Creating the scale of change necessary to combat the climate crisis and support human and environmental health will require us to think bigger than simply reducing our individual Footprints. Whether we are looking to offset the life cycle impacts of manufacturing, or to achieve a building that creates more energy and water than it uses, Handprints offer a new paradigm of “more good” that encourage people to lean further into sustainability. We can never arrive at a Footprint of zero, and the size of our Footprint delimits how much impact we can have through efforts directly solely at reducing our own Footprint. The concept of Handprints, or positive impacts we cause versus business-as-usual scenarios, allows us the incredible potential to actually give more than we take from the earth and society.
This Guide describes the principles and methodology of Handprinting, and how to generate and calculate Handprints in order to address each of the Handprint-related Imperatives within LPC. While one purpose of this guide is to support those in pursuit of the Living Product Challenge, another goal is to inspire the work and actions of practitioners far beyond the reach of LPC. Handprints are intended to be created anywhere and everywhere by everyone. It is ILFI’s intent that describing the guiding principles and philosophy behind Handprinting, with ideas for implementation, will help to inspire ownership of this concept by every individual, organization and group looking to create more good in the world.
