Art director interview
A student at the Art Institute of Colorado recently reached out to the FearLess Cottage looking to interview an art director for a school project. Here are my answers to his questions:
What do you like most about being a art director?
It’s kind of a tricky question because I don’t really think of myself as an art director. I just think of myself as someone who helps make creative ideas come to life. The best ideas we come up with at the FearLess Cottage are not any one person’s idea. They come from an environment that encourages collaboration. Everybody has a voice and everybody’s ideas carry equal value. What I like most is being able to dream big and having the opportunity to pursue those dreams.
Job Killers vs. People Killers
A couple of recent posts in the always great Climate Progress underscore a huge detachment from reality in today’s political conversation regarding environmental regulation.
First, a debunking of regulations as “job killers”:
One report from the University of Massachusetts estimates that more than 250,000 jobs will be created through installation of new equipment at existing power plants and construction of new clean energy facilities. Net job creation is a bit harder to gauge, as there will be jobs lost in some areas of the industry in a shift away from coal to natural gas and renewables. But leading power providers are contradicting GOP “job-killing” talking points by explaining that new air-quality regulations will have an overall positive impact on job creation.
And second, a look at what is actually at stake:
By December 16 the Environmental Protection Agency will promulgate its final rule requiring coal-fired power plants to reduce their emissions of mercury, arsenic, acid gases, and other toxic chemicals. The EPA notes that these safeguards will reduce premature deaths by 17,000 people annually as well as prevent 12,000 hospital visits and 120,000 cases of aggravated asthma. The economic benefits could outweigh the costs by up to $14-to-$1.
If you’re going to take an honest look at the issue, there’s no denying that we need to change the conversation. Supporters of the fossil fuel industry want to you believe that cleaner energy policies are “job killers.” It’s imperative that we remind them their policies are people killers. And that’s a fact.
Cross-posted with FearLess Revolution.
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FearLess show with Al Gore
Today one of my heroes sat down to chat with one of my other heroes. We streamed the whole thing live. I was one of the few people in the room, feeding them Twitter questions.
Choose Reality
I’m super excited to be working with The Climate Reality Project, the latest climate awareness effort by Al Gore. The campaign aims to “focus the world’s attention on the full truth, scope, scale and impact of the climate crisis. To remove the doubt. Reveal the deniers. And catalyze urgency around an issue that affects every one of us.”
Watch the video for the first event, 24 Hours of Reality, which the FearLess Cottage helped produce, along with the talented folks at Brooklyn film studio m ss ng p eces:
On September 14, there will be live streaming presentations from Al Gore and others all across the globe giving the latest information on what’s going on with all the dirty weather and political issues that are blocking action on climate change.
For the latest news and updates, follow The Climate Reality Project on Twitter and Facebook.
Common Cycles: Put Your Ass on Our Grass
I had my first appearance on the FearLess Revolution show last week to discuss the launch of Common Cycles. Watch here.
(Photo by Nick Todd)
One of the interns we have lined up for the summer, Katie Brennan, stopped by the FearLess Cottage a few weeks ago to discuss the creation of COMMON with me.
Design, like life, is about continually improving experiences for yourself and for others.
The Intersection of Design and Sustainability
Here’s a little presentation I gave last week as part of an AIGA Colorado event at the Denver Art Museum. The night was an introduction for the local creative community to the Living Principles, which is the sustainability platform embraced by AIGA. The main speaker for the evening was Alex Bogusky, who I’ve been working with for the last several months on the FearLess Revolution and our new initiative, COMMON.
My talk was a bit of a transition from the Living Principles to Alex’s presentation. I’ve never really done this kind of thing before, but the opportunity came up and I thought it could be fun. The fact that I was getting over a cold definitely didn’t help my lack of public speaking skills. But there was a sold out auditorium there to see Alex and thousands more watching a live stream, so luckily my nerves went away just before going up and it was indeed a lot of fun.
Thanks a lot to Evelyn and Charles of AIGA for giving me the opportunity. And to a lot of other people who have helped inspire these ideas: Annie Leonard of The Story of Stuff, Alex Steffen of Worldchanging, designer Bruce Mau, my girlfriend Amy Breunissen, my good friend Brent Sainsbury, and of course Alex Bogusky who has helped me fear a little less in pursuit of innovation, creativity and happiness.
Thanks for watching,
Jeff Oeth
(Additional references: Chris Jordan & Pangea Organics)
Taking Climate into Our Own Hands
NASA and other scientific groups have just confirmed that 2010 was tied for the hottest year on record. That, coming after the hottest decade on record, is met with the reality of more frequent accounts of extreme weather.
As IPCC scientist Richard Somerville states:
This is no longer something that’s theory or conjecture or something that comes out of computer models. We’re observing the climate changing. It’s real. It’s happening. It’s scientific fact.
To label or not to label?
This comic is so good, I’m not sure whether I should laugh or cry. At the FearLess Cottage, we’re not big fans of Monsanto and this little masterpiece perfectly illustrates the reason why. For one thing, they’re dominating the American food system with untested and potentially very dangerous genetically modified (GMO) foods. Stuff that’s been banned in many other countries because of serious health risks. But what really gets us riled up is the fact that Monsanto doesn’t want anybody to know about it. By working closely with the FDA, they’ve managed to keep GMO foods from being labeled as such. As a result, there’s no transparency and most of us are consuming the altered corn and soy products every day without even knowing it.
