We apologise for the break in communications...We're not lazy, just forgetful!

Back in September last year our new website, the 'Leapsite', went live to tremendous fanfare.
The long and the short of this is that the Leap Blog is now hosted there.

Please go to: http://www.designforchange.co.uk/blog.php for more excellent Leap happenings!

UK Blackouts by 2016?

The government's new energy advisor, due to take his post on 1st October, has told the BBC that by the time coal and nuclear power stations go offline in 2016, energy customers could already be experiencing blackouts.

Professor David MacKay, author of Sustainable Energy - Without The Hot Air is currently a researcher at Cambridge University, but has been asked to join the Department of Energy next month. He said that government policy was 'going in the right direction' but that the severity of the situation had not been made clear to the British public.

"There is a worry that in 2016 there might not be enough electricity. My guess is that what the market might do is fix that problem by making more gas power stations, which isn't the direction we want to be going in," he said.

"So we really should be upping the build rate of the alternatives as soon as possible."

A synopsis and full PDF copy of Professor MacKay's book are available here: http://www.withouthotair.com/ and is recommended by The Economist, The Guardian, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace.

Water Pilgrim Hits BBC Homepage!

Maxim Laithwaite, aka the Water Pilgrim has been interviewed by BBC 5 Live and has ended up on the BBC Homepage for all its visitors to see!

Maxim started out on his 600 mile journey on 10th July in Minehead and reached Land's End on 2nd August. His epic journey was designed to raise awareness of water shortage in the poorest countries on Earth and is now coming to its end in Poole on Saturday (12th September).

Click here to view the BBC's Story.

Design Forum Launches Training Event

The South West Design Forum has launched a series of training days for designers hosted across the South West region.
Entitled Design Train 09, the workshops are being supported and subsidised by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The workshops cover several subjects including Project Management, Digital Imaging, Leadership and Management, Sustainable Design and Service Design and will be delivered in Bournemouth, Bath, Falmouth, Bristol and Taunton.
For Further Information go to: http://www.swdf.co.uk/DesignTrain

"Radical Rent-a-Bikes Generate Eco-Friendly Energy"

"Designer Chiyu Chen has conceived of an ingenious transit system that encourages the use of sustainable transportation by crediting people for renting and riding bicycles. His Hybrid2 system consists of a fleet of rentable bicycles that are capable of generating and storing kinetic energy, which is then used to power the city’s hybrid electric buses. Simply rent a bike, charge it up with kinetic energy from pedal power, and then return it to a kiosk - the station feeds energy into the city’s smart grid, and you receive a credit towards your next bus pass!"

What a Great Idea!

Do You Want to Eradicate Poverty?

Christian Aid have had a great little video made as an introduction to their 'Poverty Over' website and evokes Nexus Productions' renowned animated title sequence for Steven Speilberg's 'Catch Me if You Can' from 2002. You can view the video here.

'Field of Light' by Bruce Munro

Late last year, renowned light sculptor Bruce Munro and his team descended on the Eden Project in Bodelva to create a truly inspiring sight for visitors to see. Entitled 'Field of Light' the piece contained 6,000 acrylic 'stems' capped with glass spheres and used 24,000 metres of fibre optic cable.
“I think Field of Light looks fantastic at the Eden Project” said Munro “ I’m always slightly nervous before we’ve installed a piece, in case somehow it doesn’t work in the location. But I’m really happy at how it’s worked out.”

Place Based Learning Website Goes Live

Place Based Learning, an initiative funded by the Carnegie UK Trust “encourages teachers and students to use the school site, the local community, and special places nearby as resources, turning communities into classrooms.”
This fantastic project being pioneered in Cornwall by Will Coleman; is designed to open up the endless exciting opportunities available to teachers and educational professionals just outside the classroom that will give children the feeling of place and membership of a community that is so lacking from recent educational approaches.

Green Awards Go with Park Lane Press

Park Lane Press in Wiltshire have been chosen by the Green Awards 2009 as their printing sponsor. In this role Park Lane will print all the promotional material for the awards and is said by the company to be a celebration of ten years of waterless printing.
The company is also celebrating a highly successful year with their own awards with four major environmental awards being won by this already highly regarded press.
Like Leap, Park Lane Press are ISO-14001 accredited and back in June was awarded the Best SME Award at the second annual ISO-14001 Awards hosted by the British Standards Institution.
Park Lane’s waterless printing process saves a huge amount of water (obviously), but also energy and solvents, especially isopropyl alcohol (IPA). In ten years Park Lane has saved 58,700 litres of IPA solvent and over 7,300,000 litres of water.
Philip Sudwell, Managing Director of Park Lane Press said: “I would urge all businesses to see green not as a compromise in quality or an additional cost but the complete opposite. It’s what our customers demand and we have proved it is possible to place green issues at the heart of a successful business without jeopardising product quality or our bottom line.” Here here to that!

Leap has Pledged... Will You?

"Truro Cathedral is behind a campaign to get Cornwall's voice heard at the next Climate Summit due to take place in Copenhagen in December. An open meeting has been convened at the Cathedral on Friday 9th October at 7.30pm in order that the voice of the ordinary people of Cornwall can be heard. Please tell as many people as you can about this event, there will be guest speakers and a chance to view the supporting exhibition."

A Cornish Declaration has been drafted that states:

We the people of Cornwall and our visitors, pledge to ensure that our families and our communities will survive to freely enjoy the bounty and beauty of Cornwall

We pledge:

• to strive to restore the balance between nature and society
• to strive to lead sustainable lives
• to strive to leave positive footprints on the path to Copenhagen and into the future

We want Cornwall to be part of a planet which lives within its means.

At Copenhagen in December 2009 we want the Prime Minister and his Ministers to forge an agreement amongst all nations to keep the increase in temperature of this planet to below 2 degrees C.
Please goto: http://www.trurocathedral.org.uk/hot-topics/hot-topics.php to sign the pledge.

Waterslide!

Here's something that Matt found the other week...

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Last Night at Transition

Last night's Transition St Austell meeting was the first that Katy and I have attended. It was a film night showing Leonardo DiCaprio's The 11th Hour with a discussion to follow. Although not highly attended, we had a in depth discussion afterwards about the issues raised and how they might affect our town. The next meeting is due to be a seminar about renewable energy in the middle of September.

Leap Gains Ethical Accrediation

Last week we received word that we have finally gained our ethical accreditation from the ethical company organisation. In their own words: “The Ethical Company Organisation is working for animal welfare, human rights and the environment by providing clear information on companies for ethical shoppers.” Their website, where you can find out all about their accreditation scheme and The Good Shopping Guide (their annual summary of all their research), can be found at: http://www.ethical-company-organisation.org/
Keep an eye out for the logo on our emails in the near future...

Next Transition St Austell Meeting 6th August 2009

To support our client Transition St Austell we've lent the group two titles from our environmental DVD collection. Mark and Katie of Transition said: "We are back at the White Hart, St Austell for a film night. The film in question is The 11th Hour. Created, produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, on the state of the natural environment the film documents the grave problems facing the planet's life systems. Global warming, deforestation, mass species extinction, and depletion of the oceans' habitats are all addressed. The film's premise is that the future of humanity is in jeopardy. The film proposes potential solutions to these problems by calling for restorative action by the reshaping and rethinking of global human activity through technology, social responsibility and conservation."
At this early stage of the resurgence of Transition in St Austell it would be great if we could get more people at each subsequent meeting.
Let's try to restore the largest town in Cornwall to the rich community that it once was...

Leap Highlighted

As a company with one foot in the media industry, we like to keep on top of ours and our clients exposure in the press and online. I was surprised this morning to find that we were featured in an article about ISO-14001 accreditation and the EMS Easy tool and how it's helping SME's on an online green newsletter entitled GreenWise.
The article discusses the benefits of the EMS Easy tool kit and that it enables smaller businesses to gain accreditations that five years ago they wouldn't have considered possible or economical to aim for.
"Apart from Cornwall-based Leap Media, four of Global Action Plan’s clients have achieved ISO14001 using the tool kit in the past year – none of them employing more than 50 staff – dispelling the myth that environmental management standards are the sole preserve of large organisations."
Leap previously worked for Global Action Plan and developed all branding and marketing collateral for their Envision project.
Full article is to be found here.

Leap Nominated for University of Plymouth Vice Chancellor Award

Leap were told the other day that Unlocking Cornish Potential (UCP), the guys that brought Claire England and Chris Maynard into the company, have nominated Leap for the University of Plymouth Vice Chancellor Award for Enterprise in Cornwall.
It is awarded to businesses and individuals "for enterprising activities in Cornwall which have influenced thinking in the county and contributed to its economic, social and cultural development."
The winner will be announced at a black tie Awards Dinner to be held in the Graduation Marquee on Thursday 17th September.

Holz Eco House

Claire found this last week whilst designing Holz' Autumn/Winter catalogue for 2009/10:

Plan ‘Green’ Dolls House
An exciting edition to our much loved dolls house collection. Made from sustainable rubber wood, this eco dolls house has a wind turbine, solar panel and electricity inverter. Its own water butt, recycling bins, an adjustable blind to regulate sunlight and air circulation, and biofacade which uses the natural cycle of plant growth to create shade. Also includes room furniture. Everything a modern doll family could need!

All for a very reasonable £142.90! Now, I'm sure that my sister's doll's house cost WAY more than that!

the creekside, west looe

As you can see above Leap have branded an exclusive development of two bedroom apartments beside the river in West Looe.
The twelve energy efficient apartments are being designed and fitted to the highest standard and will be available later this summer.
If you follow this link here you will see Kieran’s beautifully designed website where you can find out more about availability of the properties and the town itself.
Claire is also putting the finishing touches to a comprehensive brochure that will show the apartments in their best light.

Leap is Now ISO-14001 Accredited!

After two years of hard graft and the training of four of our five employees, we have now (last Tuesday in fact) been given our ISO-14001 accreditation.
This is culmination of a huge amount of work and drive by Matt and Jonny and singles us out as the only graphic design studio in the South West (and maybe the country) that has achieved this prestigious recognition.
The 14001 accreditation is concerned with Leap's environmental management system and calls for a measurable reduction in all of its outputs year on year.
For more information Jonny Parker should be contacted in the first instance.

Upton Towans beach in Gwithian was sold at auction yesterday for £80,000. The proceeds from the sale will go to the Hall for Cornwall as the owner, Dennis Arbon, wanted the sale to benefit the people of Cornwall. The buyer is said to be keen to keep the beech totally unspoilt, which is another positive outcome from the sale. Without any chance of planning being granted now or in the future, you may ask what the buyer got from the sale. It is believed to be a literary trophy associated with one Virginia Woolf, as the beach is thought to be the inspiration for her 1927 novel To the Lighthouse. Tim Brinkman of the Hall for Cornwall said: "I'm absolutely delighted. It's a great fillip for the theatre." And were inclined to agree with him. We just hope that the Jack’s Cows project raises just as much if not more money for Cornwall’s premiere theatre.

Cleo Ready for Her Blooming Closeup on Pydar Street

We've just been told this afternoon that Truro City Council have put in a publicity request for Cleo our climate cow. This week sees Truro putting in its RHS Britain in Bloom entry and as a result, the city has asked for Cleo to take pride of place on Pydar Street to boost the climate credentials of the entry. She will then be moved to take up her prestigious final position on Lemon Quay outside the Hall for Cornwall ready to take centre stage in this great fundraising event for the beginning of next week. In other bovine news, Claire’s designs for the Cow map are coming along well and should be ready very soon.

Heligan Wins Gold!

Yesterday (7th July) the medal winners at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show were announced to the world with a name familiar to the people of Cornwall amongst them.
The Lost Gardens of Heligan in Pentewan, just outside of St Austell, won a Gold Medal for their Leap designed Camellia & Rhododendron display in the Plant Heritage Marquee.
As the only Cornish garden exhibiting this year, it was extra important to make sure that Heligan’s display was especially striking, especially because, due to disease control, they are not allowed to exhibit live samples; as Lorna Tremayne, Heligan’s Marketing and Media Manager explains:
“Due to restrictions on plant movement for sites like ours with the fungal disease Phytophthora ramorum, we are unable to take any plant material from our National Collection. This meant that we needed to create a purely interpretative display full of images and interesting anecdotes and facts to tell Heligan’s National Collection story.”
“We have worked closely with Leap Media who have created an eye-catching gallery style display for us.” Leap designer Claire England worked for three weeks on the display that tells the story of Heligan’s National Collection of Camellias and Rhododendrons and is thrilled with the award: “I’m really pleased with the finished result and so happy that our hard work has been recognised.”
Taking pride of place in the Plant Heritage Marquee, the display is made up of over 60 panels of images and information and reveals the adventures of the Victorian Plant Hunters, the fascinating stories of individual plants and the conservation and future of Heligan’s horticultural treasures.
In 2008, Heligan was granted National Collection status by Plant Heritage for its historical collection of ‘Camellias and Rhododendrons Introduced to Heligan pre-1920’. The collection, which boasts over 70 veteran camellias and 350 ancient rhododendrons, attracts thousands of visitors to the gardens every spring with its majestic and colourful blooms.
It’s been over ten years since Heligan last exhibited at Hampton Court. Leap are really excited to be involved with their return and with this success look forward to working with the ‘Lost Gardens’ in the near future.

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The Lost Gardens Return

In association with Leap, The Lost Gardens of Heligan have completed their preparations for next week's Hampton Court Flower Show.

As the only Cornish garden exhibiting this year, it was extra important to make sure that Heligan’s display was extra striking, especially because, due to disease control, they are not allowed to exhibit live samples; as Lorna Tremayne, Heligan’s Marketing and Media Manager explains:
“Due to restrictions on plant movement for sites like ours with the fungal disease Phytophthora ramorum, we are unable to take any plant material from our National Collection. This meant that we needed to create a purely interpretative display full of images and interesting anecdotes and facts to tell Heligan’s National Collection story.”
Claire has been working on the display that tells the story of their National Collection of Camellias and Rhododendrons for three weeks and has just today gone to check the final product at Parc Signs. It will take pride of place in the Plant Heritage Marquee and is made up of over 60 panels of images and information.
It’s been over ten years since Heligan last exhibited at Hampton Court and Leap are really excited to be involved with their return.

(Left to Right) Lorna, Marketing and Media Manager from Heligan, Claire from Leap and Sarah from Heligan.

ShelterBox Goes Live!

Within the last hour the all-new, Leap-designed ShelterBox website has gone live. One of the biggest elements of an ongoing 18 month re brand of the disaster relief charity and taking eight months alone, the new website is a cleaner design with the emphasis on recent successful deployments and making it easier for visitors to donate and volunteer their time.
ShelterBox package and deliver ten man survival kits, in their highly recognisable green boxes, to sites of humanitarian disaster all over the world. They also train volunteers to become part of their ShelterBox Relief Team with their gruelling nine-day training courses.
In August 2007 the Duchess of Cornwall became the charity’s President and Royal Patron following a visit with the Prince of Wales to Pakistan in 2006 where they saw the great work being done there by ShelterBox volunteers. Other patrons include Miss Joanna Lumley OBE and Lady Mary Holbarrow, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall.
Last year ShelterBox announced their One Million in Africa project that hopes to deploy one million boxes on the continent.
ShelterBox relies entirely on donations from the public and are very proud that 92% of all donations goes directly to those in need. To donate now go to http://www.shelterbox.org/

South West Tourism and the Tourism for Tomorrow

The World Travel and Tourism Council have announced the winners and finalists of their annual Tourism for Tomorrow Awards.
The awards include four very different categories: the Destination Stewardship Award, the Conservation Award, the Community Benefit Award and the Global Tourism Business Award. As the only finalist from the UK, South West Tourism was exceedingly proud to be in the final twelve across the four categories and the final three in the Destination Stewardship Award.
Neil Warren, Sustainability Strategist for South West Tourism said: “We were surprised and delighted to make it so far and while a little disappointed that we didn’t win, it was further than I ever anticipated we would get when I sent the application in.”
Leap are very proud to be associated with South West Tourism and were more than happy to say so to the award judges, Matt said: “I was asked to meet with the judges to discuss Leap’s working relationship with SWT and what we do ourselves.”
Even though they didn’t win, Neil remains positive: “One of the best outcomes from the process was that the judging visit reminded me just how many great partners we are fortunate to work with. I’d like to thank them all again for their support in recent years, for their help with the judging in February and I look forward to continuing our work together in the future.”
The eventual winner of the Destination Stewardship Award was Grupo Puntacana from the Dominican Republic. The group own and run a Resort and Club, international airport, a community and an ecological foundation. Like a modern day Bourneville or Voltaire the group employs 1,700 people and provides all their educational and health related needs whilst sustainably developing the local infrastructure.
Neil said: “Congratulations to Grupo Puntacana on what looks like fantastic work in the Dominican Republic.”

[re]design and the Design Olympiad

Back in October last year Sarah Johnson of [re]design gave a seminar to the 2008 Design Olympiad in Seoul, South Korea.
Entitled 'What is Design For?' the talk centred around how UK designers are 're imagining and reinventing our world...whilst respecting ecological limits' by emphasising good practice pioneers including Leap.
Leap embodies tactical changes that all designers could make in the way that we have revolutionised our design practice. By changing the way we think about and use paper along with other raw materials, we have neutralised our carbon output and reduced the waste that comes out of our studio.
Leap has shown leadership in other levels of our production process; by collaborating with St Austell Printing Company to develop an until recently unmatched carbon calculator, we have set ourselves apart from the competition by increasing our own sustainability and positive social outcomes. Its great for this to have been recognised and heralded by Sarah and [re]design and we'd like to thank them for thinking of us!
By the way, I don’t want to ruin the ending, but in case you didn’t catch Sarah’s talk; it turns out that design is for designing a better world…watch this space.

BPIF Launches Carbon Calculator!

In March the British Printing Industries Federation (BPIF) launched a 'special carbon calculator' to measure the carbon footprint of a one-off print job and the annual carbon consumption of a printing business; only a few years after Leap launched theirs in conjunction with St Austell Print Company.
“We’ve tried to do a full life cycle of the printing process,” explains the BPIF’s Liam Gardner. “But it’s massively complex when you try to calculate the impact from cradle to grave,” he admits. For instance, if you’re looking at inks and solvents, do you calculate the energy needed to extract the oil in the first place, he asks. “So we’ve focused on getting the basics right,” he explains.
This move by BPIF couldn't come at a better time with the UK print industry worth over £14 billion with a carbon footprint to match.
For more information Click here.

Futerra's 10 signs of Greenwash

These are the things to look out for on advertising and packaging that can indicate when a company is trying to use greenwash to sell its product or service, according to Futerra's Greenwash guide..

1. Fluffy language
Words or terms with no clear meaning, e.g. "ecofriendly".

2. Green products v dirty company
Such as efficient light bulbs made in a factory which pollutes rivers.

3. Suggestive pictures
Green images that indicate an (unjustified) green impact eg flowers blooming from exhaust pipes.

4. Irrelevant claims
Emphasising one tiny green attribute when everything else is "ungreen".

5. Best in a bad class?
Declaring you are slightly greener than the rest, even if the rest are pretty terrible.

6. When it's just not credible
"Ecofriendly" cigarettes anyone? "Greening" a dangerous product doesn't make it safe.

7. Gobbledygook
Jargon and information that only a scientist could check or understand.

8. Imaginary friends
A "label" that looks like third party endorsement ... except it is made up by the company itself.

9. No proof
It could be right, but where's the evidence?

10. Outright lying
Totally fabricated claims or data.

For more info visit: http://www.futerra.co.uk/
Or http://www.leapmedia.co.uk/

Maxim Laithwaite - The Water Pilgrim

With the tagline "Walking without money for those without money", Max is walking the 1000Km of the South West Coast Path raising money for WaterAid. Taking just over two months, he will leave Minehead in Somerset on 10th July and (all being well) he will arrive in Poole on 12th September.
The route has more than 35Km of ascents which incredibly is four times the height of Everest!
Max is planning on Walking and talking along his route with several supporters and famous faces to raise his profile. To date he's invited Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Ray Mears, Rob Hopkins and Tim Smit to join him along his route and discuss the issue of water conservation.
Leap pledges their support and wishes him well!
To follow the exploits of this remarkable man click the pic...

Bear 13/Lucy McLauchlan - "Tacit"

Here's a great piece hosted by Vimeo of Lucy McLauchlan and Beat 13's "Tacit", great music and great art!

Beat13 / Lucy McLauchlan "Tacit" from Beat13 on Vimeo.

Guerrilla Gardening: Fight the Filth

A great link this one...
A guy in London who began planting his neighbourhood with seeds in all kinds of places...
Click the Pic for link

Great News on Two Fronts!

So here we are, coming to the end of the awards season with yet more great news! The last post announced the nomination of the Good Energy Shop for the Observer Ethical Awards. We can now say that Leap designed the most ethical online retail site in 2009! That's right folks... Good Energy Shop won! Everyone is thrilled at the news and we'd like to congratulate everyone at Good Energy for ensuring that a great website is backed up with a great team and customer experience. As the award was decided by nominations from customers, we'd like to add to Good Energy's words by thanking all those customers who voted for the site. We also have had MORE good news... Leap has been awarded a Big Tick for Climate Change by the Business in the Community (Bit) organisation. As one of only 106 companies achieving this award nationwide and one of 12 in the Southwest, Leap are proud to be one of the only companies of its size achieving such a recognised accreditation. The ceremony is on Thursday and I will post the best pictures to the blog next week.