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Gifts can create happiness. The holidays bring out the generosity in many of us; the heap of presents under the Christmas tree demonstrate that this trait is alive and well in America. If the goal of Christmas is to make people happy with gifts, then wouldn’t it be great if you could make more than one person at a time happy with just one gift?

Giving a charity gift card is the perfect way to increase the positive effects of your generosity. Once somebody receives the charity card, they can go online and learn about all the different charities that they can give to. This present will be guaranteed to have a strong emotional impact on the individual who receives it. The individual will learn about situations in the world where things are going badly, like starvation in Somalia, or toxic water poisoning in Chinese villages. Rather than throwing their hands up in the air and sighing powerlessly, these individuals will be able to change the situation for the better. This will make them feel a strength and power that only acts of compassion can provide.

TisBest.org [www.tisbest.org] (as in “Tis better to give than to receive”), is a Seattle-based company that offers tax-deductible charity gift cards online in amounts from $10 to $5,000. Charity gift card recipients then choose to donate the funds on their gift card to one of 250 carefully selected charities organized into categories as diverse as: the environment, health, children, education, arts and culture and women’s issues. TisBest is perfect for people who want to simplify the holidays, reduce wasteful consumption and give a gift that shows the true spirit of giving.

- TisBest offers both “Instant Gift Cards” (online cards sent via email) and “Classic Gift Cards” (100% recycled plastic cards sent via regular mail). Both styles of gift cards allow the gift giver to include a personal message.
- TisBest gift givers can customize the image on their gift card by choosing from 40 stock images on TisBest.org or by uploading their own image.
- The TisBest card is an attractive business gift that can be customized with the gift giver’s brand identity.
- TisBest designed the Charity Gift Card to be a meaningful and interactive gift. The gift giver receives notification of when and on what charity a gift card is spent, as well as a personal note from the gift card recipient.
- TisBest deducts $3.95 per gift card for processing. Shipping and handling charges for the Classic Cards are typically much lower than gift wrapping and shipping a package.
- In the past year TisBest raised over $450,000 for charity.

A fantastic donation gift for friends, family members, customers, clients, newlyweds, sweethearts, and anyone else truly important. Recipients spend the Charity Gift Card by donating to a charity they believe in, with over 200 carefully selected and responsible 501(c)3 nonprofits listed. The charity gift card is a great last minute gift or stocking stuffer–just print the card and voila!



Yesterday, we laid out a few ideas [www.sundancechannel.com] for why product design is important, and why sustainable product design has a huge potential to change the way we think about, buy, and use products, from everyday gadgets to once-in-a-lifetime artifacts. Think about it: what if everything you consumed was not only less harmful, but netted a positive impact on the earth? We aren’t quite there yet, but some of our favorite designers are making strides toward that goal for tomorrow with products they’ve designed today; they create more functional products with fewer materials, build thoughtful products that are not only built to last, but are built to be easily repaired (rather than discarded) when they break down; they produce designs that entice us to change the way we think about how the stuff we use every day can work, look and feel. Check out the (really interesting!) work of a few of the best TreeHugging designers.

1) Awhile back, TreeHugger made a list (and divided it into a four-part series) of our favorite sustainable designers, representing different parts of the sustainable design puzzle. Part one [www.treehugger.com] included Peter Danko (whose designs were mentioned here [www.sundancechannel.com] as part of our Designer Spotlight series) is one of the original (and still one of the best) when it comes to the combination of sustainability and design; his furniture, ranging from seats [www.treehugger.com] to benches to chairs [www.treehugger.com] and tables [www.treehugger.com], is largely made with ply-bent wood, recycled materials for seat suspension padding and non-toxic, water-based adhesives. It is simple, yet sophisticated, and, as Danko’s new designs [www.treehugger.com] come down the pike, we have yet to be disappointed.
2) It’s also difficult for us to mention the words “sustainable design” without thinking of Herman Miller; the Aeron Chair [www.treehugger.com] is perhaps the most recognizable (and imitated) of these contemporary designs. Designed by Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf, the chair combines distinctive looks with pioneering ergonomics and is the envy of office workers the world ’round. Aeron is based on the ideas that ergonomically, the chair should do more than just sit there; functionally, it should be as simple and natural as possible, and environmentally, it should be durable, repairable and designed for disassembly and recycling. Made largely of recycled materials, the Aeron chair is designed to last a long time, with parts that get the most wear easily replaced and recycled: just what we’ve come to expect in a well thought-out design.
3) Charlie Lazor’s name graces the list for his versatility and prolific design portfolio. A Partner and Designer at furniture design company Blu Dot, he works with the premise that design should be affordable and daydreams of a better flat-packed world. Blu Dot’s pieces are making a splash: seen on the sets of well-known television shows such as “Friends” and “ER,” in the permanent collections of several museums, and as winners of numerous national and international awards. Lazor is also responsible for the FlatPak House [www.treehugger.com], which arrives at the building site in flat pieces to keep cost and environmental impact low, and with modernist customizations abounding, there is no limit to the fab in this pre-fab.
4) Rogan Gregory has a good thing going. As the designer behind both Loomstate [www.treehugger.com] and Edun [www.treehugger.com], he’s mixing hip apparel with organic cotton, fair labor and celebrity to make a tremendous mark on fashion. Loomstate helped set the bar for sustainably-minded designer denim by using only 100% organic cotton and sustainable farming practices. With Edun, along with U2’s Bono and Bono’s wife, Ali Hewson, Rogan brings the notion of sustainable employment, fair labor, and social compliance and consciousness to catwalks across the world and widens the apparel designs from simply denim to everyday casualwear. With both efforts, Rogan Gregory is helping to change the paradigm in the fashion industry and make it possible for “hip,” “sustainable” and “fashion” to happily co-exist.
5) When it comes to bamboo [www.sundancechannel.com], we TreeHuggers can hardly seem to get enough of the stuff, but we were able to narrow it down to our favorite four designers who use the stuff. Adapt Design [www.treehugger.com] (which has since changed their name to Modern Bamboo [www.sundancechannel.com]) makes simply stunning furniture from bamboo; Bambu [www.treehugger.com] boasts a wide range of products combine a pleasing aesthetic with an everyday work ethic, and make a stylishly understated addition to any kitchen, from utensils to bowls to cutting boards; Bamboosa [www.treehugger.com] stitches their apparel from the up-and-coming fabric made from bamboo, which, by all accounts, is soft to the touch, feels great on the skin, and handles the same as its cotton equivalent; and, when it comes to kitchen construction and design, it doesn’t get much better than Henrybuilt [www.treehugger.com]. Using bamboo as their principle material, they custom design and build beautifully crafted, eco-minded kitchen cabinets and furniture. As important as their designs is their philosophy: that building products to last is as important as using planet-friendly materials.
6) Aside from TreeHugger, there are places to see some of these designs in the flesh. HauteGREEN [www.hautegreen.com] is the world’s first sustainable design exhibition, and, after two successful years under its belt, looks poised to make an even bigger splash on New York’s design week in 2008. TreeHugger has been pleased to be involved with both events, lending readers a sneak peek at the designs appearing at the show — here’s the inaugural list for 2006 [www.treehugger.com] and a list for the bigger, better exhibition in 2007 [www.treehugger.com]. Careful readers will note some crossover between our TreeHugger’s “Best Of” list and HauteGREEN’s list. Coincidence? We think not…

The rest of this week will include more information, examples, and jaw-dropping inspiration as we explore the melding of “sustainable” and “design”. Stay tuned!