More than 100 million sharks are killed annually for their fins. Enter PangeaSeed, a Tokyo-based grassroots organization to raise awareness on the plight of sharks around the world. PangeaSeed’s mission is to create an open dialogue with the global community on the need to preserve and protect sharks and their habitat. They are doing this through volunteer activism, art, film, music and photography. Recently, they collaborated with several artists on a series of exclusive T-shirts. With prices ranging from $25-$55 (plus international shipping), keep in mind you’re not just buying another shirt: this time you’re making a donation to saving sharks and keeping PangeaSeed “trucking along.”
Together we raised $5,000. $5,000 that builds a well and provides clean drinking water for a community of 500+ people.
Dozens of you stepped up and donated to make this possible (more than 100 in total). Names I recognize, familiar names I’d seen around, and names I’ve never seen before.
You all rock.
Each and every one of you has helped me reach my goal and were an integral part of something bigger, something special, something with meaning beyond words.
My wish has been granted. Thank you for your support.
With gratitude,
Josh
P.S. That was easy, right? Got a birthday coming up? How about you build one as well?
Artists, comic book creators, toy designers, and celebrity fans are getting out their markers, paint brushes and glue guns to transform blank Mighty Muggs into one-of-a-kind Star Wars art to be auctioned by The Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Hypebeast has the scoop on some new LIVESTRONG goodies. In addition to the Marc Newson special edition designed Zvezdochka, you get guide maps to the city of Paris, a LIVESTRONG band and an invite to the STAGES art event which opens this weekend (July 17th) in Paris at the lovely Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin. Â Very hot.
The two most important factors in combating a beast such as cancer are courage and hope. Perhaps there’s no better embodiment of those two words than Livestrong founder and seven time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong. While Armstrong may have triumphed over the disease there are still many who need the strength to fight it every day and still those who have not been so fortunate. Still, the message of hope and remembrance of the struggle of others goes a long way towards inspiring those currently engaged in such a battle and the loved ones who face it with them everyday. That’s why Nike and Livestrong have teamed up with Deep Local and StandardRobot to make technology a little more human and spread positive messages about the fight survival during this year’s Tour De France. They’re not doing so by passing out flyers or writing pretty messages in the clouds over the Pyrenees. Instead they’re using the wondrous trailer-sized replica of an inkjet printer known as Chalkbot, to spread personal messages of perseverance and remembrance across the roads of competition of all those who have endured the pain over the long haul on the road of life, regardless of which side they’ve come out on. Check out the Nike site for more info or text LIVESTRONG and your message to 36453 and it will let you know when it has been painted. Wonderful.
Update: It wouldn’t be fair to mention this project without a hat tip to the amazing team at W+K who pushed this project through! Â Two W+K folks are in France right now with it! Â Fantastic work…
While we’re on the subject of doing something good, let’s turn our attention to Poketo’s Cancer Benefit and Art Auction going on this Friday. We’re always super behind their projects, but this one hits a cause that’s other than for profit. Forty L.A. artists from Shepard Fairey to Saelee Oh have donated pieces to be sold to caring and generous buyers interested in helping Poketo friend Justin Van Hoy help pay for his ongoing medical treatment after receiving a successful bone marrow transplant. No doubt those of you who are unemployed and thus out of health insurance (hell, I can’t even remember the last time I had health insurance myself) can understand how even a little bit of money can help. It’s a totally win-win situation—you get a great piece of work for a good price, help someone else while doing it and even get to pig out on free food and drinks. The silent auction takes place at the Poketo Studio in L.A. this Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. Does good karma exist? Time to test it out.
Ladies and gentlemen: We haven’t reached my goal yet, but we’re getting closer. And I’m not going to stop talking about it until we do. With more than 100,000+ readers, I’m convinced we can do a lot of good together. $1.00 from each and we’d have 20 wells by now. Anything helps, really.
To those of you who have supported so far, thank you. You are all awesome.Â
Did you donate and want a link to your site, company or project here? Forward me your Paypal receipt to feedback[at]joshspear.com and I’ll give you a proper shout out and full link here.
Today is my birthday, 25 years to be exact. While I really do want to let it pass quietly (I feel old), I also want to do some good. Want to send me a gift? Figured you might. How about you just donate to Charity Water instead. I’m giving up my birthday, and it’s all I want from you: A $25 donation means only 200 of you (and there are thousands of you out there) need to pony up the cash so we can team up and build a well.
Only $5,000 builds a well that provides clean drinking water for 250+ people for more than 20 years.
My pals from The Buried Life just dropped me a note with a link to their new trailer shown above. If you missed the news, they’ve been given there own MTV show! Fantastic coverage of what they’re up to in this past Sunday’s New York Times
Four buddies set off across the country in an R.V., video camera in tow, to knock items off their “100 things to do before I die†list: kiss the Stanley Cup, get a tattoo, grow a mustache.
With plenty of high jinks and adolescent humor, “The Buried Life†seems like the perfect MTV reality show, except for one unexpected twist. At each stop the group helps deserving locals with their own wishes. In Idaho, for example, they took eight children with brain cancer on a shopping spree at Toys “R†Us.
Our pals at [Me] and Goji, the ones that let you “create and make your own healthy organic custom cereal an granola” are making the world a better place in the process. In celebration of Earth Day (today, folks), they have decided to go ahead and make a donation to American Forests for each Cereal Capsule ordered. So, if you order 1 mix, they plant 1 tree. 4 mixes, 4 trees. And of course, get your entire office to order and they’ll plant a forest (I’m going to try). It’s deliciously good– trust me, I made some Speareal with chocolate covered goji berries and it was absolutely great. Go, do it!
San Francisco-based interactive design firm, 17FEET, revealed their first designer toy at Phoenix’s Resin Collective group toy show. When I caught up with 17FEET last December, the Feeters were still in the prototype stage, but now the tiny trio is ready. Loosely modeled on Kidrobot’s Dunnys and DIY figures, they chose the shape of a giraffe (which measures 17 feet, the combined height of the firm’s directors) and worked with Patch Together to realize it in resin. Although the three figures are a first for each designer (Brandon Herring, Malea Gadhoury and Lisi Howell), they’re not sticking their necks out for no reason: When you buy your toys through Food for Feeters, all proceeds go to the San Francisco food bank. A donation of $25 gets you a mystery Feeter; $60 for the set of three. Each design is limited to 100 pieces. For every $1 donated, the SF food bank distributes $9 worth of nutritious food to more than 132,000 local people in need. The Feeters are available now online and at select designer toy stores. Toys that do good. We like that.
Do you think that the air smells like roses and the sun is always shining? Are you constantly enveloped in the warm fuzziness of your being? If you said yes to either of those statements you run the risk of leading a positively boring existence. Fret no longer, because the excitement of any number of obstacles is headed your way all thanks to the new site Need A Problem. For a small to sizeable fee the fine folks at Need A Problem will toss a dilemma your way in the hopes that you can be their solving savior. The problems range in scope from trivial to nearly unsolvable, and the prices vary accordingly. Upon conquering your quandary you are entered into the site’s hallowed hall of fame and one percent of your monetary donation is donated to help those with greater hardships. So be a part of the solution.
Smiles are sure to abound for North American audiences of Playing for Change as the musical extravaganza goes on tour this week. The multimedia, artist-driven effort is working to promote peace and music education through collaboration and live performances of World music. San Franciscans can take in the tunes, including a rather irresistible rendition of “Stand By Me” at Slim’s today. Other upcoming shows include Seattle’s Showbox and New York’s High Line Ballroom. Should you miss the opportunity to see Grandpa Elliott, Mohammed Alidu, Jason Tamba of Afro Fiesta, and their counterparts performing together live for the first time, the film looks to be a promising second best (after showing at Tribeca, it won best song at the Roxbury Film Festival — no surprise there).
The Kaws bike just got some unlikely company by way of the original spud boys, DEVO. Created and donated by Michael Hammond of Trek Bicycles, this fixed gear bike is a piece of rolling artwork, complete with DEVO lyrics integrated into the custom paint. Per devobikeauction.com: “You might not be able to eliminate all the ninnies and the Twits but they won’t be able to keep up with you on your very own one of a kind custom-built Devo Bike. So go beyond the normal thing, do the super thing. Bid to help fight cancer and bid to claim this devo-lutionary machine.” The auction has been underway for a week and ends today. 100% of the proceeds from the auction go to Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Cancer Foundation. More pics after the jump.
There’s not a huge amount of crossover between athletes and toy collectors. But when that intersection occurs you’ll be sure to find a handful of fit fanboys — like the ones drooling over art superstar KAWS and Lance Armstrong’s bike collaboration. Supertouch has been breaking the news of Lance’s “Stages” art show, which brings together 30 artists for a summer exhibit in Paris with all profits going to LIVESTRONG. To draw attention to the show, Lance will be riding several art bikes on the Tour de France. From a distance, the KAWS bike doesn’t stand out, but get up close and you’ll see his trademark teeth and XX eyes. Lance had KAWS hide the slogan, “Winners Not Whiners” on the bike’s bottom bracket, too. Lots more pictures here and below.
While we’re on the subject of 
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