Ten ways to work in sustainable design
1. Cultivate the good company Corporate attention to money above all else, combined with the power and freedom of global finance, makes it difficult to capture the wide range of social and ecological values of sustainability in private sector design—but it is happening, so when you see it, nurture it.
2. Go outside the private sector Designers who work on sustainability issues are frequently asked to do low cost or pro bono work because, “it’s for a good cause.” And so it is; a nonprofit structure allows you to make doing-things-for-a-good-cause your bottom line.
3. Be an active citizen We tend to take the market (and the larger economy) as a given or not see it at all. But as both economic actors and citizens, designers can contribute to redesigning the economy for a better balance of human and ecological values against monetary ones.
4. Understand the ecosphere The four layers of earth are the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. They’re the origin and depository for all materials. Unfortunately design’s role is typically to redistribute materials unconstructively from one layer to another (eg carbon from lithosphere to atmosphere = global warming). Know your spheres.
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April 22nd — 
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Tags : eco-design, tips
