Touching the Earth Lightly (TEL) is a call to action...that combines people, design and conservation.

It expresses a relationship between humans and the earth based on custodianship, sensitivity and respect, that results in developments that have the least possible impact (both visually and physically) on the natural & cultural landscape, and that reflect both internally and externally, the “sense of place” evoked by the intrinsic qualities of the landscape.

Green design is an opportunity for job creation. We need to create and sustain meaningful job opportunities for poor people in the conservation sector through design

Every person, irrelevant of their formal education or lack of it, has the ability to design, to create, to freely express with an authentic voice

The poor (not the rich) are the mothers and fathers of innovative and ingenious design

The concept of eco-poverty-alleviation projects should be main-streamed and used as the principle informant of large-scale public-works programs

We must remember that nature presents herself, her beauty, her ideas, her simplicity and her complexities freely and without prejudice, to everyone

We celebrate and cherish the democracy of design