Design 21: Social Design Network is hosting the photography exhibition Voices of Our Time featuring portraits by Jacques De Melo of more than 100 immigrants from around the world who’ve settled in urban areas of France.

The portraits are on view 5-7pm each weekday from February 27th through March 9th at the Felissimo Townhouse: 10 West 56th Street, New York City.

Last August we shared that we’ve been working with our dear friend on his recycling program in Monteagudo, Bolivia.

Ross is still in Monteagudo and is seeking funding that will allow himself, his team, and members of the community to implement a plastic recycling program that will create recurring revenue for some residents in the extremely poor region.

H.A.M.M. (Mayor’s Office of Monteagudo) has adopted a progressive waste managment campaign to eliminate all plastics from its city dump and other areas (in some cases rivers) where the plastics pile up and facilitate water born diseases. The keystone for H.A.M.M.’s campaign is to develop a self-sustainable recycling center that would solve the areas discarded plastic problem and supply locals with an option of a small income. The recycling program would operate in much the same way we know of in United States; Plastic bottles are purchase by the redemption center (in this case by the kilo) by anyone who collects them, processed at the center, then shipped in large volumes to the city where the bottles are sold to a plastics purchaser – and the revenue produced by the sale of the plastics would then sustain the costs of running the recycling center in Monteagudo. As well, 2 dozen steel cage containers will be fabricated and dispersed around the city in specific high traffic areas to provided the public with available areas where they can correctly dispose of plastics. Other strengths of this project include a cross media awareness campaign and environmental and recycling workshops for all local schools.

Although their commitment to the environment is stronger then most communities, H.A.M.M. is very much like the majority of Bolivian Municipalities – poor. This is in fact the first time that H.A.M.M. have invested so much into an environmental project and now requests support from Partner assistance, to help finance the rest of the building materials needed to construct the recycling center.

See the Peace Corps page to learn more and find a link to make a contribution to the project.

Here’s a clever spin and segmentation to elicit action against global climate change: engage people whose hobbies and recreation preferances will be negatively affected by rising temperature. This is exactly what the Save Hockey and Save Our Slopes campaigns from Global Exchange are doing. Brilliant.

Tree Nation is smart project whose goal is to plan 8 million trees in Niger. On their site they outline the causes and negative effects of desertification. Beyond the necessity and worthyness of the action, the most exciting thing about Tree Nation is how they’re using technology to engage supporters. By tagging trees and using GPS technology, supporters can select specific individuals locations to help plant a tree and later track back to the tree. It’s poetic, really.

(via PSFK)

More from the DWR Design Ladies Meet Up, Elsewares shares pricing & marking tips for emerging product designers.

I must recommend Atypyk’s products, site, and general ethos. They’ve got the wit of Blue Q, the designer-yness of Experimental Jetset, the irony of Brooklyn, and the romance of France.

Their latest promo pokes fun at the sustainability trend, but boy is it funny. “Get your child busy on Sundays” it reads, followed by “A green idea by Atypyk.” The accompanying illustration is one of their “free for edition” Tricycle Lawn Mower which replaces the rear wheels/axle with a manual lawn-mower.

Wheat Wurtzburger is part of Humble Arts Foundation’s Group Show No. 12.

Elsewares is featured in the New York Times...the inky one and online.

Building Letters 3 has gotten some more attention lately, and I see that they’ve announced $3,600 US raised thus far!

I’m awaiting our copy to arrive. I’ve yet to see the page I designed 2 years ago in print…let’s hope it’s in there! Either way, the character for Fleaurons of Hope definitely made it through. It’s a fun font with an eclectic mix of forms. I suggest checking it out, and of course, the proceeds benefit Direct Relief International.

We created some new promos for Wheat Wurtzburger that have just started going out to magazine art directors and photography editors. This is one of my personal favorites.