PSFK asks Marc Alt, one of our panel members at the upcoming Good Ideas Salon Tokyo, what pure living means to him.

The Ceres Enviromental Park is a community-driven project dedicated to sustainable design and living.

The Electrolux Design Lab is a global design competition for graduate and undergraduate industrial design students to showcase innovative ideas in household appliances.

This is an extract from the draft John Grant’s new book Co-opportunity, contracted for publication with John Wiley & Sons Limited, January 2010. This extract section 3 of the book – Information and Ethical Consumerism.

A company that markets products based upon thermoelectric technology is entering the fifth phase of a project that would allow an automobile to capture it’s own engine exhaust and recycle it into electric power.

Meeting the brief of saving energy, minimizing waste and working with materials already in abundance, cardboard seems to be the choice du jour.

In a dream-combination of sustainability and mobility, Brooklyn based artist Kevin Cyr has taken the idea of a mobile home to a new level. He has created two concept designs that swap gasoline fueled vehicles with human power as the force that propels movable living structures.
His Camper Kart examines habitats and housing; recycling and ecology; exploration and mobility by fusing a pop-up camper with a shopping cart. And the Camper Bike, which is actually a functioning sculptural piece, continues this idea by taking an in-bed truck trailer and putting it on top of a serious looking 3 wheeled bicycle.
While neither [...]

This is an extract from the draft of John Grant’s new book Co-opportunity, contracted for publication with John Wiley & Sons Limited, January 2010. This extract is the introduction to the book.
My new book, Co-opportunity is based on the growing realization that sustainability is going to require nothing less than a wholesale shift to more co-operative social systems. It’s not just about shaving off energy, waste or carbon emissions – nor about ‘band aid’ approaches to poverty. It’s about a new way of organizing society for the common good. Many people have described this shift. Prince Charles in a recent [...]

Imagine riding through Picadily Circus and all you hear and see are people talking and birds in the sky. This was the guiding vision of this year’s winners at the Future City Mobility competition for designers to envision how London’s transportation could look in 2030.

GreenXchange is a collaboration between Nike, Best Buy and the Creative Commons to create an open innovation platform that promotes the creation and adoption of processes and technologies in the areas of green design and sustainability. GreenXchange wants to engage individuals from across a variety of disciplines, from manufacturers and distributors to academics and stakeholders, in an effort to develop practices and strategies that are relevant not only to the business world, but could potentially have implications for institutions and communities as well.
Beyond the environmental aspect, this project is important because it shows a willingness on the part of corporations [...]

In a recent interview with Fast Company, Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard offers his thoughts on running an environmentally conscious business and what is on his mind – the “myth of sustainability”, an ideal he sees as a path rather than [...]

Situated somewhere between the Biosphere 2 construction of the late 1980’s and the dystopian future imagined by the film (flop) Waterworld, lies artist Mary Mattingly’s experimental vision for creating a floating ark of sustainability. The project, appropriately named Waterpod, is a livable sculpture housed on 30×100 foot barge, combining elements of hydroponic farming, alternative energy, rainwater collection and waste recycling to form a working model of self-sufficiency.
Mattingly along with three other permanent artist/crew members will call the converted vessel home for the next five months as it docks at various ports throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The Waterpod is currently [...]

Last week the Bloomberg administration released New York City’s first street design manual in an effort to rethink the current car dominated landscape in favor of a plan that considers alternative modes of transportation and pedestrian-friendly public spaces. The guidelines are a culmination of nearly two years of research and are meant to reflect a push for greater sustainability in our urban centers, both in terms of environmental concerns and community interactions. In addition to providing a new vision for the city’s streets, the initiative hopes to streamline the design process – currently a typical street can involve multiple city [...]

At PSFK Conference NYC, moderator David Pinter (PSFK) along with Sarah Beatty (Green Depot), Simon Collins (Parsons), Ryan Jacoby (IDEO), and Matthew Lusk (Hecho Inc.) discussed the meaning of “sustainability” today, and how economic and social conscience are driving the design of new products and services. Sustainability, explained Simon, is not just about creating eco-friendly products; it’s also about making thoughtful choices as a consumer, too (buying blue jeans that last, for example). Sarah expanded on that idea, explaining that focusing on sustainability means seeking out high-quality products and services – things that maintain value and meaning over time.
The panel [...]

Featuring workshops approaching issues as diverse as Policy, Economic Development, Access, Health, Sustainability, and Organizing, the massive conference expects nearly 2,000 attendees. Five main co-sponsors, Caribbean Women’s Health Association, Brooklyn Rescue Mission, World Hunger Year, Brooklyn’s Bounty and the PSFC, and over 120 partner groups, have jumped on board for the inaugural event.