JGD Research 2 Page 3

Conclusion.

Consumerism is probably at the root to the issue of sustainable design. Whilst people want more and crave faster and better technologies not to mention ever-changing trends and fashions, the environmental problems will never truly be tackled. You first have to change people’s ideals and understanding to necessity. As a good example in the early 1980’s the AIDS pandemic was a very immediate and serious problem. The governments at the time realized that people weren’t going to stop having sex, so they had to make people more aware about the issues and offer them a safe solution whilst creating mass awareness. To date the AIDS awareness campaign has been one of the most successful, most people are now more aware and responsible for their own actions.

Figure: 5 - Aids advert ‘We all have aids’ 2005

You will never stop people craving the next best thing and over consuming products needlessly but what can be done is to re-educate society in a similar way that was used in the 1980’s AIDS pandemic. Shock tactics rarely work, what they do is merely make people avoid the subject matter. This then defeats the object of creating awareness if the public is avoiding the issue. Awareness needs to be made on a grand scale with governments and businesses banding together to create a long-term achievable strategy and not patching the problem with a quick fix.

Whilst I am impressed with Sony’s vigilance at maintaining strict adherence to their ‘eco’ policies I am still somewhat confused why they haven’t used it to advertise their products on a larger scale, instead they are opting to keep their policies almost unknown. I do have a theory though, I think that they are keeping quiet about their ‘eco policies’ because unfortunately eco friendly / recyclable products are considered to be of an inferior quality by a large selection of the public. It’s an unfortunate stigma that people believe and this can have a negative effect on sales. Sony products are renowned for being of the utmost quality and this is a label I believe they would rather not lose to being associated with eco-friendly tree-hugging-hippy brigade.

I hate to break it to you but the idea of 100% sustainability is really nothing more than a pipe dream. There are too many factors fighting against the idea to make it achievable, instead sustainable designers should concentrate on what level of sustainability they can achieve, taking every single job, one at a time and identifying the highest level of sustainability that they can reach.

In our blame culture it’s easy to avoid all of these subjects, as they say ignorance is bliss. Who would have thought that ignorant,
ill-conceived product design would have a longer-term effect than lets say a war. I think its time to join the ‘Army’ as a designer -
I’ll do less harm.

Figures

Figure 1: The Evolution of the Mobile Phone Montage. Adapted from Google images. Montage: Gould-Davies, J.

Figure 2: Over Packaged Easter Egg Montage. Adapted from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-541011. Montage: Gould-Davies, J.

Figure 3: Sony Bravia VE5. Link: http://www.greenthinkers.org/blog/images/braviaeco_photos.jpg

Figure 4: A model for design and ‘well-being’. Adapted from Fuad-Luke, 2005. Recreated by Gould-Davies, J.

Figure 5: Aids image (WWW) Retrieved 30/04/2009. Link: http://therapysessions.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/AIDS-732977.jpg

Footnotes

1. Petroleum to Plastics, here’s the route taken in the petroleum-to-plastics process:

Petroleum is drilled and transported to a refinery. Crude oil and natural gas are refined into ethane, propane, hundreds of other petrochemical products and, of course, fuel for your car.

Ethane and propane are "cracked" into ethylene and propylene, using high-temperature furnaces.

Catalyst is combined with ethylene or propylene in a reactor, resulting in "fluff," a powdered material (polymer) resembling laundry detergent. Fluff is combined with additives in a continuous blender. Polymer is fed to an extruder where it is melted. Melted plastic is cooled then fed to a pelletizer that cuts the product into small pellets. Pellets are shipped to customers.

2. According to a nationwide online survey conducted in April 2007, 72 percent of the American public didn’t know that conventional plastic is made from petroleum products, primarily oil.

References

Chapman, Jonathan 2005. Emotionally durable design: objects, experiences and empathy Published by Earthscan, London

Watts, Jonathan 2009. The Guardian Newspaper. Published: Wednesday 11 March. Link http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/11/china-forests-deforestation

Benyus, J. 1997. ‘Innovation Inspired by Nature’. Published by William Morrow & Co, New York.

Chapman, Jonathan & Grant, Nick 2007. Designers, Visionairies + other Stories. Publisher: Earthscan London

Sony Saves Energy With New Bravia ‘Eco’ Televisions

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS16657+08-Jan-2009+PRN20090108

Sony, 2009. ‘Sony Eco Bravia Case Study’

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/Environment/

John Vidal. 2009. Guardian Newspaper. Published: Thursday 9 April 2009 Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/09/easter-eggs-packaging-reduced

Sims, Paul and Poulter, Sean 2008. How your Easter treats come in 8,000 TONS of waste packaging. Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-541011/How-Easter-treats-come-8-000-TONS-waste-packaging.html

Terry, Beth. 2007 ‘Plastic is made from oil. You knew that, right?’ (WWW) Retrieved 1/05/2009. Link: http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/2007/07/plastic-is-made-from-oil-you-knew-that.html

How plastics are made. (WWW) Retrieved 2/05/2009

http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/quick/plastic.html

Watts, Jonathan The Guardian Newspaper. Published Tuesday 28 February 2006. Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2006/feb/28/china.conservationandendangeredspecies

Walker, Stuart 2008. ‘Design Redux’ Published Earthscan, London

Global Timber, 2006. China – Illegal Imports & Exports (WWW) Link:

http://www.globaltimber.org.uk/ChinaIllegalImpExp.htm

Pic: The Evolution of the Mobile Phone Montage. Adapted from Google images. Montage: Gould-Davies, J.

Pic: Over Packaged Easter Egg Montage. Adapted from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-541011. Montage: Gould-Davies, J.

Pic: Sony Bravia VE5. Link: http://www.greenthinkers.org/blog/images/braviaeco_photos.jpg

Pic: A model for design and ‘well-being’. Adapted from Fuad-Luke, 2005. Recreated by Gould-Davies, J.

Pic: Aids image (WWW) Retrieved 30/04/2009. Link: http://therapysessions.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/AIDS-732977.jpg

Bibliography

Enhrenfeld, John R. 2008. Sustainability by Design. Publisher Yale University Press, 1st Edition.

Spark, Penny 2004. An introduction to Design and Culture. Publisher Routledge, 1st Edition.

Raizman, David. 2004. History of Modern Design. Publisher Prentice Hall Art, 2nd Edition.

Walker, Stuart. 2006. Sustainable by Design: Explorations into Theory & Practice Publisher: Earthscan, London. Illustrated Edition.

Bayley, Stephen & Conran, Terence. 2007. Design Intelligence Made Visible. Publisher: Conran Octupus.

McLennan, Jason F. 2004. The Philosophy of Sustainable Design. Publisher Ecotone PLC, 1st Edition.