Sustainability: Driving innovation in design and business
By Ann Willoughby, originally published in the March/April 2007 issue of Communication Arts
Image: Communication Arts
One of the inspirations for this article came from the lively 2006 AIGA Grow conference, chaired by Marc Alt. This is the first time I’d heard a Wal-Mart executive, live and in person, announce the retail giant’s groundbreaking environmental initiatives. The Grow conference was a transformative experience for Willoughby Design and led to our commitment to sustainable design.
What is sustainability in design terms? Bill McDonough, coauthor of Cradle to Cradle, describes it this way: “Design is a sign of human intention. Our intention is to love all children of all species for all time.” I like Bill’s description because it moves beyond the environment and reveals a simple truth in human terms. Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist E.O. Wilson, in his book The Future of Life, defines sustainability as a mistake in capital investment. To paraphrase Wilson, he says that over the past few centuries humanity has appropriated the planet’s natural, human and social capital to fuel industrialization that led to wealth for about five per cent of the world. The dramatic biological impoverishment of finite resources and the vast economic disparity between the rich and poor around the world is not sustainable.
Over the last few years I have been on a journey to learn more about how design and sustainability are related to business innovation. Although some of the facts and situations I have come across are heartbreaking, I am more optimistic than ever that design will play an important role in transforming how we see our world. And design thinking will be crucial in conceiving and building a sustainable world for future generations.
Posted by sustainability in Business | July 9, 2007
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