sustainability and design with Nathan Shedroff

This past week Nathan Shedroff gave a guest lecture in our UC Davis Design class. Shedroff's main topic was sustainability and the role design plays to the earth present, past, and future. He presented some disturbing insights, elaborating on how design is the culprit in so many things wrong with sustainability and that "there's no such thing as sustainable design." This is what made his presentation so effective; blunt truths which made some designers feel like 'well then what's the point of designing?' and leaving right then. However, after stating some harsh realities, Shedroff goes on with content which explains ways to work around this and do the best we can as designers. For example, design has been the problem with regards to sustainability because poor design creates waste and uselessness. Also "there's no such thing as sustainable design" because 100% sustainability doesn't exist. Fortunately though, well-thought design can help ease both issues. America was much more self-sufficient in decades past (such as the farming lifestyle) and values have changed since then, but Shedroff points out such standards happened in the past and are thus possible. I feel one of the reasons that values have shifted so much is because of marketing influence. It can sway opinions on how people believe beauty is classified, what's popular, and the image one should maintain. Perhaps because of this, too many now largely focus on what's convenient, what they have to do, and what affects them. For example many grocery shoppers don't bring their own reusable totes nor return and recycle their plastic bags. This is because for some it's more convenient to just take the store's plastic bags, there's no laws enforcing otherwise, continuously taking plastic bags doesn't affect them personally, or some just simply aren't aware. Maybe good design could contribute to solving parts of these? It's up to sustainability-contributing designers to answer this.

pic credit: core77