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From BALLE to LOCALISM

Starting work with BALLE national in late 2011, our task was none other than to make BALLE well-known and understood for its work and mission. With an oblique acronym and mixed messages holding them back, we crystallized the message and converted their mission--local--into the underpinnings of a movement. It was launched this week to the world (albeit, unfortunately, with some internal organizational design compromises). Be a Localist!

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GMO OMG

The latest ad in the GMO labeling debate in California. Strong ad. Let's see what Monsanto can come back with.

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Gold for Food Video

In line with the Olympic spirit of late, here is a brilliant video we like for Major Look by Bass Generation (feat. Ragga Twins), which sees food fighting elevated to an Olympic event. Director: Paris Zarcilla.
Check it out: 

 

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Fude

Strange, as it may seem to some of us, nanotechnology is working its way into our food.  Watch the slideshow and see where and how.

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Emissions Test

Because of a mild winter, reduced demand for gasoline and, most significantly, a drop in coal-fired electricity generation because of historically low natural gas prices, we actually have hit a 20-year low in U.S. carbon emissions. In part, this is due to the energy efficiency in natural gas. While this appears as good news, we should be cautious as to what this really means for the long term. Reported by US Energy Information Administration. And a brief story on it here.

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Feast Your Core

Check out the Feast Conference this year. Awesome lineup this year, including Dan Barasch (Co-Founder, The Lowline), Neil Blumenthal (Co-Founder, Warby Parker), Beth Comstock (CMO, GE), Catherine Rohr (Founder and CEO, Defy Ventures) and Paul Farmer, MD, PhD (Founding Director, Partners In Health) among others. The Feast, if you don’t already know about it, is not your father’s conference, and brings together “the most remarkable entrepreneurs, radicals, doers and thinkers who are revolutionizing the way things work for the betterment of humanity.” Check out their new website and don’t miss it, October 3-5, in New York City.

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Brand The Sun

A good story about the sunrise of solar, and its now ever-increasing viability as market forces take over from early environmentalism. “Let’s wear it, be proud of it, push it. That’s the real motivation, I think. We’ve got to brand the sun.”  So Says Danny Kennedy of Sungevity. We couldn’t agree more.

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Little Boxes

Could this be a trend? Big boxes getting smaller and smaller, and carrying smarter, more cost-effective (aka green) products.

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Hand Letterer Extraordinaire

Check out the wonder! https://www.designboom.com/design/jon-contino-interview/

And Jon’s site: https://joncontino.com/

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Retail Voodoo from the masters at Marks and Sparks

Why Going Green in This Recession is a Business Imperative, Not a Brand Choice
Mike Barry, Head of Sustainability at phenomenally successful retailer, Marks and Spencer in GB, makes a pretty clear cut and undeniably strong argument for the next wave of business thinking here. It just so happens that it also serves as a great strategy for recessionary times. And you got it—it involves sustainability.

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Who we are

An historic archive of 1930s and 40s uniquely American images has emerged at the New York Public Library recently. Created by Roy Stryker, founder of the Farm Security Administration’s photography project, the images had been forgotten until recently unearthed and digitized for the public’s benefit.

Some of the images are striking in their bold narrative, and appear like visual chapter titles to the essence of our deepest sense of selves.

Enjoy the entire collection here, and the story about the archive here.

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Creative and economic sustainability without federal support

Unlike financial companies and automakers, which received a combined $700 billion from Washington in the Troubled Asset Relief Program, most artists don’t qualify for any bailouts. Personal savings, insurance, a generous relative or an emergency grant is often all that stands between them and financial ruin. A number of small, private rescue funds have been lending a hand to a group that is definitely not in the too-big-to-fail camp: writers, artists and other creative types. This is one of those crucial and invisible manifestations of (the need for and consideration of) sustainability in our society.

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Naturefactured

Wow. Israeli designer Hilla Shamia uniquely joins the materials of aluminum and wood in this Wood Casting series. Using a whole tree trunk, Shamia pours molten aluminum directly onto the wood, which burns the surface and darkens the wood. The wood gets cut up lengthwise and put into a mold to form the frame and legs of the piece. This is nature boldly intruding upon, coexisting with, receding into our manufactured landscapes. Wonderful.

Check out more.

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Dark Coconut Toffee Bar

egg product development created this wonderful new bar for our client, Alter Eco: The Dark Coconut Toffee Bar. Yum. Try it before they’re sold out. Here’s the skinny. And here’s the Whole Foods listing.
We rebranded the line, too.

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It’s spring — time to plant your roof

And black is out: the “in” choices today are white, green, blue, and solar panel black. What are you waiting for?

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