Editor's Pick

Reconciling cities with water scarcity
Features

Reconciling cities with water scarcity

When you look at the official US drought monitor map, you immediately see that many American cities may be in the wrong places for long-term water sustainability.  In particullar, ...

A Cradle-to-Cradle Feedback Loop at Aveda
GreenBiz Group Feature

A Cradle-to-Cradle Feedback Loop at Aveda

Sometimes things are worth the wait. In this case, allowing Chuck Bennett's and my schedules to align was a lesson in patience for both of us but ...

The Loops: The Industrial Lifecycle of Cork
Core77 Feature

The Loops: The Industrial Lifecycle of Cork

This is the third and final piece in a series exploring cork from designer and educator Daniel Michalik. As a prelude to this series, Michalik produced a beautiful ...

After 20 Years, Consumers are Finally Getting Greener
GreenBiz Group Feature

After 20 Years, Consumers are Finally Getting Greener

Americans have come a long way in their commitment to preserve and protect the environment since a groundbreaking survey from 1990 took the pulse of their green ...

When shops and services are within walking distance, we walk more and drive less
Article

When shops and services are within walking distance, we walk more and drive less

New research from Southern California has found that residents of neighborhoods with a central core of shops and services – a pattern typically found in older, traditional communities – ...

The Time To Reap
Opinion

The Time To Reap

Have you ever noticed that there always seems to be a dearth of one commodity in particular? It’s intangible yet the most precious thing we have. TIME. During ...

Method, Deutsche Bank, Bloomberg Among Firms Betting on WindMade
GreenBiz Group Feature

Method, Deutsche Bank, Bloomberg Among Firms Betting on WindMade

Would knowing that more wind energy was used to manufacture a cell phone lure you to buy it instead of a similar model made with regular power? The wind industry ...

The Wicked World of Packaging
Article

The Wicked World of Packaging

From individually wrapped prunes to over-packaged USB drives, excess packaging has become a momentous problem. Required for safety, preservation, and marketing, packaging can be valuable, however excess packaging ...

More than Milk: Organic Valley Enjoys Growth While Maintaining Values
Case Study

More than Milk: Organic Valley Enjoys Growth While Maintaining Values

Several words come to mind to describe the values of the people I was surrounded with growing up in rural central Wisconsin-hardworking, honest, neighborly, blue-collar. What I didn't see very ...

Going Green Does Not Require A Sacrifice In Lifestyle
Article

Going Green Does Not Require A Sacrifice In Lifestyle

The biggest complaint I hear from people about going green is that there is some kind of sacrifice or negative lifestyle change involved in doing so.For some reason, many people ...

Teaching Systems Thinking Helps Create More Sustainable Designers
Article

Teaching Systems Thinking Helps Create More Sustainable Designers

As I've written before about teaching sustainability in manageable chunks, I took the opportunity this fall 2011 semester to continue to perfect this pedagogy. I allow the students to ...

Educating the Educators
Event Recap

Educating the Educators

On October 20, 2011 I had the privilege to speak at the AIGA Chicago's Living Principles event with John Harris (principal at a5). The event sold out and featured a ...

Land conservation, smart growth and the environment
Article

Land conservation, smart growth and the environment

Years ago, I was motivated to participate in what became the cause of smart growth, and now for many of us has evolved into the cause of sustainable communities, because ...

A Checklist for Sustainable Packaging
Best Practice

A Checklist for Sustainable Packaging

The other day I listened to a fantastic webinar on Packaging Sustainability from the 2 DEGREES NETWORK featuring Katherine O'Dea of GREEN BLUE. Among her many statistics, she ...

About The Living Principles

About Living Principles

The Living Principles for Design framework is a catalyst for driving positive cultural change. It distills the four streams of sustainability – environment, people, economy, and culture – into a roadmap that is understandable, integrated, and most importantly, actionable. Designers, business leaders, and educators can use The Living Principles to guide every decision, every day.

This website is a place for the global design community to co-create, share and showcase best practices, tools, stories and ideas for sustainable design across all disciplines.

Help us move the conversation, the industry and the world.

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Word of the day

Eco-friendly Dyes

Natural dyes such as indigo, pomegranate rind, myrobalan, lac and manjistha as well as benign chemicals like aluminium and iron are eco-friendly alternatives to the synthetic dyes and hazardous chemicals used in conventional fabric dyeing. Natural dyes are made from plants, earth clays and even insects, which translates to less harm to the ecosystem. Another ...

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