As I mentioned in both of my posts on Kickstarter, one of the best parts of the whole experience is the cool people I’ve been able to meet as a result. Cindy Gilbert is one of those people.
Cindy heads up the Sustainable Design Certificate program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and is currently in the middle of a 1000+ mile ride from Missoula, MT to Minneapolis, MN to raise money for sustainable design scholarships. Her project is on IndieGoGo (a crowd-funding platform broadly similar to Kickstarter), and she’s just about 2/3 of the way to her goal of $5000.
Consider supporting her ride and her program. Because: you know all those disposable consumer goods you have, and all that crappy packaging they come in? Industrial designers versed in sustainability can make them last longer, be more readily recyclable, or even make them disappear all together, before they’re even made. They can make it all vanish from the landfills of the future like Michael J. Fox from a Polaroid.
Before the ride, Cindy contacted me about bringing a Backcountry Boiler along, and has since posted a lot of nice stuff about it on her site, LivingPrinciples.org, and Core77. This is all despite the fact that I was extremely slow in digging one up for her. I’m very appreciative of the positive press, but that’s not why I’m inspired.
I’m inspired because her ride and the emails we’ve exchanged remind me that I need to do better. Let’s look at the Boiler. The vessel itself is lightweight, should last a long time, is both partially recycled and infinitely recyclable. The packaging is 100% PCW and can be used as fuel in the Boiler itself. The injection-molded silicone stopper is made in a process that creates little waste, and is probably the only material that can perform its duty at the temperatures it experiences. Oh, and the Boiler runs on the cast-off twigs, branches, and other waste of the forest gathered from the places where the fall. No petroleum, no refining, no shipping or fuel containers.
But what irks me is that the neoprene sleeve and silicone nylon stuff sack are virgin material, when I know recycled versions of both exist. I just haven’t been able to successfully source the material. Now, inspired by Cindy and her project, I’ve given it another shot and am reaching out to companies that do have access to these materials.
And this raises interesting issue. Many of these companies use their sustainability as a point of difference between them and competitors. But the ethic underlying sustainable production isn’t that only a few companies should do it, it’s that they all should do it. So I’m crossing my fingers that cooperation in the name environmental stewardship will trump competitive advantage. And to be honest, I’m optimistic. That’s what seeing somebody ride 1000 miles for their passion does to a person.
Good luck Cindy! On both the ride and the fundraising.
