These eco-efforts score a perfect ten.
Everywhere we look, people are coming up with new ways to support environmentally-friendly initiatives. As noted previously, the design community is at the forefront of this effort.
Here’s a thought-provoking example.
The people at IDEO, the amazing global design and innovation company, have launched a “Living Climate Change” initiative that asks people to imagine what life will be like in 20 or 30 years. The core idea is to move the debate away from what we have to give up toward what we can create. Their website is founded on the conviction that design has a role to play in addressing the global issue of climate change.
Coincidental to reading about this IDEO challenge, we were gratified to hear from our friends at York Wallcoverings about their own “eco-décor” initiative. It fits perfectly with the spirit of the IDEO challenge.
Here’s York’s statement, verbatim:
“Environmental concern involves more than the sustainability of raw materials. Energy usage and air pollution from the manufacturing process can have a negative impact on our atmosphere, and the amount of VOC emissions from a finished product can adversely affect our indoor air quality. Our Eco-Décor symbols are applied to each of our manufactured products to define how they address various areas of environmental concern.”
That’s right. The good people at York have actually created ten different symbols to guide designers in making informed purchase choices. The symbols identify which products offer the following green attributes:
1. Made from Harvested Renewable Resources; 2. No Ozone Depleting Chemical; 3. Contains No Cadmium or Mercury; 4. Made with Water-Based Inks and Coatings; 5. Non-leeching Anti-Microbial Coating; 6. High Moisture Vapor Transmission; 7.Manufactured with Smokeless Non-Polluting Inks; 8. Substrate Sourced from Managed Forests; 9. Low VOC-Emitting Product; 10. Recycled Elements.
Stay tuned. We’ll have more news from York on some amazingly beautiful, guilt-free product offerings.
After all, making the world more beautiful inside begins with keeping it beautiful outside.
Serving design professionals,
