It was probably a bad idea, in retrospect, to start by telling everyone I would become a vegetarian. I was half-way through an environmental science class my last year at Brown University and I had just discovered how environmentally unsound meat-consumption could really be. Recently, Michael Pollan asserted, “A vegan in a Hummer has a lighter carbon footprint than a meat eater in a Prius.” While this might not have been factually sound, it’s hard to deny that with the astronomical amounts of food that the human population consumes, what we choose to eat can have a large impact on the environment. I have always strived to be a pretty environmentally conscious human being (coming from Berkeley, its hard not to) so I decided that I needed to think more about my eating habits.
A Step into Sustainable Eating
Friday, November 6th, 2009Meat Appreciation
Monday, November 2nd, 2009Back Forty is a restaurant in New York that strives to provide local and sustainable meats. In this video, the chef, Shanna Pacifico, demonstrates how she tries to use every part of an animal in her cuisine. I have always been very fascinated in how different parts of animals turn into different types of food. I admire that she is so knowledgeable about the entire food process and not just the preparation. That is a quality all great chefs should have.
The Living Principles
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
A primer by AIGA on graphic design and sustainability. It was a major issue at this year’s Better By Design Conference and here it is again. I’m really glad that the design community is embracing these ideals. I hope someday my work will revolved centrally around this theme.
A Better World by Design
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
I spent my entire weekend this week volunteering and sitting in at events for the Brown/RISD joint conference, A Better World by Design and, I have to say, I enjoyed every moment of it. Not often enough have I felt this sense of community where everybody was on the exact same page and here to discuss the same issues.
I love design but I often think about to utility of its service. It is so easy to get lost in the mess of commercial product design and feel that design only perpetuates this colossal consumer culture. Perhaps because I have drowned in this sentiment so often, it was invigorating to hear what inspired people and organizations had to say about what they were doing to help the world – from Project H’s redesign of the Hippo Roller to Ken Banks’ open-source FrontlineSMS project. In addition to specific projects, it was also simple refreshing to see and meet so many professionals and students that felt the same way I did about design and were compelled to change the status quo. It gave me hope for the future of design in our world.
Considering this was only the second year for the conference and many of my classmates were involved in putting it together, I feel very proud of how well it turned out. Congratulations!