Great artwork made for WWF Brazil.
“There is a lot of life in a tree. Imagine in a forest.”
While we’re all busy counting food miles and building better windmills, we seldom take a step back and look at the elephant in the green room: our staggering population problem. Quite simply, we humans are too successful and we’ve got a sick planet getting sicker. Something’s got to give, but what? How? Population issues are a cultural, political, and moral hornet’s nest. But there is one factor that can influence population above any other: Women’s Rights. Empower women, save the planet. Of course, empowerment is a natural right of its own that needs no outer cause, but the fact that we might restore Terra Mama to boot sure sweetens the deal.
Whether to have children, and how many, is of course a very touchy subject. In underdeveloped countries the factors in these decisions tend to be immediate, whereas in developed countries we have the luxury of debating the long view. Eco-consciousness has made the womb a battleground, with each side claiming moral superiority and accusing the other of selfishness. Adoption is an ever-important conversation that brings out the passions. Those who have children are derisively called “breeders,” and there is serious talk of forced sterilization. There is even something called The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, which hopes that humanity will stop baby-making altogether and die out none too soon. As Orwellian or silly as these solutions may seem, they do remind us of the magnitude of our population problem. Even if we don’t adopt a China-style one-child approach, it’s clear that the days of big families need to be over. No one can argue that each new life – now with longer and longer life spans - creates a new carbon footprint.
Elang, an Indonesian student, swims in foamy, polluted waters after school, at the Pluit Dam in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Beawiharta)
![simko:
Ecoexist concept designed by Benjamin Parienté and Laurent Sciamma. Sylvain Allard explains:
Ecoexisting [implies being] conscious about our ecological footprint and trying to reduce it by changing some questionable habits. It does seem simple doesn’t it?This is what inspired students Benjamin Parienté and Laurent Sciamma in my Paris Workshop. They were proposing an exploration on the theme of the things we do for fun - like throwing rice to newly married people, or throwing water balloons or simply eating popcorn and proposing a thought for those who could make a better use of those goods. (via)](http://7.media.tumblr.com/eEpoSv5pDmi6j53utN71ldauo1_400.jpg)
Ecoexist concept designed by Benjamin Parienté and Laurent Sciamma. Sylvain Allard explains:
Ecoexisting [implies being] conscious about our ecological footprint and trying to reduce it by changing some questionable habits. It does seem simple doesn’t it?
This is what inspired students Benjamin Parienté and Laurent Sciamma in my Paris Workshop. They were proposing an exploration on the theme of the things we do for fun - like throwing rice to newly married people, or throwing water balloons or simply eating popcorn and proposing a thought for those who could make a better use of those goods. (via)
thanks to gregory mitnick, we now have a glimpse into the design process of baggu, one of the most functional eco-bags on the market. here, co-founder emily sugihara fills us in on her vision and shows us some unusual uses for her product.
![unconsumption:
“New Soap/Old Bottle [is] a product/service that buys brandname liquid soap and packages it up in reused bottles.
“Here’s the backstory:
“We sell brand name liquid soap packaged in old plastic soda bottles, plastic water bottles and glass beer bottles to help clean up our environments. Each bottle is cleaned, sanitized and processed for reuse as packaging for your favorite brand of liquid soap. Big companies aren’t going to do this on their own. So we’ll do it for them.
“We buy name brand liquid soap by the barrel and package it in old bottles here in America.
(More: Scott Amron’s new product: Selling new soap in old bottles - Core77)](http://4.media.tumblr.com/mQ9tYd2Pam5qxl7k72t07nqpo1_400.jpg)
“New Soap/Old Bottle [is] a product/service that buys brandname liquid soap and packages it up in reused bottles.
“Here’s the backstory:
“We sell brand name liquid soap packaged in old plastic soda bottles, plastic water bottles and glass beer bottles to help clean up our environments. Each bottle is cleaned, sanitized and processed for reuse as packaging for your favorite brand of liquid soap. Big companies aren’t going to do this on their own. So we’ll do it for them.
“We buy name brand liquid soap by the barrel and package it in old bottles here in America.
(More: Scott Amron’s new product: Selling new soap in old bottles - Core77)
Telenor, a cell phone provider in Norway, is encouraging users to trade in their old devices for recycling and reuse by offering to plant 25 trees for each returned cell phone (as an added incentive, users will also get 50 free SMSes).
(via Treehugger)
