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05.08.13: Paul Polak
Transforming Solar Pumping to Eliminate Rural PovertyPaul Polak explores how we might reduce water shortages by employing solar pumping and eliminating rural poverty.
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04.26.13: John Thackara
A Roof, A Skill, A MarketThe Nubian Vault Association has evolved a unique approach to housing in West Africa that creates three kinds of value within local economies: a roof, a skill and a market.
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10.27.11: Courtney Drake & Deirdre Cerminaro with William Drenttel
Design and the Social Sector: An Annotated BibliographyThis bibiography surveys the literature of social design — the spectrum from design process and thinking to the zones of social innovation.
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10.25.11: William Drenttel
Winterhouse First Symposium on Design Education and Social Change: Program DescriptionThis symposium, sponsored by the Winterhouse Institute, was held October 17-19 2010 in Falls Village, Connecticut. This was the initial information shared with participants.
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10.25.11: William Drenttel
Winterhouse Second Symposium on Design Education and Social Change: ParticipantsThe Winterhouse Second Symposium on Design Education and Social Change, was held August 14-16, 2011 in Falls Village, Connecticut.
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10.25.11: William Drenttel
Winterhouse Second Symposium on Design Education and Social Change: Program DescriptionThe original program description for the Winterhouse Institute symposium at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, August 2011 on social design in education.
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10.24.11: William Drenttel and Julie Lasky
Winterhouse Second Symposium on Design Education and Social Change: Final ReportThe final report from a symposium held in Connecticut, August 2011, where 28 participants from a variety of design and education programs discussed the challenges of social change initiatives within their schools, museums and programs.
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09.16.11: Photo by Iain McKell
The New GypsiesPhotographer Iain McKell documents England's romantic travelers
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08.08.11: Barbara Flanagan
Sleeping with the FishesReview of "Waltzing with Brando," an account of the actor's effort to inhabit and protect a Tahitian atoll.
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05.25.11: Julie Lasky
Everything Must GoA new blog speaks to our current interest in shedding material goods.
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05.16.11: An Xiao Mina
The Ultra 10 ChallengeReport on ULTRA, a sustainable fashion company founded in Kuala Lumpur.
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05.10.11: Claire Lui
Can't Live With It, Can't Get Rid of ItInterview with Susan Freinkel, author of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story.
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03.02.11: Julie Lasky
Alex Steffen: Worldchanging IIInterview with Alex Steffen on the new edition of his book Worldchanging
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02.28.11: Maria Popova
D-BuildA streamlined approach to dismantling and recycling buildings.
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01.24.11: Maria Popova
The Age of Coworking: Collaborative Consumption for the Creative CommunityReport on the new (golden) age of coworking.
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01.12.11: John Thackara
The Gram Junkies: In Transportation Design the Key Issue Is Not Speed, but WeightIn the matter of mobility and modern transportation we all need to become gram junkies.
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01.05.11: Phil Patton
Charging DoubleComparing two new electric-car chargers: Blink and WattStation
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01.03.11: Julie Lasky
MSC Greenhouse ProjectOn learning about science, nutrition and politics at the Manhattan School for Children.
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12.13.10: Adam Harrison Levy
Sustainable Christmas TreesFrom artificial firs to rented spruces, a report on alternatives to the chopped-down Xmas tree.
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11.11.10: Willam Drenttel and Julie Lasky
Winterhouse First Symposium on Design Education and Social Change: Final ReportThe final report from a symposium held in Connecticut, October 17–19, 2010, where 13 educators from a variety of design and business programs discussed the challenges and objectives of social-change initiatives within their schools and universities.
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10.15.10: William Drenttel
Winterhouse First Symposium on Design Education and Social Change: Participant Case StudiesParticipants of Winterhouse Symposium on Design Education and Social Change, October 17-19, 2010, each contributed case studies of a class, project or program that bridges design and social innovation.
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10.15.10: William Drenttel
Winterhouse First Symposium on Design Education and Social Change: ParticipantsThis outlines the participants of the Winterhouse Symposium on Design Education and Social Change, which was held October 17-19 2011, in Falls Village CT.
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09.15.10: Dana Thomas
132 5. ISSEY MIYAKEThe latest material (and sustainability) adventure from the great Japanese fashion designer.
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09.02.10: Ernest Beck
Climate Change Chocolate UpdateUpdate on Climate Change Chocolate and other ideas for offsetting carbon. Originally published August 17, 2009.
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08.23.10: Ernest Beck
SELCO: Case Study Synopsis & Teaching ObjectivesThis case study about SELCO, a solar energy company in India, provides an opportunity to examine the strategy of a business with a social purpose and a heavy reliance on innovative design.
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08.03.10: William Drenttel, Julie Lasky
Reasons Not to Be Pretty: Symposium on Design, Social Change and the “Museum”In April 2010, 22 designers, historians, curators, educators and journalists met at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Italy to discuss the museum’s potential role in relation to design for social change. This is a report on their conversation.
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07.13.10: Phil Patton
Murray T.25 City CarReport on Gordon Murray's conversion from revolutionary race car designer to creator of one of the greenest city cars ever.
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07.07.10: William Underhill
BoatanicIn the Netherlands, designer Damian O'Sullivan conceives of floating greenhouses converted from tourist boats.
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06.02.10: Zara Arshad
How to Green an EmbassyWorking at the British Embassy Beijing with zero budget means that even straightforward solutions, such as implementing a recycling system, pose a challenge.
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05.31.10: John Thackara
Whole, Whole on the RangeAs a juror on the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, John Thackara reviews the highlight.
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05.24.10: Elizabeth Helman Minchilli, Annie Schlechter
Rome Sustainable Food ProjectAlice Waters has been working tirelessly to change the way we eat in America. Four years ago, she sent chef Mona Talbott overseas to reform the kitchens of the American Academy in Rome.
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04.19.10: Jane Margolies
The Laugh BugIs Volkswagen's Fun Theory campaign anything more than a turbocharged marketing stunt?
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04.08.10: Amanda Hurley
Hold Your Sawhorses!Brazilian architecture firm StudioMK27 creates a controversial furniture collection based on the designs of construction workers.
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03.29.10: Azby Brown
Bent by the SunWhat a longtime American-born resident of Japan has learned about his adopted country's ancient practice of sustainability.
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02.03.10: Ernest Beck
The Cotton ClubReport on the complex, and sometimes muddled, standards for certifying organic cotton.
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12.14.09: Jane Margolies
St. Augustine School Chicken ProjectReport on the sustainability program at St. Augustine parochial school in the South Bronx.
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12.14.09: Eve M. Kahn
Green SleevesReview of “Ethics + Aesthetics = Sustainable Fashion” at Pratt Manhattan Gallery, November 20, 2009 - February 20, 2010.
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12.04.09: Jane Withers
In Praise of ShadowsEssay adapted from "In Praise of Shadows: New European Lighting Design," presented at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, September 19–October 18, 2009.
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11.16.09: Jonathan Schultz
DESISReport on the Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability project's latest home at New York's New School.
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11.09.09: Mark Dery
Dawn of the Dead MallMark Dery surveys the landscape of failing malls and speculates about the future means and venues of mass consumption.
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10.14.09: Adam Harrison Levy
O Tannenbaum!People are talking differently about Christmas trees this year. They’re downscaling or simplifying their annual rite.
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08.29.09: Phil Patton
Triple-Digit InflationPhil Patton questions GM's sustainability claims for its Chevrolet Volt electric car.
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08.20.09: Ernest Beck
PACT UnderwearReport on PACT, an underwear company that embraces green manufacturing and donates a portion of its revenue to nonprofits.
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08.11.09: John Thackara
Fish Systems and DesignThough gloomy predictions say we could see the end of seafood by 2048, several initiatives are rethinking the way we acquire fish.
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08.04.09: Ernest Beck
Climate Change ChocolateWhile environmentalists debate the ethics and effectiveness of carbon offsets, designers work to make them appealing.
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