(from occuprint.org)

Lots more where these came from… some better than others.

Winnipeg, Canada

For the past 24 days I have been growing untrimmed hair above my upper lip—an unusual experience for me in this millennium, to be sure… (I used to sport a full beard every winter, before Y2K). It’s somewhat alien, I’ll admit (and my girlfriend’s not all that keen on how it feels, truth be known).

Why? In a word: Movember.

During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in Canada and around the world. With their “Mo’s,” these men raise vital funds and awareness for mens’ health, specifically prostate cancer.

On Movember 1st, guys register at Movember.com with a clean-shaven face. For the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery. Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo-growing efforts.

Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. Through their actions and words, they raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of mens’ health.

Thanks to my Circle colleague Carisa for the supportive image shown above (Mo Bros love Mo Sistas, what can I say?). I’d be delighted if you felt drawn to make a donation to the cause on my behalf.  Another Circle colleague, Adrian, is also growing a wicked “Mo,” and you can express your tangible support for “the cause” by contributing to his pledge here.

Davis, California

On November 18th, 2011, a group of students at the University of California Davis gathered on campus for an Occupy protest, during which they formed a human chain by linking their arms together. When they refused to comply with the police request to leave, UC Davis Police officer Lieutenant John Pike and another officer walked along administering orange pepper spray straight down on the line of unmoving students.

What Lt. John Pike did not take into account, is how rapidly memes are now born and spread on our interconnected planet… in the days following, hundreds of “photoshopped” images were shared online, many of them placing Lieutenant Pike into various historical events and milestones in civil rights, ranging from the signing of the U.S. constitution to Picasso’s famous anti-war painting Guernica. It will be interesting to see how far this meme travels from here…

View a video of the incident and reports on the meme’s mutation here. View a hilarious “meme’s meme” showing Hitler’s reaction to the viral rise of ‘Pepper Spray Cop’ here. And for others who are inclined to follow in Lt. Pike’s heavy-handed, now-infamous footsteps, “you’ve been warned.”

—(source unknown)

(an idea that’s spreading rapidly among the 1-billion “haves”)

Dreading the holiday season? The frantic rush and stress? The to-do lists and sales hype? The spiritless hours trapped in malls? This year, why not gather together your loved ones and decide to do things differently? With the simplest of plans you can create a new rhythm, purpose, and meaning for the holidays. Why not take the spirit of Buy Nothing Day and morph it into Buy Nothing Christmas?

With catastrophic climate change looming, the time is overdue for the rich one billion people on the planet to consume less! And if that’s too extreme for grandma and the kids, try for a Buy Less Christmas, a Buy Less Hanukkah, or a Buy Less Kwanzaa… and maybe a buy local, buy fairer, buy indie event. Whatever you decide, ’tis the season to reclaim our year-end celebrations and make them our own again.

“A few people start breaking their old patterns, embracing what they love (and in the process, discovering what they hate), daydreaming, questioning, rebelling. What happens naturally then, according to the revolutionary past, is a groundswell of support for this new way of being, with more and more people empowered to perform new gestures unencumbered by history.”

“On this 20th anniversary of Buy Nothing Day, let’s take things to a new level… consumer minimalism is one of many strategic operations in a continued fight for real democracy… This year, let’s fast like never before. Let’s get monastic with our actions. Let’s take back our holidays. Let’s wean ourselves off mega-corporations, put our money back into the local independent economy, and live for a different kind of future.”

Visit websites for Buy Nothing Day (25 November in North America this year, 26 November elsewhere) or Buy Nothing Christmas for lots of ideas and resources on how to spend less and live more.

(more of this ilk from Mr. Fish here)

Winnipeg, Canada

This day of remembrance, gratitude, and reflection also seems like a suitable time to (re)consider pacifism… following is an excerpt drawn from a useful and more in-depth online posting, here.

+  +  +  +  +

Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes or gaining advantage. Pacifism covers a spectrum of views ranging from the belief that international disputes can and should be peacefully resolved; to calls for the abolition of the institutions of the military and war; to opposition to any organization of society through governmental force (anarchist or libertarian pacifism); to rejection of the use of physical violence to obtain political, economic or social goals; to the obliteration of force except in cases where it is absolutely necessary to advance the cause of peace; to opposition to violence under any circumstance, including defense of self and others.

Pacifism may be based on moral principles (a deontological view) or pragmatism (a consequentialist view). Principled pacifism holds that at some point along the spectrum from war to interpersonal physical violence, such violence becomes morally wrong. Pragmatic pacifism holds that the costs of war and inter-personal violence are so substantial that better ways of resolving disputes must be found…

www.powertotheposter.org

Billed as “a graphic design democracy project,” Power to the Poster is “a restless, hopeful movement with eyes set on new possibilities for change leading to the prosperity of the collective…,” and exists “to bring people together around a ready supply of well-designed, wild postings that comment on the issues of our time.”

A selection of 11×17 posters in PDF format are for anyone, anywhere, to download, print, and post. “The hope is that this site gets people talking about where we’ve been and where we’re going in these historic times.”

Posters shown above are a small assortment of a collection that you can view and download here (by various artists, designers, and contributors). Thanks to friend Andre Meca for the link.

Taipei, Taiwan

Two weeks ago today I was honoured to have the opportunity of presenting a keynote lecture in the ‘Economic Development’ stream of the 2011 IDA World Design Congress in Taipei. Here’s my presentation abstract:

Design’s contribution to corporate profitability is well proven and oft touted. Less understood is the pervasive impact that design has had on the shaping of today’s world—an over-consuming, non-sustainable tumult of social and economic instability, cultural erosion, and ecological destruction.

As globalized societies morph rapidly from an information era into an age of ideas, designers increasingly find themselves thrust into a leading role as change-drivers. This presentation will examine a necessary shift in design’s role, share diverse perspectives from around the globe, and challenge us to “think about our thinking.”

Congress participants who wish to receive a downloadable link to a PDF of my presentation can contact me here.