DIY Contact Cards

Passing Around An Environmental Message.......

Finishing up the first batch of personal business cards could not have been easier environmentally. Amidst the "debris" of a throwaway society is a plethora of materials and resources. This is an opportunity for all, in this case, DIY artists! Inherent in the Do-It-Yourself movement is an ethic of reusing, recycling and reforming "found materials" into creative and useful outputs. Zines, bookmarks, collages, postcards, letters (in the good old fashioned snail mail post), and picture frame borders are just a few of the ways to make use of scrap paper. By selecting an array of words and images and by cutting, copying and pasting (non-electronically) them, you can create a message that is artistic and ecologically friendly. This is how I've made contact cards - you and your friends should tooooooooooooo

Step 1

- using a typewriter, recycled computer paper or a simple writing instrument: cut out strips of paper with your various contact information (name, email, twitter account, etc.)

Step 2

-cut out card sized pieces of paper from a little thicker material such as used cardboard or bristolboard

Step 3

-glue personal info onto one side of the cards

Step 4

-after collecting images and words that suit you and your message, make a mini-collage on the other side of the cards. use your visual art drawing skills if available (in my case, not..!)

Step 5

-clean up egdes of cards with scissors and let dry

Step 6

- press into the pages of a thick book or place under a flat weighty object
(this is to seal the stray edges of scrap paper you see!)

DONE! Celebrate creativity, recycling, imagination and environmentalism.

DISTRIBUTE AND SPREAD THE MESSAGE!

How To Mind Reducing Your Eco-Footprint

Each morning (afternoon or night), we rise to the blessing, opportunity and challenge of a new day. Throughout each one that is given to us is a myriad of choices made sometimes but mostly unconsciously or absent-mindedly. I try and take the time to remind myself that reducing one's ecological footprint requires a conscious effort and is imperative to our healthy survival! Currently I am making an effort to specifically reduce my daily water footprint by taking less and shorter showers and by turning off the tap when doing the dishes and brushing teeth. To have this process of ecological personal activism at the forefront of reasons for our behaviours, it is important to understand the discourse around this topic. As taken from the Global Footprint Network site, where more info and FAQ's can be found, here are some useful terms with brief explanations from the glossary. Maybe spending as much time in barefeet as possible is a conscious start!

my dirty foot directly after departing Antigonish, Nova Scotia's Evolve Music Festival!

Consumption Footprint : The most commonly reported type of Ecological Footprint. It is the area used to support a defined population's consumption. The consumption Footprint (in gha) includes the area needed to produce the materials consumed and the area needed to absorb the waste. The consumption Footprint of a nation is calculated in the National Footprint Accounts as a nation's primary production Footprint plus the Footprint of imports minus the Footprint of exports, and is thus, strictly speaking, a Footprint of apparent consumption. The national average or per capita Consumption Footprint is equal to a country's Consumption Footprint divided by its population.

Ecological Footprint : A measure of how much biologically productive land and water an individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates using prevailing technology and resource management practices. The Ecological Footprint is usually measured in global hectares. Because trade is global, an individual or country's Footprint includes land or sea from all over the world. Ecological Footprint is often referred to in short form as Footprint (not footprint).

Fragile Environment Warning!