Tilt

I tried Facebook out last weekend and asked a simple and direct question. Being that I have a lot of eco-minded friends, I was looking for some creative responses. Ask and you shall receive! So, here is the question:

What does everyone think about the concept of carbon offsets instead of just consuming less?

Sara Michener
Consuming less isn’t in the cards so long as we culturally worship capitalism, so Carbon Offsets is probably more politically viable. I get everything from thrift shops and spend most of my money on local, organic foods. But can you imagine if the president told the American people to buy less? He’d be shot the next day.

Alex Lo
I dislike carbon offsets for 2 reasons. The first is conceptual. Carbon offsetting assigns a value to pollution that is paid for by supporting something less polluting. That’s like saying it’s okay to litter as long as you recycle a certain amount at home. A good deed doesn’t really cancel out a bad one.The second reason is a criticism of reforestation. The idea of sequestering carbon in new tree growth is flawed. But that’s a long argument for another day.

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Last week I had the opportunity to celebrate with the Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts of Central Maryland and Port Discovery teamed up to celebrate the next wave of entrepreneurs – girls with the highest pre-order sales in Baltimore City and each county in central Maryland.

I had the opportunity to join in the fun. Check out the photos of me trying to keep up with the next generation.

I don’t know who said this, but my friend sent it to me and I thought it was a great passage regarding architecture and space:

“Americans are too impatient. They expect instant beauty. But they forget that cities are not built in one day. We may spend years agonizing over a renewal project and then we expect the city to be rebuilt instantly. Can you imagine what Paris must have looked like when Baron Haussmann finished with it? The social and cultural shock must have been tremendous. It’s like surgery; it takes a long time for the tissue around a wound to heal. The city has to echo life. If our life is rough and tumble, so is the city. I’ve always felt that ugliness with vitality is tolerable. The great danger our cities face today is that their vitality will be sapped by too much concern for instant beauty. New York is not a beautiful city. It may even be ugly, but it is exciting. It draws beauty from its vitality. If you drove all the residents out and made it a gleaming commercial center, it would only be beautiful in a narrow sense. It would be lifeless, and therefore intolerable.”

–Ieoh Ming Pei commonly known by his initials I. M. Pei, is a Pritzker Prize-winning Chinese-born American architect, known as the last master of high modernist architecture.

Thursday was a remarkable opportunity to talk to Goucher College. In the lastest, Silver LEED building on campus, we were positioned on a panel, front and center to tell our story. After a full day of travel for Rachael and TEDx for Jess, we were wiped out, but ready to force the crowd to help energize us.

We opened with change and asked the room to move around and create some energy. The outcome was fantastic! We had people upside down, slapping elbows and turning around. It was a wonderful sight to see.

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Historically speaking, the concept of “on your honor” was not unheard of. It was likely that you would have credits at your local grocer, be able to leave your luggage for a minute at the airport and potentially even be able to go to school without going through a metal detector or fall victim to a random locker search during the day.

Over the course of the last decade, we have transformed as a nation into a somewhat neurotic, untrusting place (with of course very good reason from the tragedy of 911 and other such occasions). But here, out in the woods of Glenn Arm, Maryland is a perfect little oasis of trust.

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As dawn was touched with a glow of light we were out and about this morning, revving up for a great photoshoot for Flanigan’s 2010 Calendar. These limited edition items are always a hit and in the 125th Anniversary year, Flanigan is going to really tell a wonderful story in this piece. One of local clients, P. Flanigan & Sons is a horizontal construction business, boasting about 99% recycle-ability or re-usability in most of their projects. We have worked with Flanigan for 3 years on their branding, strategy and of course design presence in the marketplace. In addition, we have assisted them with their greening plan and assisting with marketing to that message. Check out the website to learn more about the great Flanigan company!
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At Tilt we pride ourselves on trying to design for sustainability without always using green. PaperRep.com is a tribute to that and was selected by CSS Mania as one of their internal “Favorites” on September 16th. We received an enormous response on the site with over 700 views in a single day from people all over the world. What a great opportunity for publicity!

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Years ago, my parents ran a small design and marketing firm out of Ohio. Their largest client was Kimberly Clark. If nothing less than experts, my parents were huge paper advocates; my mother is now a professional papermaker having studied from California to Japan with any master that would teach her and my father is a carpenter and cameos as children’s story book writer; beginning his stories only with paper with his first book entitled, “The Little Nut” based on an acorn who grew into a tree. For years as a child I remember the experience of paper and how it surrounded my life… and know I realize how important it really is.

As an adult with an profession as an environmentalist and a designer, my interests have been identified as somewhat of an oxymoron: Paper has a reputation for being bad for the environment and designers waste paper like it is going out of style. Well, paper is going out of style. CONTINUE READING

As the mother of a 4 month old I am extremely familiar with the term ‘teething.’ It’s not something I heard other mothers and fathers talk about. Going into it I didn’t think Gavin teething would be a very big deal. He’d probably cry a little and then *pop* he’d have teeth! No. This is not how it works. And like most things having to do with parenting and babies, there is no telling how it’s going to be or when it’s going to happen.

I have to say when it did happen I was a little under prepared. I had gotten a plastic, water-filled teething ring at my baby shower and when my mother suggested that maybe his bouts of tears and open mouthed wailing were the result of teething, I popped it in the freezer and expected that this would be my answer.

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Consumer purchasing decisions are based on several factors. Below you will find equations and possible outcomes for a variety of purchasing patterns.

Cost > Quality of Product

Cost = Decision

Buying products when they are on sale or the right price.

Example: Razor Blades. The prices keep increasing and my bank account can’t keep up with my favorite brand. (Not to mention Razor Blades and Shaving Creams packaging are entirely wasteful.) So instead of opting for my favorite brand that creates the smoothest legs in my household, I use Brand B. It is a third of the price but the quality of the product is fair in comparison.

Quality of Product > Cost

Quality = Decision

The Quality of a Product over rules the cost! Although in these times is difficult to make this type of purchase it can happen. Since I decreased my standards for razors I knew I couldn’t do the same for my shaving cream. After feeling not so eco friendly with my razor purchase I felt I needed to balance the equation. After zoning the aisle for eco friendly products I found Kiss My Face Moisture Shave. (A variety of aromas but Cool Mint was my choice) It was a perfect match. Contains no animal ingredients, no artificial colors and was not tested on animals. Also, the bottle is recyclable!

It is difficult being a consumer. There are so many choices that we need to make and so many responsibilities related to the outcome of the decision. Choose wisely and balance the equation.