The Plus Pool

I don't want to taint this post with grumbles about how one of my favorite ideas was somehow realized by another party, but here goes. My hopes of inventing the world's first floating pool are dashed...(and not just because the clever people at Family and PlayLab have beaten me to the punch...it seems this idea has been around in some form since the early 19th century!) I am happy, though slightly dispirited, to be posting about this outstanding new campaign for a floating pool in the rivers of New York City.

Plans are still in the beginning stages, so there are a lot of important unanswered questions at this point. For example: What affect will this have on the local flora & fauna? How will it be maintained? Is it secured to the riverbed...stable and safe for members of the community? The pool water is filtered river water, is the water that re-enters the river then contaminated by cleaning chemicals or the users of the pool? How could this object be used to better the environment it occupies, can exiting water be filtered in a way that helps to purify the river and reverse the effects of earlier pollution?

You can visit their website to find out more or get involved. It is an ambitious and innovative project. I'm excited to see how it develops and how it inspires the design community.

Re-Binder

I think it's safe to say that designers love office supplies. Organizing is one of my favorite hobbies and now we can all feel a little better about the products we buy to rearrange our clutter. RECYCLED binders, composition books, covers, tabs, pockets, media storage, and labels!

Each year, over 500 metric tons of toxic PVC ends up in landfills as the result of vinyl binders that people use. Today we should expect more. Products should be made in our country, with our workers, out of responsible materials with the intention that no landfill be required. ReBinder meets that demand.

ReBinder is the only true zero waste office supply manufacturer and the brand of choice for customers looking for sustainable, quality office supplies. Assembled by a local, AbilityOne certified disabled workforce, all ReBinder product materials are sourced from responsibly managed forests and verified FSC and SFI certified sources. With each purchase of ReBinder products, solid waste, greenhouse gas, energy, tree and water consumption are reduced.

–ReBinder

And some food for thought...If you already have some of these items, you don't even need to use the ReBinder products, you can make even less of an impact by using the supplies you already have around the office!

via swiss miss and rebinder

Bracket – Hunger

The second issue of Bracket features 16 visionaries who have pursued their hunger to create change in the world.

“Emerson wrote that a man’s ambition is proportional to his abilities, that “the height of the pinnacle is determined by the breadth of his base.” These are the words of a hungry man. And if we follow their logic, then what we have in this issue are snapshots of sixteen motherfucking mountains.”

Excerpt of foreword by Jack Cheng

I found out about Bracket (published by the Republic of Singapore-based think tank Anonymous) while reading the STACK blog today. That foreword excerpt has me so curious. They even interviewed Heydays for this issue! You can purchase the PDF online here, but if you are like me, you probably want to hold (and smell) this beautiful signature of newsprint. I wish I could afford the $25 to ship it to my American doorstep, but I cannot. I will probably buy it anyway.