Breaking News: Hamsters Find a New Home, Here!

It was a cold Friday morning, and someone had just posted on Craigslist that she was going to set 15 hamsters outside—on the corner of 19th Street and Broadway, in Oakland. I didn't want to be judgemental and think this was a cruel person so I told the lady we would come pick them up, and she promised to keep them inside. As it turned out, her boyfriend had left her and she had to leave the state. She had names for all of them and had tears in her eyes when we told her we would find them good homes. So she did care after all. Since we're really broke this year, and with 3 dogs and 9 fishes as well, we were fortunate to get a donation of a few hamster cages and toys from Denise at the Dan & Dave's Country Inn. Some are still babies and very cute. We'll try to find them homes, otherwise we'll just keep them. If you live in the Bay Area and would like to adopt, let us know. Or if you have any hamster stuff that is sitting in your closet collecting dust, feel free to donate as well!

Design Spotlight 1: M4C Postcard

Designarchy finished a Musicians for Change postcard, creating a collage of organic textures and graphics, as well as photos of the bands involved in this project. As mentioned in the March issue, the intention of this project is to engage the youth of today (oh my God, I sound so old!) with sustainable issues and the venue for this is music concerts. They started out with two bands (so far) participating in this project—Hot Buttered Rum and The Duhks—and hope other bands will join in. They are part of the Bioneers (www.bioneers.org), a non-profit group that connects the environment, health, social justice, and spirit within a broad progressive framework. The postcard was printed by greenerprinter.com on the fabulous new "New Leaf" Sakura Silk stock with soy based inks. Can you spell YUMMY?

Design Spotlight 2: Seeded Postcard

As the first project of Musicians for Change, Bioneers teamed up with CLIF Bar to create a seeded postcard (with sunflower seeds!) to be distributed at a show of the "Hot Buttered Rum" band in San Francisco this month. The postcard aimed to educate and engage the music crowd in a few topics of sustainability. Designarchy created the postcard with graphics provided by the band so it would tie in with their existing identity. On the front, the person would fill out his/her name making a pledge to 1) join a CSA 2) Bring their own bags to the grocery store 3) send letters to presidential candidates asking them to give global warming a presidential priority 4) Use a reusable cup for their daily cup of joe or tea 5) Leave the car at home 2 days a week. On the back of the postcard, he/she would write a mailing address that would be mailed back to them in a week as a reminder of this commitment. It was printed at www.bloomin.com

You go Alonzo Printing!

Web printers love to claim their presses don't get along with soy inks. Not Alonzo Printing, in Hayward, California! They know that being an environmental printer goes beyond specifying recycled paper, and are presently testing very low VOC fountain solutions, roller and blanket washes for their web and sheet fed presses, which, if successful, will reduce emissions by 90%. Their house sheets are 100% PCW New Leaf Paper, resulting in a savings of 3,131 tons of wood in 2006. They've received numerous awards for environmental stewardship, and are the printer of the Ecology Center's Terrain magazine that we do quarterly.

Tip of the Month: Paper Brightness

The surface of a paper reflects light and that reflection is measured in percentages. Tipically, papers reflect between 60-90% of incoming light. When selecting a paper stock based on its brightness, consider what that paper will be used for: if a paper is too bright (92-98%), it will cause eye strain for large amounts of reading, while a paper that is too low in brightness will have less redability and cause blurring.