This is a great opportunity to get insight on the role of design in the shift towards sustainability from some of the most respected voices on business, environment and design.

Speakers include

Joel Makower (GreenBiz.com) a well- respected voice on business, the environment, and the bottom line. The Associated Press has called him the guru of green business practices. Joel is co-founder and executive editor of Greener World Media, Inc. which produces GreenBiz.com and its sister sites, ClimateBiz.com, GreenerBuildings.com, and GreenerComputing.com.

Alex Steffen (Worldchanging) the Executive Editor of Worldchanging since he co-founded the organization in 2003, as the next phase in a lifetime of work exploring ways of building a better future. In a very short time, Worldchanging has become the most widely read sustainability related publication on the Internet, with an archive of over 7,000 articles by leading thinkers around the world.

Adam Werbach (Act Now Productions) founder and CEO of Act Now. He is highly regarded as one of the worlds experts in sustainability. At age 23, Adam was elected as the youngest president ever of the Sierra Club, the oldest and largest environmental organization in the United States.

Marc Alt and (AIGA Center for Sustainable Design) Marc Alt is the principal of Marc Alt + Partners, a New York based design consultancy specializing in research, business analysis, brand strategy, and environmental strategy for corporations, non-profi ts and philanthropic organizations. And co-chair of the AIGA Center for Sustainable Design (CFSD), a nationwide initiative to elevate sustainable thinking within the design profession at large.

…and many more thoroughly engaging speakers are on the list so if you are in the San Francisco area this weekend mark your calendar for Compostmodern 08 and get your green on. Register here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Compostmodern Design Conference in San Francisco This Weekend!

They don’t make chargers or batteries for this phone anymore. The word of the day was “obsolete”, as in you are the sucker who bought a product which would become obsolete before its useful life was over. And as in we are the company who sold you a product that would quickly become obsolete and we aren’t going to do anything when it does.

I understand that technology evolves very fast. However, there is a problem when companies don’t take responsibility for end use. Cell phones, computers, DVD players and all the soon-to-be obsolete parts that are sold with them have created the major global problem of how to deal with e-waste. Very little of our gadgets get recycled and when they do it is often to the detriment of the environment, developing countries or already disenfranchised segments of our society.

Tackling this and other sustainability issues within the technology industry is the focus of the Greener Gadgets Conference in NYC February 1st, 2008. Greener Gadgets is a one day conference featuring key representatives from some of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world, innovators from academic thinktanks, members of startups focused on renewable energy, and some of the leading minds in the word of sustainable design and business.

Industry leaders, entrepreneurs, journalists, and designers will gather to discuss the business case for the greening of the consumer electronics industry.

Topics to be addressed include: design for sustainability, product life cycle management, take-back and recycling programs, energy efficiency, greener materials, and green lifestyle and product marketing. An attached gallery space will feature a green prototype office display and technology exhibits from companies on the cutting edge of green tech.

I’ll be there, will you? Learn more and get involved at the Greener Gadgets website!

Also check out this great resource on e-waste by Jennifer Van Der Meer of o2-NYC. And the GreenPeace Guide to Greener Electronics.

What’s your idea of a green gadget? Got a design in mind? Check out the Greener Gadgets Design Competition, over $4,500 in prizes up for grabs for ideas that bring solutions for greener electronics.

Post from: EveryJoe

Why We Need Greener Gadgets

Greener Gadgets is a one day conference featuring key representatives from some of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world, innovators from academic thinktanks, members of startups focused on renewable energy, and some of the leading minds in the word of sustainable design and business.

Industry leaders, entrepreneurs, journalists, and designers will gather to discuss the business case for the greening of the consumer electronics industry.

Topics to be addressed include: design for sustainability, product life cycle management, take-back and recycling programs, energy efficiency, greener materials, and green lifestyle and product marketing. An attached gallery space will feature a green prototype office display and technology exhibits from companies on the cutting edge of green tech.

The Greener Gadgets conference will showcase revolutionary design and tech innovations that will shape the future of the consumer electronics and change your world… for the better.

Presenters include representatives from HP, Nokia, Sony, Philips, Intel, EPEAT, the Green Electronics Council, IDEO, Engadget, Earth2Tech/GigaOm and many others to be announced.

Learn more and get involved at the Greener Gadgets website!

Post from: EveryJoe

Announcing the Greener Gadgets Conference!