Sometime last week, while surfing hulu.com for new shows I can watch, I stumbled upon a television series by PBS called Design: e2: The Economies of Being Environmentally Conscious. I thought it was a show about graphic design, but it turned out to be about architecture. It only had six episodes; I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a mini-series or if it was cancelled because topics like this could bore people (not me).
I noticed that every time I watch an episode, I get completely inspired, lifted, and motivated to do something green with my back-burnered design career. I imagine working for an environmentally conscious company as my first design job right off the bat, and continue to pursue a career of socially responsible design and to help solve this global climate crisis that seems to be very apparent lately.
It amazes me how the PBS program was released in 2006, because a lot of the projects and ideas mentioned on the program were unheard of (at least by me); it seems that the projects that were completed since then certainly would have been mentioned on some newspaper or blog, but they weren’t. Shows how much (little) awareness this has with the general public.
I feel that with all the “natural” disasters that have been happening lately, the issues of global warming, environmental consciousness, sustainability, etc. will not go away any time soon, and a career devoted to these issues certainly will not only be profitable, but will also have room for exciting discoveries and growth.
I don’t know why, how, or when I started becoming so passionate (though passively) about sustainability, but I like it. I gradually noticed within the last few years that, compared to my friends and family, I’ve become more and more concerned about the environment. It’s probably because of my gullible nature, having watched those TV shows and movies about global warming, convinced that we must act now to save ourselves.
In any case, I now drive a Prius, even though I would much rather not drive at all since it still uses gas, unless it’s one of those new concept hydrogen cars or whatever, which supposedly only farts out water and heat. I also bought those grocery-store-branded fabric bags so I could use them every time I buy groceries and get those three measly cents off my purchase.
But in the end, I wanted to do more, more than what I can do alone. I want to see sustainability principles applied beyond my circle and make a real, lasting impact on others and the community. That said, I believe a career in sustainable design may achieve just that.
This entry was posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 21:19 and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
It’s funny that I read your entry about sustainability after seeing an opening for a desiger at a firm whose key interest is in stustainability. It was posted on Craigslist if your interested in checking it out. Good luck!