Good Sustainable Design Example Continued

Another good example of sustainable design I think is the Co-operative Fair-trade Cotton Bag. The Fair-trade Foundation of Britain is an organisation that ensures equal trade for products bought and imported from the developing world into the UK. It is one of the many “bags for life” which are available from most of the large supermarket chains. What I think makes this bag sustainable is the material that it is made from. It is made from 100% Fair-trade cotton, which is a much stronger material than your conventional plastic carrier bags. This means they are less likely to rip, or burst. The bag itself is very large, allowing enough room for lots of shopping to fit in, which obviously cuts down on the consumption of plastic carrier bags. The bag is made from Fair-trade materials, which promotes the co-operatives ethical standpoint. Not only this but it encourages growth within the developing part of the world. More money is made by the cotton farmers, the economy in that region increases and before you know it that once poor country is on it's way to a brighter future. Sustainability is more than just an eco-friendly product, it is the endurance of life everywhere. These bags are available from any local Co-operative Food store for, what think is a very reasonable price, 99p.

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/what_is_fairtrade/fairtrade_foundation.aspx

Considering the future...

Here are some of the issues that I think product designers in the future will have to consider:

Looking for new production methods to reduce the amount of co2 pollution.

They will have to consider how their product will be packaged.

Looking for new materials that don't pollute the earth or release harmful toxins when disposed of.

They will have to consider the benefits and or losses of using raw materials over recycled materials.

I believe this can be easily achieved through good old fashioned team work, and I mean on a global scale. We can't just say to the designers and scientists to fix it, and then go back to doing the same thing we've been doing all along. I think that if everyone just made some tiny little change in their lives, collectively it would be enough to make the difference. Allowing designers more time to make the change.

Why should designer's give a damn?

In my opinion designer's should give a damn about sustainability because they are going to be getting paid to do so. When designing a new product the designer can't think about what they want, it's what the client wants, its what the consumer wants. A day might come when somebody asks a designer to go off and design something that will one day pollute the planet, and yes they could just say no, but then they won't get paid, which is essentially what jobs are for. A product designer simply does what is asked of them, and offers their knowledge and guidance along the way, but whether that product is good for the planet is really up to the client and what they want.