Running the Numbers looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. The artist hopes that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year.

This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. Employing themes such as the near versus the far, and the one versus the many. The artist hopes to raise some questions about the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming. Running the Numbers images will look at some issues that are more global in scope: the world’s oceans, African issues, species extinctions.

To see the work visit

http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php

 

The third Green Awards have culminated at the Brewery, London with the winners of 13 categories and the overall ‘Grand-prix’ winner being announced. Initiated to reward businesses for communicating sustainability in a creative and original way, the awards emphasise the role that needs to be played by the marketing and communications industries in informing people about green issues, products and lifestyle choices.

The evening was enlivened by rousing speeches from Climate Change Co-ordinator from the United Nations Environment Programme, Mr Kaveh Zahedi, Friends of the Earth Chair Simon Counsell and Baroness Peta Buscombe, Chief Executive of the Advertising Association.

The Grand Prix rewards the campaign which, in the opinion of the expert judging panel, best exemplified an outstanding environmental message, and had the greatest sustainable impact. This accolade went to Nokia for their ‘Power of We’ for their corporate employee engagement programme.

The judges were impressed by the results of the campaign: 73% of worldwide employees are aware of their environmental initiatives, over 1200 environmental champions have signed up with the target of a further 1000 in the next 3 months – with employees making over 4000 pledges with the number growing every day.It was agreed the campaign was a really engaging way of getting employees on board – it really was very practically based, anybody could do it, it wasn’t preachy and it seemed to be doing the business. Less a green campaign than an entire organisational cultural shift.
 
Other notable winners included Green Thing ‘Walk the Walk’ for Best Green Digital and the We Want Tap Campaign for Best Green Integrated under £50,000 Budget.

According to Baroness Peta Buscombe, Chief Executive, The Advertising Association “The Awards demonstrate our industry’s commitment to promoting positive environmental change. The environment is an issue where we are all looking for solutions, it is important to ours and future generations and is one in which the communications industry can play a powerful role.”

Two new categories were introduced in 2008. Best Green Campaigner and Best Green International Campaign. Nick Nuttall, Spokesperson to the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Head of Media commented “The marketing industry is both part of the problem but also a big part of the solution to the challenge of climate change and the wider sustainability challenges facing over six billion people. UNEP is delighted that the Green Awards is evolving from its solid base in the UK to inspire creativity and campaigning globally by attracting entrants from all of the world”.

- ENDS  -

Editor’s Notes: All winners and commendations.

Best Outdoor Advertisement (under £50,000)
sponsored by Clear Channel Outdoor

International Fund for Animal Welfare: IFAW on the Underground

Best Outdoor Advertisement (over £50,000)
sponsored by Clear Channel Outdoor

Coca-Cola Great Britain: Talent From Trash

Best Press (no budget split)

CLG and COI: COI Energy Efficiency Check-up

Best Direct Mail (no budget split)
sponsored by Guardian Direct Marketing

International Fund for Animal Welfare: MP Humpback Adoption Campaign

Best Radio (no winner)

Gcap Media - Commended

Best Green Digital (No budget split)
sponsored by Propel Earth

Green Thing: Walk the walk

Best Internal Communications (under £50,000)
sponsored by B.sustainable

Punch Taverns: How big is your Carbon Footprint?’

Best Internal Communications (over £50,000)
sponsored by B.sustainable

Nokia: The power of We

Best Audiovisual (under £50,000)
sponsored by ITN Source.

BDH and the Soil Association: One Planet Food

Best Audio-visual (over £50,000)
sponsored by ITN Source

DEFRA: ACT ON CO2, Save Money, Save Energy Campaign

Best International Campaign (no budget split)

Romanian National Water Administration: Let’s keep the waters clean
 
UNEP and UITP: The Voice of Reason (Age 6)

mtc touch, Lebanon - Commendation

Best Campaigner (no budget split)
sponsored by Media Training Masterclasses

Batteryrecycling-uk.co.uk

Neil Jennings Associates Community Interest Company - Commendation

Best Packaging (under £50,000)
sponsored by ASDA.

Lush: Squeaky Green Shampoo Bar

Angus Soft Fruits & Adare - Commendation

Best Packaging (over £50,000)
sponsored by ASDA

Cadbury: Cadbury Eco-Eggs

Best Website, (under £50,000)

Friends of the Earth: The Big Ask

Best Website (over £50,000)

Largeblue: green.tv

Best PR (under £50,000)
sponsored by Planet 2050, Weber Shandwick’s

United Utilities Plc: Tap Into Water

Best PR (over £50,000) - No winner

Best Integrated (under £50,000)

We Want Tap: Tap
 
For more information, visit www.greenawards.co.uk  or contact: Green Awards Team: + 44 (0) 207 6085220

Separating your food isn’t a new idea let’s be honest. We’ve all been the grumpy five year old, pushing the carrots or sprouts to the edge of our plate with a thoroughly disgusted look plastered across our little face. Separating your food waste from your other household waste however is a practise that can have slightly more dramatic global consequences than missing out on some smelly veg’ (yes I still hate sprouts!).

WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) have reported that we – the general public – don’t mind separating our food waste (when given the appropriate equipment for storage) and of the 94,000 households offered the trial initiative, around 70% took part. Obviously this ties in well with the WRAP ‘love food, hate waste’ initiative, that aims to change the way we all buy food, showing the benefits to the environment and your weekly shopping spend if you only buy what you need and what you’ll actually eat (not to mention that it’d save food waste, and all the extra complexities involved in the production and transport of excess food).

“The collected food waste was either composted at in-vessel facilities or treated by anaerobic digestion.” And WRAP calculated that redirection of the 4,400 tonnes of food waste ‘saved’ the equivalent of 2,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions in little over a year, bargain!

The initiative shows that even those of us who don’t have use of the family compost bin can and will make the effort if given the choice.

WRAP Summary
http://www.wrap.org.uk/wrap_corporate/news/public_supports.html

Full Report
http://www.wrap.org.uk/local_authorities/biowaste/separate_food_waste.html

Love food hate waste
http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/