Origins
The concept of Handprinting arises as a response to, and an extension of, the ideas, methods, and perspectives in footprinting. ILFI’s programs and this guide reflect in particular on an approach to Handprinting that is grounded in, and extends, the methods of life cycle assessment (LCA). This approach to Handprinting emerged within the LCA classes of Greg Norris at Harvard University in the early 2000s, and was presented to the wider public during a webcast meeting with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in 2011.
What is a Footprint?
A Footprint is a measurement of what you “take” from the world. The Footprint of an organization or even a person is the sum total of negative impacts caused by the processes that sustain that organization or person. The Footprint of a product is likewise the sum total of negative impacts created through the processes necessary to manufacture that product, deliver it to a user, enable it to be used throughout its life, as well as the impacts resulting from actions taken to manage the product materially at the end of its life. This full life cycle scope is referred to as cradle-to-grave, and sometimes as cradle-to-cradle. In the Living Product Challenge we also refer at times to a portion of the product life cycle that is “cradle-to-gate,” which includes the manufacturer’s operations and all processes across the manufacturer’s supply chains necessary to enable production of the product.
While reducing a product’s cradle-to-gate Footprint is important, it falls short of what manufacturers can achieve. A small Footprint is still a Footprint. Continuing to dedicate effort to Footprint reductions will only result in diminishing returns, as a product can never have zero or no Footprint. Instead, designers of Living Products begin with shrinking a product’s negative Footprint and then go further, using human creativity and ecological inspiration to design products that create positive impacts, or Handprints.
Before starting to create Handprints, it is important to first understand what is driving the product’s Footprint. This is because reductions in the greatest impacts from production provide some of the biggest potential leverage for both Footprint reduction and Handprint creation. Manufacturers use Life Cycle Assessment to generate these insights. and to identify their product’s LCA Hotspots: those processes across the product’s life cycle which make a significant contribution to the product’s footprint.
What is a Handprint?
A Handprint is a measure of what you give to the world—specifically, how you change the world for the better, relative to business as usual, measured in footprint-related impacts. In addition to reducing the cradle-to-gate Footprints of its product(s), can a manufacturer also help others reduce their Footprints? Can a manufacturer create positive impacts that are measured in the same units as Footprints?
ILFI began building the concept of Handprinting into its holistic product certification, the Living Product Challenge in 2014, and more recently incorporated Handprinting as a pathway for project teams to meet aspects of the Living Building Challenge. As awareness and adoption of Handprinting continues to grow, and integration of this methodology expands, this appendix serves as an important resource to establish the rules and parameters of Handprinting in the Living Product Challenge, bringing rigor to its implementation, while inspiring creativity.
A Net Positive Foundation: Creating Change Beyond Your Footprint
The concept of Net Positive Production in the Living Product Challenge is based on a simple premise: create Handprints outside the scope of a product’s cradle-to-gate Footprint that exceed the Footprint, so that the net impacts of producing the product are positive. Of course, behind this premise are many measurements and calculations as well as some general guidelines for accounting and scope. But this overarching concept of Net Positive as “Handprint > Footprint” is important to frame the discussion and work.
As mentioned, Handprints are a direct result of actions taken by an actor — in the case of LPC, a product manufacturer. But a manufacturer should not think of Handprinting possibilities solely within its supply chain or its business sphere of influence. Ample opportunities to create positive impact are available within the immediate community surrounding the manufacturing facility, or within the social networks of the company’s employees — and those are just two examples. ILFI encourages product manufacturers to think big when identifying opportunities for potential Handprints in their pursuit of the Living Product Challenge.
What are Social Co-Benefits?
When product manufacturers think of their different spheres of influence, especially those outside of their direct business functions, the potential for social co-benefits can add additional dimensions of impact to their investments or actions related to creating Handprints. Consider a staff and community day dedicated to biking or alternative transportation, such as a Bike-to-Work Day. Perhaps it happens on a monthly basis. If the manufacturer provided tools and supplies to encourage employees and community members to participate monthly, and perhaps even weekly, all participants may experience and report an increase in happiness and health outcomes. These benefits are realized in addition to the quantified Handprint that we can associate with the manufacturer and that result in the reduction in fuel consumption and GHG emissions compared to a situational, business-as-usual baseline, where most of the participants likely would have been driving in single-occupancy vehicles.
Social co-benefits may be quantifiable and/or qualitative. Either way, they are co-benefits that are realized alongside an action taken by an actor to create a Handprint If the positive impacts are measurable in footprint units, they are handprints; if they are not measurable in footprint units, they are co-benefits.
An important subset of social co-benefits are social justice co-benefits. These are social co-benefits that accrue largely to populations who currently or historically have been subject to exploitation, oppression, or other restrictions/suppressions of their opportunities to thrive. ILFI encourages manufacturers to identify opportunities to create social justice co-benefits and align their organizations with wider social and environmental justice conversations and tools to combat the climate crisis.
