12
demand for goods and services takes ever-increasing energy. The predominately
carbon-based petrochemical sources of energy used to produce with environmental
impacts that have now, by many objective measures, are reaching or some say have
reached a tipping point (Wackernagel et al. 2002) and require careful monitoring
going forward.
Basic needs are not particular to Americans. What distinguishes the American
way to meet these needs that define a baseline standard of living lies in the particular
combination of unalienable rights formalized at the top of the US Declaration of
Independence. It first recognizes and legitimizes the strong human urge to survive—
Life—then safeguards individual freedom to choose the means of satisfying that
fundamental urge—Liberty—and finally promotes the ideal that a better future is
achievable through determination, perseverance, and hard work—the Pursuit of
Happiness. A threat or perceived attack on any of the three components in this
firmly established notion elicits strong emotional responses from those who take
them to be guaranteed rights.
The American Way of Life has, up to now, been resource intensive. It is designed
to be that way. The lifestyle that defines basic living standards in the United States
and other high-income societies requires the transformation of excessive amounts of
natural resources into consumer goods and experiences. In return, we produce
excessive amounts of waste that has to be put someplace. Understanding how this
works is the foundation for a steady evolution of a better-designed way of life—one
product, one building, one experience at a time.
1.5 Sustainable Development
The roots of the environmental movement have decades-long history in the United
States but have always been challenged by a national ethos of overconsumption that
has an even longer history. Any response we make as designers to try and improve
how and what we make must be mindful of the underlying market forces and political agendas that conspire to maintain the status quo. The notion of “pursuing happiness,” written into founding documents of our nation, has been used for generations
to support material acquisition, and every generation’s ideal of a reasonable living
standard has grown to include more and better goods and services.
Today, design works at the crossroads of supplying increasingly insatiable market demands for better and more while effectively balancing conflicting ecological,
economic, and socially equitable stakeholder interests. Working this way is imperative to any truly sustainable design agenda. Sustainable development includes
everything new, at every scale, that we bring into the world to satisfy real or perceived needs. The generally agreed upon definition was concisely articulated in the
Brundtland Report, Our Common Future by the World Commission on Environment
and Development commissioned by the UN General Assembly in 1987. It defines
sustainable development as that which “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland
et al. 1987).
1 Do Nothing: The Danger of Believing in a World Without Limits
demand for goods and services takes ever-increasing energy. The predominately
carbon-based petrochemical sources of energy used to produce with environmental
impacts that have now, by many objective measures, are reaching or some say have
reached a tipping point (Wackernagel et al. 2002) and require careful monitoring
going forward.
Basic needs are not particular to Americans. What distinguishes the American
way to meet these needs that define a baseline standard of living lies in the particular
combination of unalienable rights formalized at the top of the US Declaration of
Independence. It first recognizes and legitimizes the strong human urge to survive—
Life—then safeguards individual freedom to choose the means of satisfying that
fundamental urge—Liberty—and finally promotes the ideal that a better future is
achievable through determination, perseverance, and hard work—the Pursuit of
Happiness. A threat or perceived attack on any of the three components in this
firmly established notion elicits strong emotional responses from those who take
them to be guaranteed rights.
The American Way of Life has, up to now, been resource intensive. It is designed
to be that way. The lifestyle that defines basic living standards in the United States
and other high-income societies requires the transformation of excessive amounts of
natural resources into consumer goods and experiences. In return, we produce
excessive amounts of waste that has to be put someplace. Understanding how this
works is the foundation for a steady evolution of a better-designed way of life—one
product, one building, one experience at a time.
1.5 Sustainable Development
The roots of the environmental movement have decades-long history in the United
States but have always been challenged by a national ethos of overconsumption that
has an even longer history. Any response we make as designers to try and improve
how and what we make must be mindful of the underlying market forces and political agendas that conspire to maintain the status quo. The notion of “pursuing happiness,” written into founding documents of our nation, has been used for generations
to support material acquisition, and every generation’s ideal of a reasonable living
standard has grown to include more and better goods and services.
Today, design works at the crossroads of supplying increasingly insatiable market demands for better and more while effectively balancing conflicting ecological,
economic, and socially equitable stakeholder interests. Working this way is imperative to any truly sustainable design agenda. Sustainable development includes
everything new, at every scale, that we bring into the world to satisfy real or perceived needs. The generally agreed upon definition was concisely articulated in the
Brundtland Report, Our Common Future by the World Commission on Environment
and Development commissioned by the UN General Assembly in 1987. It defines
sustainable development as that which “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland
et al. 1987).
1 Do Nothing: The Danger of Believing in a World Without Limits