This proposal began as a personal project, and has grown with the support of a loosely connected and passionate group of people.

The inception of the initiative was rather simple. My revelation - or, the "spear through the heart" moment, as one of my green friends calls it - happened as I was sitting on a 50-seater jet, crossing the country for the third time in a month. I had just pitched a packaging project for one of the world's largest delivery services. Earlier in the week, I had discussed new diaper design with one of the world's largest paper product manufacturers.

I was acutely aware of each company's middling environmental record, but I was ill-equipped to engage in a productive conversation with either of them about their environmental impact or propose sustainable alternatives. In addition, I was vaguely anxious about bringing up this sensitive issue and possibly losing their business. The negative rhetoric about the cost of green alternatives and accusations of greenwashing has made many companies bristle before a meaningful conversation can even begin.

That was the winter of 2007. At that time, I undertook a program to educate myself and my design teams about green design so that none of us would be in that position again. Throughout my fifteen years of design experience, I have been able to learn about technology, market trends, and organizational behavior, and speak about them with credibility and confidence. I believed I could do that again, with the most critical issue to date.

I wrote a "Kyoto Treaty" of Design on that plane trip. Now, with the support of many experienced designers, activists, and thinkers, I feel it is the right time to bring a more developed version of the Treaty - now called The Designers Accord - to the broader design community. I hope you agree.