Artificial Natural

When some of my friends talk about global warming, most of the time they talk about how the weather is getting humid and how annoyed they are because the heat waves makes them extremely hot. What many of us forget is the effect the heat and other factors of global warming are having on the animals and plants, that have been on this earth longer than us. The use of technology has risk not only to the human race but also to the natural.

According to scientist it is because of the escalation in use of technology, global warming is now a big problem. From the effect of global warming and in turn climate change, there is a large rise in the number of death of animals. “Climate-induced changes in the ocean have never been more dramatic than in the past three or so decades…sea surface temperatures in this part of the Atlantic Ocean in northwest Africa declined by 1.2 degrees Celsius during the 20th century.” (Roger Highfield, Telegraph). This reminds us of the cycle of life, and how much we need to preserve the natural.

Our constant use of technology to live our everyday lives, suggest we are killing of defenceless life forms. Driving to the shops or leaving the lights on, uses energy. The use of energy causes carbon emissions that are released into the atmosphere which helps form global warming. As people live longer there is an increase in the use of technology and carbon emissions, it is because of this that the natural is suffering. It is our obligation to repay the natural (being plants and animals) by finding a way to protect them from the effects of climate change. I say protect because even if there was a large drop in the amount of carbon emission released into the atmosphere today, there would not be any recognisable change until 100 years has passed. An example is the dying coral in the earths oceans. They do not have that long to wait for the amendment of global warming. Therefore something needs to be done now to reserve the natural that we have left.

We as designers can do this by taking into account the life forms that we may affect because of what we may design. “In an age of mass production when everything must be planned and designed, design has become the most powerful tool with which man shapes his tools and environments (and, by extension, society and himself). This demands high social and moral responsibility from the designer” (Victor Papanek, Design for the Real World)

LG has recently designed a “e-book” (shown below) as in ecological notebook. It uses fuel cell batteries, which work on natural gas, methanol, and other economical kinds of liquefied fuel. This could be extended by creating the laptop from recycled materials. We simply need to remember that it is not only humans that is affected by global warming, but the natural world needs help to survive.

Bibliography:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2007/02/05/ecfish05.xml

http://g3.commongate.com/post/LG_e-Book_Laptop_Concept_Features_Fuel_Battery_and_OLED

Victor Papanek, Design for the Real World