, activists, and artists, this approach demonstrated how a community can make an impact on different levels, from both bottom-up to top-down. Their goal was “to bring attention to the connections between seemingly different practices and industries that have all aligned to work on climate change and sustainability issues.” The list of notable attendees included State Treasurer Caprio, Governor Carcieri, Mayor Cicilline, Senator Whitehouse, Ira Magaziner of the Clinton Foundation and the administration of President Clinton, Adam Werbach of Saatchi and Saatichi S, renowned green architect John Picard, and Stephen Schneider, a lead climate scientist of the Nobel laureate UN FCC.

Of particular note, were Adam Werbach, global CEO of the leading sustainable marketing firm Saatchi and Saatchi S (former head of Sierra Club, and a 1995 Brown Alum), and Ira Magaziner, chairman of the Clinton Climate Initiative and the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative. Werbach described his mission as “closing the gap between two bookends.” He believes that one of the challenges is to reduce the polarization between the wealthy nations, and those that are in desperate need of help because of the existential threat that global-scale climate change is. In striving to solve this dilemma, Werbach suggests that sustainability needs to engage people at a consumer level. “Whose environment are we talking about?” he asks, and how do we make sustainability of the market place matter?

This is where PSP (Personal Sustainability Plan) comes in; one of Wal-Mart’s climate initiative schemes asks its staff to commit to a personal resolution. Through the PSP, leadership, respect for oneself, others, and the environment are learned. The incentive to go on a diet or quit smoking in return, are more effective when in a sustainability context, and treats behavioral change in a completely holistic manner. Granted, you would think Werbach wouldn’t engage himself to be a part of the Wal-Mart monopoly, but what was admirable, was his reasoning in taking on this monster. It is a perfect opportunity to make the biggest impact on the greatest number of people. Small changes like this, must occur from the bottom up, but motivation also needs to be inspired from the top down.

In addition to Adam Werbach’s approach, it is important to consider that of Ira Magaziner, who offers a more political perspective on climate change. In the course of his lecture, Magaziner spoke about the many different strategic steps the Clinton Climate Initiative has taken, one rather interesting example being the concept of combining the retrofitting of buildings with energy service companies (by working with building owners), so as to reduce overall energy use. This strategy involves municipal buildings, commercial real estate, public housing, and schools and universities worldwide. What is most impressive is that none of this is funded through government subsidies, and the goal is to jump start the market through new jobs and opportunity. In that the Clinton Climate Initiative has partnered with the 45 largest cities in the world, the potential exists for it to have a major lasting impact.

For those unable to attend, please visit this link to the Conference Agenda.

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Eleonore de Lusignan is an Ecolect guest blogger and a soon-to-graduate Industrial Design student at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI.

3rd Coast Launch Party- a Success!

Last Friday, January 18 we hosted yet another rewarding and successful event. In collaboration with like-minded sustainable clothing company Nau (thank you Shaun), Ecolect hosted a launch on our nation’s 3rd coast in Chicago! As an attempt to open up our community to the Midwest region and the “land locked” states, we invited designers, architects, industry leaders, material manufacturers, students, sustainability aficionados and scholars, and many more. The goal was to create new relationships and expose Ecolect to the Chicago community. With great success, conversations were stimulated, ideas were exchanged, comments were taken, and the good word was spread.

For those of you who were in attendance, thank you for coming! It was a pleasure to meet you all and we look forward to opportunities for collaboration in the future. Please get active on the site, sign up, leave us some comments, and watch for your photo on our “Daily GreenBoard” blog!

To see more photos from the event, check out the set on flickr.

Thomas Friedman talks green at Poptech

The best selling author of “The World is Flat” gives an insightful discourse on energy, green, and globalization at the 2006 Poptech conference.

Continuum Article Posted

Ecolect recently attended a day long conference at Continuum’s headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Read our thoughts, see our pictures, and watch the videos.

The Green Festival

This weekend San Francisco is hosting the Green Festival. The event gathers thought leaders, progressive companies and organizations celebrating what works for communities, for businesses and for the environment.

http://www.greenfestivals.org/

Check out their calendar, there will be events in Chicago and Seattle in 2008.