Tuesday, 20 March 2007

Lead The Way



Having previously been encouraging us to shoulder our responsibilities by being prepared to address current states of affairs, I now try to advocate it’s urgency with regard to taking up the reigns and steering humanity in the right direction. The doomsday clock has been moved forward due to the current situations, reflecting that as a planet there are issues that need to be addressed in order for our existence to be maintained. The impending Global Climate Change catastrophe we are entering is now almost incontestably upon us and we need to be saved. But who will give us the miracle cure? Richard Branson thinks a big fat money reward is the answer to the way forward, such a shallow attempt at showing his concern if you ask me. Personally I think that the answer lies within the very structure of modern society. We need to attack the Climate Change issue at the same level as is effective in aid work. At its grassroots level, it’s most basic, using products and strategies that will change the framework of our current society and culture.

We need to alter our own behaviours enough to avoid self-destruction and to do this means that the 6 billion of us on earth today need to recognize that we cannot live the way that we do. ‘If everyone in the world lived like an American we would need three earths to accommodate us.’ (Planet Earth, The future) Are we so short sighted to think that this can go on? Unfortunately it seems the answer is yes.

Our consumerist behaviour is like smoking, as in both we seek immediate satisfaction from something that ultimately in the long term is damaging to our health, or our very existence. This reckless behaviour cannot go unchecked for much longer but if there are no alternatives then what can we do but keep digging our hole deeper and deeper.

Looking to the future as designers does seem like a daunting task, especially when we have no idea where we want to go. ‘Trying to solve most problems is like trying to assemble a jigsaw without first seeing the picture on the box.’ (The Art of Looking Sideways) but this is a challenge that we have no choice but to take up and engage with. ‘The only way to predict the future is to invent it.’ (Eternally yours) and that is really what we are here for. No one is going to change unless we make it easy for him or her to do it. Recycling would not be half as successful if strategies such as door-to-door removal of the rubbish did not come about. Essentially we are a lazy bunch of self-satisfying oafs who will only do something positive if there is a direct benefit for the individual who is doing it.

What this means is that in our designs we not only need to address the usual aspects of convenience, use and price but that they actually need to exist within a sustainable moral value that becomes the accepted opinion throughout society. ‘The manufacture and use of sustainable products should support basic human rights and natural justice’ (Experimental Eco Design) and in turn this should be reflected on how we as humans live with the earth and respect it as the essence of our existence.


Bibliography:

Brower. C, Mallory. R and Olham. Z (2005) Experimental Eco Design, Rotovision, Switzerland.

Fletcher. A (2001) The Art of Looking Sideways Phiadon Press Ltd, London.

BBC 4 (10/12/06) Planet Earth, The Future.

Van Hinte. E (2004) Eternally Yours, Time in Design, 010 Publishers, Rotterdam.

1 comment:

  1. After reading Emma Gs blog it really got me thinking about how peoples opinions and actions can be realistically altered to ensure that changes are made in the way we live.
    People will always be largely selfish, and unless there is a benefit to themselves and be very reluctant to actually do anything really productive to help the environment.
    This applies to governments in the same way. For example some areas of the USA the average person is pushed into recycling by the governing bodies to the extent of getting a fine if they fail to do it correctly. This I was discussing with a relative in Pennsylvania who had made the point that this ensured that the scheme works as the people are given no choice. But why do the American government refuse to commit to ensuring that they cut there greenhouse gasses to the percentage that other countries, they could really make the difference but it’s the selfishness of human nature to think that others will do enough so you don’t have too.
    I really agreed with what Emma said about people being lazy and I can just be as bad as the next person. The times when you could easily recycle but you don’t because you haven’t got the right container or you have to drop it off at a recycling point yourself some how stops you and you think that one or two wouldn’t matter but it’s the old saying that every little helps.
    The state of the world will continues to demise and we will continue trying to patch things up and hope that it will not become as bad as predicted in the next 50 years it is human nature to only realise the consequence and the scale of the problem when it only is too late, and then people will realise the magnitude that we realty need to look after the environment and not take for granted
    Only if people on all levels realise the scale of the problem will a difference be made. As designers I feel that more effort is needed to use satiable products that can also raise the profile of this problem and in doing this hopefully encourage a change from the all consuming lifestyles we all lead.

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