10 Ways Design Can Fight Climate Change

'Tis the season for Top 10 lists; today's installment comes from the London-based design firm thomas.matthews, who've developed a manifesto [PDF], of sorts, about how they work to fight climate change. Required reading for designers interested in not trashing the planet.

1. Re-thinking
2. Re-using
3. Using friendly materials
4. Saving energy
5. Sharing new ideas

6. Designing to last
7. Staying local, buying ethical
8. Supporting what we believe
9. Inspiring, having fun
10. Saving money

Taken by itself, without some context in what the firm has done, as examples of each, the list is a little uninspiring; it's a bit like saying something like "We do things better" and leaving it at that -- a nice sentiment, but lacking the details that make it a meaningful, actionable philosophy. But take a look at what they've done: for "re-thinking," they noted their "No Shop" shop, a storefront they created for Friends of the Earth to convince folks to consume less; for "supporting what we believe," they note their clientèle who "work for things we care about," like better recycling, fighting climate change and tackling hunger.

Perhaps the most important note about this manifesto, though, is not that thomas.matthews is not that they recycle whenever they can, or that they source locally and support local economies, but that they've realized that there is something that they can do with every project, every client, every day, to lighten their footprint and help fight global warming. And that's a lesson we can all take something from. ::thomas.matthews via ::MoCo Loco