Project H Design

Thinking about the famine, drought, disease, oppression, and violence that plagues the earth can cripple you with anxiety. With so much of the world in need, the options for helping others are endless. If you feel the need to give but would like a little help choosing a charitable organization, consider the old proverb:

“If you give a man a fish, you’ve fed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you’ve fed him for a lifetime.”

We can’t simply drop food and bottled water into impoverished areas. There’s a delicate balance in any social strata that must be respected, and throwing money at a problem rarely sustains a solution.

Emily Pilloton recognizes this in her Project H Design Manifesto, or anti-manifesto as she calls it, addressing issues concerning humanity, habits, health, and happiness. The call to action was originally posted in April of 2008 on core77, but has since sparked a movement. Project H Design “encourages the reorientation of the design industry towards a more socially-impactful and humanitarian entity through a variety of initiatives that include design thinking, production and distribution, funding, design academics, and local chapter projects.”

Within the manifesto, Pilloton promotes the Hippo Roller, a compelling solution to the lack of easily accessible water in impoverished areas. Although for many of us the use of water is so easy it requires no work or thought, for people without this luxury the task of carrying water from a source is debilitating and time consuming. The hippo roller allows the user to transport five times the amount previously carried over long distances and with significantly less bodily stress. The time saved using the device allows for more concentration on education, food production, and income generating work.

Please click here if you are interested in donating to the Hippo Roller

*To see thrifty designs from those living in impoverished conditions for users in those similar conditions, visit Afrigadget.com (one of Time Magazine’s best sites of 2008)

by: Scott Starrett