The Climate Crisis has now reached ‘code red for humanity’ and we are left with little option but to dramatically change the way that we live. But there are certain aspects of the way I live that I will find difficult to give up.
A future without many of the things that I take for granted looks very daunting. The thought of a self-sufficient life brings back images of Barbara and Tom, from the TV series The Good Life, but a life wearing welly boots and wandering around with a wheelbarrow is not lifting my spirits for the challenge ahead. Then there is the practicalities of billions of people going ‘off-grid’, and images of an existence of minimal creature comforts seems depressing as well as impractical. I still enjoy many things that are not helping with the climate change, whether it is visiting places in my car, to cooking with ingredients that come from abroad. The image of living in a wooly jumper to keep warm and boiling water in an empty bean can over an open fire is starting to look dire.
What is needed is a design revolution, a movement to develop new products that are sensitive to their impact on the environment and gives a sense of optimism in reversing climate change.
Many of the design movements from the past have left an everlasting impact on the way that we live. The Bauhaus concentrated on function rather than form and influenced everything from architecture to fabrics and produced many sought after design classics. Their near abstract lines can still be seen today.
Another influential design movement was the Arts & Crafts who concentrated on making things by hand as a reaction to mass production and the industrial revolution.
My own favourite is the short lived Memphis Group where it used glaring colours and asymmetric shapes design which gives their products for the home a sense of fun.
Scratch below the surface of any product currently on sale and you will find the influence of one of these design movements.
Over the years, the products that we used have separated us from the environment and desensitised the impact that we have on it. In the case of cars, we are couched within a box that isolates us from the pollution that is produced. Fast fashion with its ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ is rapidly filling up landfills. Food is conveniently brought to a shop or supermarket and increasingly to our doorstep. This has separated us from the way that food is produced and with powerful marketing techniques our attention is directed on consumption rather than how we leave our mark on the environment.
The overarching theme for a revolution in design is to reconnect us with the environment but in a way that enhances our lives. We don’t want to use, or look at, something that looks as though it has been produced by Scrapheap Challenge!!
When using the products we must be made aware of its impact on the environment whether it is a positive or negative effect and feel that we are contributing in an improvement to the environment.
Another aspect is to take into account the life cycle of the product and its impact on the environment. There are already many ideas that range from recycling to the broader ideas of the circular economy. These ideas must move from the fringes into mainstream production techniques. The new products must be affordable for everyone. We cann’t wait for those with the most money to buy the latest technology and then let the economies of scale reduce the price for the rest of us to buy the products. This trickle down approach is too slow. Electric cars and heating systems for the home need to be affordable to everybody from day one!
So, calling all designers, and budding designers, why don’t you come together and start a movement that will make the world a better place and recover the environment through your innovative products!