Posters for Green Iran. SocialDesignZine has a nice online gallery of posters from designers around the world, as well as Morteza Majidi’s photos of the election protests.  ¶

Health, House, Economy. “The ‘standard account’ of home foreclosure attributes this spike to loose lending practices, irresponsible borrowers, a flat real estate market, and rising interest rates. Based on our study of homeowners going through foreclosures in four states... half of all respondents (49%) indicated that their foreclosure was caused in part by a medical problem, including illness or injuries (32%), unmanageable medical bills (23%), lost work due to a medical problem (27%), or caring for sick family members (14%).”  ¶

Remodeling the Rural Studio. Metropolis looks at the state of the Rural Studio, Auburn University’s architecture program where students design and build for the rural poor in Alabama. After the passing of its founder, the program has shifted focus from building flamboyant, one-off structures to designing an affordable housing template and facilitating financing. It’s never been clear to me how much the communities they build for actually participate in the design process, but I like the new direction.  ¶

The Socially Conscious Geek. Socially engaged designer and friend of mine Noah Scalin wants to tell you about his experience specializing in socially conscious work while earning a living wage — so he’s proposed a panel discussion at South By Southwest with a few fellow travelers. Proposed panels are open to a vote, so why not give it a click?  ¶

Don't Buy Any Food You've Ever Seen Advertised. After agribusiness coopted his “5 ingredients” rule, Michael Polan came up with a new rule of thumb for buying healthy food: most healthy food is not advertised.  ¶

Superbarrels. Like catching rain in backyard barrels, only super-sized for city roofs!  ¶