13
The report identifies “interlocking crises” and points out that “Until recently, the
planet was a large world in which human activities and their effects were neatly
compartmentalized within nations, within sectors (energy, agriculture, trade), and
within broad areas of concern (environment, economics, social). These compartments have begun to dissolve... These are not separate crises: an environmental
crisis, a development crisis, an energy crisis. They are all one” (Brundtland
et al. 1987).
This laid the groundwork for the work published a decade later in 1997 by sustainability expert, John Elkington, who coined the useful term “triple bottom line”
to describe a practical approach for corporations to optimize over multiple conflicting criteria. He puts it this way: “Sustainable development involved the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality, and social equity.
Companies aiming for sustainability need to perform not against a single, financial
bottom line but against a triple bottom line” (Elkington 1998).
When designers follow these principles, truly sustainable, triple-bottom-line,
considerations can move to the early stages in project and product life cycles. Life
cycle assessment (LCA) is one proven method that uses tools and information to
evaluate the impacts of a design across multiple environmental impact categories.
Emerging datasets and digital interfaces that focus on the financial and even to less
available, social impacts can also be incorporated into the same life-cycle-oriented
design workflows to provide designers insight into a triple-bottom-line design
approach. A full treatment of financial cost and social impact bottom line issues are
beyond the scope of this book, but the environmental life cycle framework can be
directly applied to these challenges.
1.6 Measurement
Design responds to market demands, driven by human nature, everywhere in the
world. Each culture has its own governing norms that influence what their people
ultimately demand to support their own standard of living—but all people wish to
live happy, safe, and free. Liberty is defined by a person’s ability to freely move
beyond boundaries. The illusion of extreme individual liberty as a protected right to
say, do, or experience anything without limits comes at a price when multiplied by
millions or billions of people with increasing means to consume as an individual
“expression” of style or taste.
As more of us continue to engage in this pursuit, irrespective of the means, the
consequences of the incessant chase have reached a point that requires close monitoring and careful study. The need to accurately measure and record the environmental impacts of our way of life, of individual decisions to buy and sell, to do or
make something, has brought forth new frameworks for assessment.
Later chapters present and discuss the methods and tools that help designers
monitor the environmental impact created by the things we are asked to design to
meet market demands. These tools and techniques are predicated on setting boundaries according to project goals and scopes. These boundaries have nothing to do
1.6 Measurement
The report identifies “interlocking crises” and points out that “Until recently, the
planet was a large world in which human activities and their effects were neatly
compartmentalized within nations, within sectors (energy, agriculture, trade), and
within broad areas of concern (environment, economics, social). These compartments have begun to dissolve... These are not separate crises: an environmental
crisis, a development crisis, an energy crisis. They are all one” (Brundtland
et al. 1987).
This laid the groundwork for the work published a decade later in 1997 by sustainability expert, John Elkington, who coined the useful term “triple bottom line”
to describe a practical approach for corporations to optimize over multiple conflicting criteria. He puts it this way: “Sustainable development involved the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality, and social equity.
Companies aiming for sustainability need to perform not against a single, financial
bottom line but against a triple bottom line” (Elkington 1998).
When designers follow these principles, truly sustainable, triple-bottom-line,
considerations can move to the early stages in project and product life cycles. Life
cycle assessment (LCA) is one proven method that uses tools and information to
evaluate the impacts of a design across multiple environmental impact categories.
Emerging datasets and digital interfaces that focus on the financial and even to less
available, social impacts can also be incorporated into the same life-cycle-oriented
design workflows to provide designers insight into a triple-bottom-line design
approach. A full treatment of financial cost and social impact bottom line issues are
beyond the scope of this book, but the environmental life cycle framework can be
directly applied to these challenges.
1.6 Measurement
Design responds to market demands, driven by human nature, everywhere in the
world. Each culture has its own governing norms that influence what their people
ultimately demand to support their own standard of living—but all people wish to
live happy, safe, and free. Liberty is defined by a person’s ability to freely move
beyond boundaries. The illusion of extreme individual liberty as a protected right to
say, do, or experience anything without limits comes at a price when multiplied by
millions or billions of people with increasing means to consume as an individual
“expression” of style or taste.
As more of us continue to engage in this pursuit, irrespective of the means, the
consequences of the incessant chase have reached a point that requires close monitoring and careful study. The need to accurately measure and record the environmental impacts of our way of life, of individual decisions to buy and sell, to do or
make something, has brought forth new frameworks for assessment.
Later chapters present and discuss the methods and tools that help designers
monitor the environmental impact created by the things we are asked to design to
meet market demands. These tools and techniques are predicated on setting boundaries according to project goals and scopes. These boundaries have nothing to do
1.6 Measurement