sustainable swag

Cafe,

First, does anybody (especially our New Zealand/Australia members) =

know anything about a book titled _Time to Eat the Dog?_, wherein it =

is claimed "by sustainability experts from New Zealand" that dogs have =

a worse eco-footprint than some SUVs?

I quickly searched for the book at amazon, and couldn't come up with =

anything.

My own info on this is from the Winter 2010 issue of Heifer's _World =

Ark_, p. 7, "Your Pet's Ecological Footprint":

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2010winter/index.php#/8

This provocatively-titled book relates to my own research & efforts to =

develop sustainable swag for a medical communications (cancer =

education) project, and as always, it's proven way more complicated =

than I hoped. Given the known industrial and environmental causes of =

cancers -- in the U.S., now surpassing heart disease as the leading =

cause of death for those under age 85 -- I figure the last thing the =

world needs is a bunch more swag made on the cheap by exploited labor, =

using materials and print processes that contribute to climate change =

and a poisoned planet.

So, among other things, I'm trying to compare the environmental costs =

of organic cotton Tees vs. Tees made from recycled plastic bottles, =

vs. Tees made from wool etc....

And I'm looking into the eco-footprint of various print (like gicl=E9e, =

for fine art prints) and other reproduction processes (e.g., =

silkscreen for Tees) for graphic design.

What I've learned so far (admittedly, not much!) is that this is all =

incredibly complicated, and makes a wonderful case study for =

application of Darrell Huff's _How to Lie with Statistics_.

I'm having a hard time finding comparable standards for any of this.

I did notice that the Trigger Issues booklet by activist Troth Wells, =

_T-Shirt: One Small Item, One Giant Impact_, published at Oxford by =

New Internationalist, is

	"Printed on recycled paper by TJ International, UK / who
	holds environmental accreditation ISO 14001."

There is a little "Printed on Recycled Paper" icon next to this =

statement that I assume has something to do with ISO 14001? or perhaps =

this is yet another symbol made up by the printer/publisher for their =

own use? (There are a lot of organizations out there generating their =

own icons for just about everything even remotely related to "green" =

products & services.)

So, does anyone know anything about or have experience working to ISO =

14001 (which I believe is a U.K. standard)? A quickie search reveals =

lots of companies selling their "green your business" services =

relating to ISO 14001, but I didn't find any actual text for ISO 14001 =

or any information about its rules & regulations governing print =

processes.

Here in the States, I've found companies touting more than just their =

use of recycled paper, with icons for things like "Printed with =

Certified Wind Power" -- as on the back of the Ibex Outdoor Clothing =

catalog (I've temporarily posted a 550KB facsimile of this to my =

website at

http://www.she-philosopher.com/home/temp/IBEX_2010catalog.jpg

for those who would like to see for themselves). (And no, the little =

strip of cardboard at lower right is not part of the catalog design -- =

which is pretty clever throughout -- but was placed there by me to =

cover over my mailing address.)

But I have no idea what these claims really mean, or how much using, =

e.g., wind power, improves a print shop's eco-footprint over using, =

say, solar power, or whatever "green" power a local power plant may =

provide....

What I'm looking for is reliable, statistical information so that I =

can make my own trade-offs regarding print production for our new line =

of merchandise.

(E.g., at least one reader critiqued Annie Leonard's _The Story of =

Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our =

Communities, and Our Health -- and a Vision for Change_ for the poor =

quality of its recycled paper:

	"My only criticism is that the pages are very dense --would
	have loved more graphics and white space -- and I don't like
	the feel of the paper (100% post consumer recycled of course)
	but I know the author wanted to walk her talk by insisting on
	the highest possible green standards for publishing."

 From the review at

http://www.amazon.com/Story-Stuff-Obsession-Communities-Health-/dp/14391256=
6X/ref=3Dsr_1_1?s=3Dbooks&ie=3DUTF8&qid=3D1281565090&sr=3D1-1

There may be situations where I could get away with such lousy-quality =

recycled paper, and others where I can not, and it would be nice to =

have enough comparative data so that I can make my own informed =

trade-offs.)

At this point, I basically agree with the respondent to the "Easy =

Answers" blog on "What are the best fish to eat--for me and the =

environment?" (see

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/sustainability-answers/2010/=
07/what-seafood-is-sustainable.html

) who wrote

	"Note the title =93Easy Answers=94 There are several
	organizations like MBA who make recommendations, but you=92ll
	find their recommendations conflict with one another. You
	need to determine what values are important to you and make
	decisions accordingly. Sorry folks, it=92s just not that easy."

So, my remaining questions for the list: are there organizations like =

this already out there making recommendations for the graphic design =

and print trades?

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
[email protected]
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