reflection times 3

This past week, I learned many things between our economy and culture combined. Just from the companies I researched that are pushing the “green” movement, I found out what makes up the genetics of the company. Also, how they thrive in the economy and what kind of difference they make with using more earth friendly products. The Gensler article by far taught me the most important thing to share with others is that moving towards sustainability doesn’t have to be a scary thing. Or a bad thing for that matter. There are options and the way they run their company, is tailoring a project around the client. That should be the goal of any company is to make the customer happy. The way we live now can only improve if we can get others on board to this theory. If they could only advertise this more, or promote positive reasons why companies would benefit from this structure, then people could see that it really is a better way of living. I think this is relevant in terms of being more aware of products we buy that use minimal material, or buildings we design with green features. It will be a subtle change but with applying these little things, people will take notice. Often times what we learn plays a little part in what we do in the future whether we think it will or not. I for starters will be more cautious of types of materials I choose for projects and take the extra time to research the manufacturer. Not only this, but I will relay what I have learned to others because I see it is the only way to spread the word about sustainability. I think this is one reason why it is so slow growing because it is not something that comes up in every day conversation. If only people could see that it will become an even more improved way of living, I think that could catch peoples’ attention and make a lasting impression causing them to contribute. Further, I want to learn more about what type of companies value this thought process because I know I didn’t find all of them. I also found it interesting what Holly mentioned about SunChips moving backwards in sustainability from bio degradable bags to not because of their repulsive noise that bothered customers. I would like to know more if companies started towards sustainability and moved away from it because it got negative feedback from consumers. There are probably multiple circumstances, and I am anxious to find more. 

it begins here. it begins now.

Sustainability is a word that is highly focused on throughout Thorpe’s book, it is a common term and without knowing the definition, it can be hard to explain; much less take action in. This week we focus in on our economy and culture and the ways it does or doesn’t work towards achieving the goal of sustainability. Our environment has been mass consumed because everything has been at our disposal. As it simply states in Thorpe’s book, The Designers Atlas of Sustainability, our “market has no intrinsic ethics or morals.” Which I can fully agree with because we have become accustomed to a society that fluctuates based off of GDP (gross domestic product). Things that sadly contribute to this are “crime and divorce rate,” our world has it, and benefits because it generates the need of monetary transaction. Do we really want to be living in a place where it is okay for these things to be going on just to survive? It just doesn’t make sense to me. There was a lot of information to soak in this week and some things are still soaking. Take for instance “as long as we let the market make decisions about the ecosphere, it will appear cheaper to destroy ecological resources than to preserve them.” The big question is who ever gained the higher power to ever be able to make the priority decision? Barriers are keeping us from ever obtaining sustainability because of the corporate world; money is distributed according to who has the most power. What I gathered was that the people with the most money are still obtaining more money and those with less will always have less.

Through research, I found an article entitled LEEDing the Economy to Sustainability. It speaks mainly on how, “the survival of our civilization, and the durability, resilience and biodiversity of ecosystems that makes life on earth possible are dependent upon radically changing consumer behavior.” In full circle, WE are the problem and if we cannot stop being so materialistic there are going to be some trade offs that we aren’t going to be happy with in the end. It ultimately proposes that making a program, LEED for Citizens, and in return, will be a huge asset to the economy. This article pertaining to Gensler is just one example towards companies wanting to establish some common grounds that would benefit in the long run. This constitutes as “For Citizens” in the Economy chapter in our books. Through LEED, “design can help overcome sustainable development, cultural, and ecological issues through the s.lens of an artifact, whether it be a building or a product.” Buildings play a large part in our society, it is where we breath, work, and stay confined in an area for eight plus hours a day. Overall, we want it to be as eco friendly as possible. Gensler has the right idea in maintaining a healthy environment and another example I found interesting was this furniture manufacturer, Trendway. Their ulterior motives, which I found very intriguing, are to build furniture that consists of as few materials as possible. The real kicker is, most furniture is often times oversized and can block air supply that circulates the room; they try to maximize the furniture for the cost and for where it will be placed in accordance to HVAC in a room. Their furniture shapes are rectangular which cuts down on the amount of particleboard or laminate and minimizes fabric waste by a mere 30 percent. These little things may not sound like a big deal at the time but in the grand scheme of things they matter immensely because things are so mass produced, scrimping and saving can help, all the way down to the very last piece of particleboard.

Further into our readings, and research on our culture and what we can do to move towards sustainability, I found an interesting article that was written by a technician at North Carolina State University. His approach towards this movement seems to be spot on because he simply states, “without input from the community, students, faculty and staff alike, the plan will not accurately reflect the current campus climate and thoughts, and thus cannot be sustainable.” If we could start to get college campuses involved in going green in more ways than one, that could be a giant step in the right direction. This summary meets the “Universal Human Needs” section in the Culture chapter of Thorpe’s book. If we examine how people live and adapt then there are ways of tailoring an economy, and perhaps could be more sustainable and enjoyable all around. This first comes through asking questions and most of all doing your homework, aka research. In “examining some universal motivational forces that all humans experience, there are ways to generalize human well-being.” When the customer is happy, everyone is happy. This comes from our needs being met in a timely manner, and these days it seems like everyone wants things done here and now. People don’t have as much patience as they once did, which is another thing to throw into the pot of cultural problems. I can imagine if it is this bad now, it is only going to into downward spiral. In order for this to change, I truly believe it can start in schools; it is up to our generation to be the change we want to see in the future. That is why our college experience is so important. I like that in the North Carolina article it focuses on not just the college as a whole but as each individual college and how they can make a difference.

In this video below, it makes me realize how much does go to waste no matter the size of a home or building. Their company as a whole has intentions to inspire people to rethink their perspective on waste and show that reusing and recycling is essential. Over the past years our economy has been trying to make a come back from a recession and ways to move towards that, is to put more value on everything. Otherwise, anything and everything will end up in a landfill that can and will pollute the earth down to the core. This video would be categorized under the “Fast” section in the Culture chapter. In regards to our fast paced lifestyle and the turn over rate of houses or buildings, it is hard to keep up with the constant demand of everything new. So why not reuse the old and still satisfy needs? Just because “the biggest driver of this speed has been the pace of technological change,” doesn’t mean we have to let it completely take control. We are so adapted to everything being done at the touch of a finger we have forgotten what it feels like to be in control. Projects that used to take years and years to develop and complete can now take half the time. This follows along with the “I want it here and now,” mentality. If we could take a step back and see what it is doing to our economy then maybe we would think more long term in regards to nature in culture. It is more than necessary for human development. That is why I think it is a great thing that so many companies are finally moving towards sustainability and not just honing in on the most current look. It can start here, and it can start now, but we have to be willing. 

reflect on the environment

Over the course of last week, I took in a vast amount of information. Each article touched on something different, however; it is all the same in the big picture. I thought up and down cycling were very interesting because they both reuse a material and make it into something new to the consumer. Although they are both different schemes because one has less of a life as opposed to one being more valuable than it ever was in its original state. I think these are both very important to what I learned because either way you toss it, it’s pushing to make our planet more sustainable. Learning about either of these cycles can greatly help enhance our way of living no matter who we are, it is all relevant.

I think Pinterest shows many step-by-step activities in reusing “someone’s old junk and making it our treasurer,” as I learned about in Hannah Keffer’s blog this week. She made a great point that it can be as simple and as fun as that, to become eco friendly. After this week’s reading I thought to myself how I could start applying what I have been learning. I take my lunch every day to work and I usually pack it in a paper sack, in which I through away everyday. Being home over this past weekend, I decided I didn’t care anymore I was going to get a lunchbox. I never thought I would see the day where I busted out another of those out. This is just one step I have taken into preserving our planet. I soon noticed today, that mine wasn’t the only lunch box in the refrigerator. Others in the office had started the trend and they don’t even know it.

Coming to the conclusion that this subject has hardly been touched one in my life; there are numerous things I would like to know more about. For one, which I am fairly familiar with from this weeks research, but I’d still like to know more about, is  LEED. I think it makes a great contribution to the design world and could further help us in the future to becoming a fully sustainable planet. Also, I’d like to further research what kinds of things can be recycled such as soles of shoes, tires, televisions and things of the sort. I know many of these things end up in landfills, but for those that care about our environment maybe they can start serving a new purpose. I would like to take what I have learned and apply it to my life because every little bit counts. I encourage you to make one small change this week, and see if others start to notice and catch on.

LEED by example

Think about your every day life. What are constant resources you use? Materials you wear? Cars you drive? What do you think your life would come to if you were to HAVE to go without them? From the research I have done the past several days, I have realized how our resources are depleting and that one-day things we have grown accustomed to, may not be there in the future. Let’s take a step back and look at what McDonough and Braungart say in Cradle to Cradle about what makes up our planet and some target areas to focus in on, for ways of improvement. The article and video provided great importance. They talk about the Great Depression and how they were at one, point miles ahead of us when it came to recycling, whether it was jars, jugs, foil, bottles or anything of the sort, they just didn’t have the money to dispose of these essentials so quickly. Now days it is the “norm” to throw things away after a couple times of use. That is the problem with our generation today, we think things should just be handed to us on a silver platter and once they newest thing is out, that old Ipod is in the trashcan. Which later ends up in a landfill and never ends up decomposing because of the way it was manufactured and its overall composition. I would say the industries progress is coming along but it is still somewhat of a disappointment because if they were so serious about improving our planet, why is it all of a sudden coming out of the woodwork now more than ever? We have always heard that we should recycle, but it wasn’t until recently that things like LEED have been talked up more, “Going Green for a Brighter Orange,” apparel being made from recycled fibers and so on. Don’t get me wrong it is a wonderful thing that we are finally taking baby steps to the road to recovery, although, “it takes approximately 500 years for soil to build up an inch of its rich layers of microorganisms and nutrient flows and we are losing 5,000 more than what is being made.” McDonough and Braungart certify this, and knowing this there is no way our society can keep up this pace of life without chemicals, landfills, non -decomposable plastics etc, overriding our planet. I know we have grown accustomed to our everyday lifestyle, so what is the harm in making a few changes here and there to start making an impact and keep living this daily standard of living.

Earlier today I noticed a sticker on a hand dryer that said “every one hand dryer saves 24 trees.” That put things into retrospect for me because; there are not even 24 trees on my neighborhood street combined. They are becoming a rarity with the mass amount of paper use, lumber and everything in between. I catch myself lately instead of using a paper towel in the kitchen, either grabbing a linen towel or simply air-drying my hands. Just over the past week, this course has made an impact on me, and some of the choices I make in my everyday life. I think we as civilians could use some encouragement to act upon becoming sustainable. It can be a rewarding job knowing as an interior designer, you designed a building that was composed solely of reusable and recycled, natural products and that can be environmentally safe for people to work and be in. In the AAFA (American Apparel and Footwear Association) they hope to instruct textile, apparel, and footwear companies, “to become more aware of various national regulations governing the amount of substances that are permitted in finished home textile, apparel and footwear products.” With doing so, they hope to create an environment that can withstand the test of time. Speaking of shoes, it also stated in the readings this week that shoes today are made up of chemicals and plastics without even giving it a second thought. They are hard or impossible to decompose when they become of no use, so they never deteriorate. AAFA can help change this process of shoe making, if they can get the word out and people to listen. A few of the chemicals discussed throughout the AAFA Restricted Substances List were, pesticides, disperse dyes, solvents, metals flame retardants, and fluorinated greenhouse gases, which ties me into some of my research.

I found an article written by McKinsey & Company that talks about the Global Greenhouse Gas Abatement Cost Curve. There are research articles over countless countries that are in return having a greenhouse gas problem and if we want to put off global warming or even stabilize it, something must be done because it could be a challenging goal to meet. Throughout the lecture notes this week, I picked gathered a lot of information about up and down cycling. There is a slight difference between the two, however they can both be beneficial to us all. Down cycling is described as creating new products from something old and of no use, but its second life is of less worth than what it was originally. A couple examples would be “nonwovens, making nylon fiber into a park bench or taking shoe soles and make them into tracks or playgrounds.” As for up cycling mentioned in both the lecture notes and readings it is creating something new from something old. Unlike down cycling this new life is of equal or greater worth. A great example mentioned was taking an old plastic bottle and making it into a polyester fabric. I think up cycling would be a wonderful contribution to sustainability because you are taking something ordinary and making it two times as great.  

From the GOTS Manual, which come to find out means Global Organic Textile Standard relays some of the same information the AAFA does. It is here to “implement quality assurance for certifiers.” I think this is a wonderful organization that defines clarifications for “products such as yarns, fabrics, clothes and textiles.” Which ties in with LEED, which I found the credit weightings very interesting and beneficial.

-All LEED credits are worth a minimum of 1 point.

-All LEED credits are positive, whole numbers; there are not fractions or negative values.

-All LEED credits receive a single, static weight in each rating system; there are no individualized scorecards based on project location.

-All LEED rating systems have 100 base points; Innovation in Design (or Operations) and Regional Priority credits provide opportunities for up to 10 bonus points.

Interior designers can become LEED certified and this can further help us in the work field. Take a look at this video for a little bit of an insight.

I think AAFA, GOTS, and LEED all have something great to offer and they are all making contributions in preserving our planet. A major advantage to LEED is “certified spaces save money for families, businesses and taxpayers; reduce carbon emissions; and contribute to a healthier environment for residents, workers and the larger community.” This was found in an article entitled U.S. Green Building Council Announces Changes to LEED 2012. All of these foundations are thriving around making our planet a better place. I found an article How Starbucks Took the Lead on LEED, and it was announced it was “their intention to complete U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification for all new company-owned stores,” that started in 2010. They designed it to fit their business model to a T, which I found intriguing first of all because I am wanting to further my knowledge on LEED and second for my obsession for coffee. Everywhere we look we can find something that shows contribution towards becoming a sustainable planet. People must become aware of this growing issue and taking the time to set an example, can cause others to follow. So go ahead, take the LEED.

pause, and reflect

Reviewing all the information from this past week, there was a lot to take in. However, I think I benefited greatly from each article and reading and it has made me more aware of what crisis our world is in today. One of the most important things I learned was that there are numerous ways our society can help to contribute to this problem. Whether it be through using recycled materials; from carpets all the way to clothes and everything in between. We as a whole can make a difference but everyone has to pull their weight to some extent. Making businesses more aware of what they are selling and where it comes from can be a demonstration to customers in making them more conscious. Learning doesn’t just have to come from just newspaper articles or books, people can be taught through others actions. Soon enough it could become a chain reaction making us one step closer to preserving our planet. Knowing what I know now, I have been more cautious of when I pull materials for projects at work, seeing if they are recycled and what they are made of. Or waiting to do laundry until I have a large enough load and I even tried hanging my clothes to dry. I have always been taught at home to recycle things like plastics, papers and glass. This is something I will continue to do and hope that others will see that actions can sometimes speak louder than words. Being an interior design major I had never really thought much about apparel, and stores that sell it, being a contributor to sustainability. Now, after reading this weeks articles I would love to know more about how to make a store go “green” and why there hasn’t been more of a change already. Things like the window displays are intriguing on whether paper was recycled or reused. Where clothes are manufactured and in what kind of working conditions? I plan to further investigate these areas so I know how to better educate those around me as well as myself so maybe we can stop being such a greedy consumerism society. 

COMPETE for the GREEN

What does our economy thrive on? When I try to answer this question myself, numerous things come to mind because the world we live in is such a fast paced environment there is not just one answer. The color green is evidently relevant. This could mean many things depending on your standpoint. For starters, money is what people these days invest their life in and what makes their world go round. Money to buy the latest fashion no matter where it came from or what the cost, it seems these days that “money” is at our fingertips for disposal. However, many should start to consider what another kind of “green” could do for them and the earth we live in.  

We push the term “green” because it is what we all hope our economy will learn to put into action, whether it be through recycling or another issue that will be mentioned later on. In terms of Armstrong and LeHew’s article, Shifting the New Dominant Social Paradigm in the Apparel Industry: Acknowledging the Pink Elephant, people are consumed with owning the “what is in for now” trend and in return the economy is suffering waste, child labor, and placing heavy reliance on technology to try and turn over outrageous material demands. Materialism and consumerism are a large part of why our planet is so dysfunctional in the demand of goods. There is no light at the end of the tunnel of when this will be put to a stop permanently. So until then there are things Americans should try to implement that are mentioned in Armstrong and LeHew;s artcicle. Instead of having a clothing style for every season, introduce one line for the entire year. This idea demonstrates a way to slow down our economy growth and could possibly slow the change. We see how it is today when the “must have” chevron patterned dress comes out, but by next week a better one comes out that is plain and simple, but is now the “must have.” I myself am guilty of it, just like everyone else of wanting that item that will essentially complete my wardrobe, but in reality it will NEVER be complete and we don’t often think about what process was under gone in the making of that product.

If there was something that could be done to slow down the change process, it would take time to implement. What people should start to ponder is, how is consumerism starting to affect the environment and how much longer can it last? Armstrong and LeHew’s article discusses the “pink elephant” and how it is broken down for our understanding. Our society has evolved into a greediness that has reliance upon materials, technology and energy to power. What does it matter if in the end the world can’t continue to keep up with our fast paced lifestyle?

Sustainable products should be put into affect for a number of reasons. In the Fashioning Sustainability article, there are eight key issues that are pin pointed and elaborated upon. “To make sustainable clothing mainstream these must be tackled.” To summarize their words, fashion consumption, cotton production, working conditions, fashion miles and animal welfare just to name a few, all play a vital role in the broad scheme of things. Even if we were to hone in on a couple of these world wide, it could start to make a difference. Becoming an eco-friendly society doesn’t have to be next to impossible, but it may be hard to take the first step since this is all we have ever known. It will however, be difficult if our economy does not start giving back what it has already taken, and soon. As an interior design major and seeing how our designs can utilize resources that we have on hand to better preserve our environment. Reusing materials and taking the old and making something new and purposeful can be a wonderful thing. Throughout our book readings it defines sustainability and the "direct affects on environmental conditions by using natural resources." We all know as designers that the look and price of something is what matters in the grand scheme of things and, "balancing the needs of humans, machines, and commerce gets more complex when we add ecological concerns." Becoming more mindful of our environment could be the first step in this recovery plan. 

There is article after article that can be found all over the Internet on just about anything imaginable. This makes it easy for people to believe just about anything. So why not use that to maybe say a designer’s advantage? Name brands are what people put their faith into, making them believe their product is of high quality and no funny business. What they don’t know is that there was probably child labor (see video below) in order to manufacture your $200 t-shirt. People can talk about this subject until they are blue in the face, but what is the use if it is never acted upon? In research, the University of Delaware has a school paper and they are trying to publicize this down fall and address a type of education that can further benefit us in the future. Educating this generation could end up helping the earth long term. Just by being aware of where a garment was manufactured or how much you wash it can make the slightest of difference in becoming a sustainable society.  Eco efficiency will show us the consequences of this behavior and if it continues like it is mentioned in the notes then our economy will never be able to keep up. The social paradigm either has to change or it will continue to remain the same. It is the backbone to our society and before long something’s got to give.