cornucopia, city of the future>?

How can the use of design shape the future away from the consumer lead world we live in, and what will this change do for us in the future? People have always liked to speculate about the future state of the world, what people will be doing and mostly the products they will be using from hover cars to chips inlayed under the skin of humans. This has been happening at an increased rate as the consumer society we live in expands and grows.
Vance Packard talking about the dreams of a sales and marketing person “ If we could probe the dreams of those marketing people as they slumber restlessly at night we would find – that they are not dreaming mealy of those bewitching products to sell us but more likely are dreaming that they are in there private world of the future where markets have become easy because the haunting problem of saturation has vanquished.”
Now is seems that the projection of trend is starting to turn do the ideals of healthy living, environmental awareness, and fair trade and equality. I feel design has had a major part in these shifts as time goes on. You just can see the numbers of eco design companies, and projects geared towards the aid of others through design has enabled the situation to be viewed in a way that previously had not been seen. Such projects as the paper log housing that was discussed in the lecture I feel can really give a positive message to the turning around of peoples opinions and the whole idea of being more aware of what we can do with cheep materials to really improve the life of others. I find that it gives me hope for the future and we won’t continue to consume ourselves to destruction.