November, 2004

Innovations in Sustainability

In this issue:

* Massive Change: the Future of Design Culture
* William McDonough and Michael Braungart: The next industrial revolution
* Ethical Marketplace TV
* Frontline: explores cultures and influences of marketing and advertising in US

Massive Change: the Future of Design Culture

Back in the 90s when innovation started making waves in the business world, design lost some of its relevancy because it failed to ask the big questions that were driving change. Design mostly asked “How do I look?”

Today design asks, “What if we could do anything? What if the questions surrounding design turned out to be the big questions? What if life itself became a design project? What if -- as Arnold Toynbee once suggested -- we were committed to an audacious, altruistic global project that imagined "the welfare of the entire human race as a practical objective"? What if design turned out to be that project? What if we succeeded?”

Actually it’s Bruce Mau and the Institute without Boundaries asking these questions. In their exhibit Massive Change: The Future of Global Design, they seek to map out the new role of design, investigating the capacities and ethical dilemmas of design in manufacturing, transportation, urbanism, warfare, health, living, energy, markets, materials, the image and information.

They argue that design has emerged as one of the world's most powerful forces. It has placed us at the beginning of a new, unprecedented period of human possibility, where all economies and ecologies are becoming global, relational, and interconnected. In order to understand these emerging forces, we need to articulate precisely what we are doing to ourselves and to our world.

In my view, the exhibit is a sequence of provocations, exploring events and ideas with the fervour of a manifesto. The mapping of different economies, and the visualization of data give us new ways of thinking about our world and what we are creating. The show raises important questions but does not neccisarily provide answers.

Massive Change will be on display in Toronto this Spring.

View the exhibit and participate in discussions online.

Buy the book at Amazon.

The Next Industrial Revolution

William McDonough and Michael Braungart want to spearhead the next industrial revolution , through their Cradle to Cradle approach to design. Cradle to Cradle moves away from the cradle to grave principle, which was introduced by the industrial revolution, and implements a continuous cycle principle, one in which the design of products is based on the patterns found in nature. By following the principles of nature, the concept of waste gets eliminated and creates an abundance that is healthy and sustainable where materials must be optimized to become food either for nature’s ecosystems or for human’s industrial systems.

Their dictum: Waste = Food.

"When we follow nature's rules, growth is good," says Bill McDonough. "The question before us is not growth versus no growth, it is: what would good growth look like? And this is a question of intent, of design. What if we grow health instead of sickness, home ownership instead of indigence, education instead of ignorance?"

In an inspiring documentary film about their work, “The Next Industrial Revolution” tells the stories of five projects (including Nike and Ford’s grass roof) that represent a revolutionary change in the direction of the human economy. Well worth watching.
http://www.thenextindustrialrevolution.org/

FRONTLINE: The Persuaders

Frontline explores how the cultures of marketing and advertising have come to influence not only what Americans buy, but also how they view themselves and the world around them. “The Persuaders” (which can be viewed online) asks experts and observers of the advertising/marketing world, “Is there something about Americans that make them uniquely 'persuadable' by advertising's messages? What are the ramifications of a culture that is dominated by marketing and consumerism? And what might the future hold - where are the techniques of persuasion headed?”

Of particular interest is the article on Neuromarketing.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/

A New Business Magazine Television Program
Premiers January 2005

Ethical Marketplace © is a new TV series about the revolution that is happening in the business and investment in the world – the new “triple bottom line”- respecting people and the environment while earning a profit.

The show will back up stories with solid economic performance, financial, and market data in a visually compelling way, such as using the Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life indicators, FTSE4 Good index, DJSI and other indicators. Based on initial market assessments, we believe the first special will most likely be aired on public television. We are in discussions for multiple channels of distribution for both the special and the series.

The show will back up stories with solid economic performance, financial, and market data in a visually compelling way – creating a showcase for new yardsticks and actual measures of success and impact. Like reality TV the show will create an invitation and ways to for viewers to participate through an interactive website.

For details, visit
http://www.ethicalmarketplace.com/

Happy Creating,
Linda Naiman