Can Design Change the World?

A new book—an outgrowth of a popular Web site—focuses on simple and complex innovations that could solve global crises

by Reena Jana

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The three-year-old Web site Worldchanging.com has quickly established itself as a source for original, sophisticated reporting on green technology and humanitarian tools and organizational models, among other altruistic topics. The editors' focus is on how people can cross-fertilize innovative ideas and collaborate on solutions to a variety of international environmental crises ranging from the quest for alternatives to Big Oil to the dearth of clean water in developing nations.

Worldchanging's executive editor, Alex Steffen, has now edited a book version of the site, Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century, which will be published in November. Part encyclopedia of socially conscious companies and movements, part picture-book (it includes gorgeous color photographs by leading photographers such as Edward Burtynsky), and part how-to instructions on becoming a greener consumer or business, the nearly 600-page volume is an invaluable resource you can use without booting up your computer (and so use electricity) to access Worldchanging.com.

And to justify the dead trees required to produce the tome—and set a compelling example for readers—publisher Harry N. Abrams printed each copy on 100% recycled, chlorine-free paper. Abrams also purchased wind credits (from www.renewablechoice.com) equal to the amount of electricity needed to manufacture the book.

Look Good Doing Good

The book also serves as a snapshot of today's eco-chic, politically aware pop culture (think of Bono's Project Red initiative for proof of the current reach of the do-good, feel-good zeitgeist). And Worldchanging joins a growing wave of accessible resources aiming to educate the masses on the dire state of the environment and various international societal and political crises.

Former Vice-President Al Gore's global-warming documentary and best-selling book of the same title, An Inconvenient Truth, is the most obvious example. (It's worth noting that Gore wrote the foreword to Worldchanging.) The late-summer launch of hip, trendy Good magazine, which focuses on the marriage of socially conscious capitalism and idealism, is another.

And other recent titles, such as Design Like You Give a Damn, published in June by Architecture for Humanity, and the soon-to-be-released documentary film on climate change, The Great Warming, featuring Keanu Reeves and Alanis Morissette, reinforce the concept that popular culture is becoming a vehicle for samaritans to recruit others to various causes.

BusinessWeek.com's Reena Jana recently chatted with Alex Steffen about Worldchanging's concrete goals, the inspiration for the book, and how businesses and consumers might benefit from the examples presented in the volume and on Worldchanging.com. Edited excerpts from their conversation follow.

Worldchanging.com features dizzyingly varied subject matter, from sophisticated nanotech to DIY lamps made from discarded laundry-detergent containers. One thread is the idea is that cross-disciplinary design is the means for improving dire world crises. Why do you think innovation and design are as potent as, say, diplomacy or political or legal reform?

Actually, I think that innovation and design aren't the same thing, but part of the same constellation of approaches. We focus on people who are working on radically different solutions for many problems. Some are classic design projects. Others are about better ways of thinking, and others are about political action.

What's interesting is that many different fields are converging at this moment. We live in a culture of innovation. At this moment, across our global culture, there's a shared impulse to solve problems.