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on July 4, 2010Funded!
Greenaid-Seedbomb Vending for Greener Cities! by Commonstudio
Greenaid converts vintage gumball machines into "seedbomb" dispensers to encourage community engagement with green space in urban environments.
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103% funded $10,398 pledged
- 334 backers
- Funded Jul 03, 2010
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on July 1, 2010
Commonstudio
Posted project update #7Greenaid Update (6/30)
We are incredibly excited to report that made it to 100 percent of our funding goal today with a few days left to go! Thanks so much again to all of you for supporting Greenaid and spreading the word in the past 6 weeks. We truly appreciate your generosity, and encouragement so much. We can't wait to get to work! Feel free to follow our progress in the coming months online (or on the ground if you're a fellow Los Angelino!)
--Danny/Kim/Commonstudio
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on June 28, 2010
Commonstudio
commented on a projectHi Gustavo, All ingredients of our seedmixes are posted freely and openly on our website. Regarding L.A. locations-Sorry you're having trouble viewing addresses-- All you need to do is click on the green placemarkers and you should get a pop-up with addresses. Hope this helps! Thanks!
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on June 28, 2010
Commonstudio
Posted project update #6Greenaid Update 6/28
A kindly hello to our wonderful Backers!
We are entering our last week and we're almost there! We're at about 80 percent and thank all of you so much for your support in helping us make this project happen! We've met a lot of great local designers, activists, botanists, and others in the past couple weeks who've offered to help us by donating their time to the project, which is also going to be incredible. Our funding ends this upcoming Saturday, July 3rd. Please help us spread the word in these final days!
Thanks so much again!
-Danny/Kim/Commonstudio
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Suzy Cody on December 13, 2010
This is a really wonderful and unique project that everyone can participate in. I hope to someday see the gumball dispensers in my hometown Dublin, Ireland. Well done.
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on June 22, 2010
Commonstudio
commented on a projectHi Tracy, We agree with you that it would be disappointing if this was not seen within a larger context of individual grassroots action. As we mentioned in our video, its important to keep in mind that seedbombing is not a final solution but an essential first step in the part of a larger movement towards more livable cities from the bottom up. We have always felt that we are spreading awareness as much as we are spreading flowers. In our research, and to our utter shock, we have found that there are entire communities in L.A. who's children have never been to the beach (just 20 miles away) or can't identify a fresh tomato when it's put in front of them. Our question is where and how can we even start to address this situation when people have become so alienated from their surroundings? The hope is that seedbombs can be a fun first step, a gateway drug, in getting folks to better understand and re-evaluate their daily environment (and it's relationship to natural process) and begin to become more active in making it a better place through individual, small scale action. As we've indicated in previous responses below, we do provide regional ecotypes for our seedbombs and have begun to incorporate grasses into the mix. We've done extensive testing of the seedbombs with a lot of great results (as well as some downright failure), but to write off this project on the basis of square footage germination ratios would be to miss the point of what we are attempting to do. We appreciate your concern and hope that this clarifies the intention of the project. Thanks! --Danny/Kim/Commonstudio
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on June 21, 2010
Commonstudio
Posted project update #5Greenaid Update 6/21
Post CommentHi All!
Kim and I are both excited and nervous to report that we're now approaching 50 percent of our funding goal with only 12 days to go! Thanks so much to everyone for your emotional or financial support over the last month (not to mention putting up with our incessant nagging). We're down to the wire and still need lots of help, but have optimistically begun to reach out to local non-profits, businesses, and schools for placing the next fleet of Greenaid Machines in L.A. and beyond. Any further help with funds or help spreading the word would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks again!
-Danny/Kim/Commonstudio
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on June 17, 2010
Commonstudio
commented on a projectHi Dangx3, We are currently figuring out the logistics of shipping the seedbombs internationally, which of course requires a bit of red tape. We are close to knowing for sure and will keep you posted! Thanks!
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on June 17, 2010
Commonstudio
commented on a projectHi Nichole, Firstly, thanks for your support! To answer your question the slingshot is intended to be a fun way to enable you to distribute seedbombs into the far flung nooks and crannies of the urban landscape, such as fenced lots or highway medians. Hope this clarifies!
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on June 9, 2010
Commonstudio
Posted project update #4Funding breakdown specifics
Post CommentHello All,
We've had some inquiries about the specifics of how we will spend the money we raise if the project is funded. We'd like to first explain that everything we do at this point is completely by hand and made with lots of human inputs (and love of course)-the rolling of the seedbombs, the hand stamping of the envelopes, the screen printing and tea-staining of the machine graphics, the periodic servicing of the machines, etc. The machines are not ready to use directly from the factory, we do a series of additional modifications and hardware tweaks to make them ready to vend the bombs (not a huge expense in terms of materials, but certainly some labor on our end). But where the sustained expenses come into play is what happens after we actually place the machines. Rather than just drop them off and wish them good luck, what we'd like to be able to do is provide a year's worth of seedbomb stock and periodic visits/maintenance to the locations in which we place them We'd also like to offer a significant portion of the proceeds generated from sales back to the businesses, schools or individuals we partner with. Each fill for the machines is approximately 8 pounds (or 200 bombs total). In our experience, high traffic locations can burn through about this much every month. 12 machines doing this volume for a year equates to about 1200 pounds (i.e. about $4200 in seedbomb costs alone).
In short, the price breakdown is about 50/50 for initial setup and then sustaining the initiative for one year-Hope this clears up any confusion anyone had as to where we are intending to use the funds. We have about 20 days left, and still need a lot of support to make this happen! Our fingers are crossed and we're getting super nervous, but we're ready to roll! -
on June 7, 2010
Commonstudio
Posted project update #3Greenaid Update (6/7)
Post CommentHello to all!
Thanks to anyone who's supported the Greenaid initiative by purchasing and throwing seedbombs or by helping us with a donation via Kickstarter!
We're approaching 15 percent of our goal with 25 days to go and are actively seeking new locations for machines in the L.A. area. We'd love your help to make this possible!
Stay tuned!
--Danny/Kim/Greenaid
Commonstudio
Culver City, CA
Commonstudio is an emerging design practice engaging in interdisciplinary approaches to objects, systems, tools, and spaces with an emphasis on issues of urban ecology, social enterprise, and adaptive reuse.
So exciting! This is the first project I've participated in, and I can't wait to see where it goes. Congrats, and on to a greener LA...
so when r u coming to Chicago?
You've inspired me to make some seedballs of my own to spread around Seattle this spring. ;-)