Does the person above look happy to you? Of course he looks happy! And what is he holding? That’s right, money. When people think of money they think of happiness and success. Well money can’t always buy you happiness. Neither can material items. Our economy today doesn’t place a value on items that don’t generate profit. Such as partaking in efforts that make sure trees in rainforests aren’t being cut down in mass quantities or protecting rare animals from extinction. The point of this blog is to inform the reader of how we, as consumers and designers, must incorporate sustainability into our economy and culture.
According to The Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability, we all live in a three-sector economy here in the United States. These three-sectors are the private sector, the public sector, and the non-profit sector. The private sector is the companies that engage in the producing and selling of products to make money. The public sector is typically the government that sets regulations and taxes for the private sector. Finally, the non-profit sector is dedicated to moral and compassionate missions to place value on those profits that don’t gain money. It is social rather than financial. The Genuine Progress Indicator is what needs to increase to see a change in our country. The non-profit sector of our economy is what comes into play when we see an increase in the GPI. Eco-friendly materials are typically more expensive than harmful materials. As long as we let the private market make decisions it will be cheaper to destroy rather than preserve. When the government sets regulations to maintain our environment they are sometimes not followed. Non-profit organizations have actually sued government agencies for not properly enforcing such regulations.
Many companies today form non-profit organizations in an effort to be sustainable. An article I found on the Oklahoma State website gives an example. The article states that One Tribe, a branding and marketing firm in Colorado, has launched OneTribe.com. It is a new apparel website that donates not a little of the proceeds, but 50% of the proceeds to non-profit organizations. Even the apparel is eco-friendly. Each t-shirt is 100% organic cotton. Only a few of the non-profit organizations they donate to are, Grassroot Soccer, Global Village of Beijing, and PeaceJam. Another article I found on the library’s website stated that American Apparel supports the Cleaner Cotton Campaign which was launched by the Sustainable Cotton Project, a non-profit organization. American Apparel is the largest and most frequent purchaser of Cleaner Cotton in California’s Central Valley. Below is a link to American Apparel’s organic products page.
Since humans
are the dominant species over all other animals, we have control over nature
and what happens to it. We are guilty of
fulfilling only our needs and because of this we have altered other species
homes to fulfill our needs. For example,
when we cut down trees to build our homes, we are destroying another species
home. Our ability to communicate and our
knowledge allows us to have so much control.
Almost every human has nine basic
needs for well-being. These include
subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, leisure,
creation, identity, and freedom. Each
person has different ways of meeting these needs and design sometimes helps a
person meet these needs. What some
designer’s have trouble with is how they can incorporate sustainability into
these needs in an effort to help the environment.
“Watching” is one way that helps
people meet their everyday needs. By
watching TV. and getting on the computer, people can satisfy their needs
instead of doing it themselves. For
example, if you wanted a good laugh to brighten your sad day, you may turn to a
funny YouTube video instead of turning to a funny friend and physically
communicating with them. You are missing
out on the physical interaction with people that, in the long run, boosts your
well-being.
The next question is how can we
incorporate design into our everyday lives to help us better communicate more
often with the people close to us?
According to The Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability, the goal
would be to break off the one-way stream from visuality. One way to do this, as suggested in, The
Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability, is for a community to have a “community
designer.” Instead of turning to media
to meet certain needs, people would turn to this community designer, to specify
their needs. In turn, the designer would
attempt to change the community to meet these needs.
Another problem with today’s media
is we become so obsessed with what is on TV. such as commercials for material
things. When our brain sees something
new, our instinct is to want, want, want.
That is why our economy is what it is today. What people need to see are more commercials
supporting sustainable businesses and products.
That way, our focus will shift from the material products to what we really
should be purchasing. I found an example
of a company, Patagonia, that created an advertisement that featured one of their
jackets. Below is the link to the ad that was featured in the New York Times. Although it was not featured on TV, it is still gives a good message. It asks people to think about the environmental impacts of consumption and that buying high priced items isn't always the smart thing to do.
In
today’s world, when people think of success they think of money. When people think of well-being they think of
material items. Where is there room for
sustainability in this kind of thinking?
There isn’t. According to The
Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability, for sustainability to succeed there
must be a balanced economy that focuses on human values, but also trades goods
and services that can be measured by money.
Our culture must focus on well-being in a sense that well-being isn’t
fulfilled by media and material products.
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteLove this blog! You are so right about our economy and how in our world today we as consumers have high standards for materialistic things. We continue to want more and more thinking and hoping it will satisfy our evry need, when in truth it is hurting our future needs. I also like what you said about how we are so quick to run to the TV, computers, or other technology devices for entertainment instead of engaging with one another for entertainment. I feel that many of us are so lost when it comes to actually communicating with eachother because we are so use to texting, facebooking, or using other devices to communicate. In what ways do you think this has actually hurt our social skills or made them better or both?
Nicole,
DeleteGlad you enjoyed my blog! That's a really good question. Although social networking has made communicating a lot easier and faster I believe it has hurt our actual communication skills. People become so comfortable with communicating via texting or social networks that they lose their ability to be comfortable talking to someone in person. People turn to the computer and phones to solve their problems with another person when in reality, the best way to solve a problem is face to face. Another way it has decreased our communication skills is people get distracted by their phones when they are in a public social setting such as dinner with family. Dinner is the one time a day that you can actually sit down with your family and talk about life. Bringing a phone into this setting distracts not only you but also everyone around you.
Rachel,
DeleteYes I agree, technology definitely has its ups and downs about it. Talking on the phone became such a bad habbit during dinner with my siblings and I, that my parents finally banned technology from the dinner table. What are some ways you think could get people out of the bad habbits of technology use and focusing back on the important things in life?
Nicole,
DeleteMaybe people could have a schedule of when they get on the computer. Maybe once in the morning and once at night. I always feel happier when I'm not on my computer or my phone because I can actually pay attention to the people that are around me. I also keep my phone on silent all the time so I can't be distracted when I get a call or text.
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI thought the idea of community designers was interesting, so I looked it up on goodle. Did you know there is a whole association for community designers (ACD)? A blurb from their website says, "Practitioners of community design identify and solve social, economic, and political problems, as they relate to the built environment." They have different memberships available, even including a student price for thirty dollars annually and they have monthly memberships available. They have centers all around the nation, but unfortunately none in Oklahoma. Do you think communities would get really involved in this if they knew about it?
Cara,
DeleteNo I didn't know that, that's very interesting! That's a bummer that Oklahoma doesn't have one. I believe communities in Oklahoma would really benefit from it especially since the majority of the cities in Oklahoma are pretty small and we aren't a very advanced state I guess you could say. If we had these "community designers" I believe a lot of people could get together and voice their opinions on what should change around their community. And the fact that ACD has a student membership is very cool. Students are the future of this country and I believe that it's smart on ACD's part to provide this so that students can have a say in what they would like to see change.
I completely agree! Especially if they get students from universities like ours involved. And what a great way to build a student's experience!
DeleteRachel,
ReplyDeleteAwesome story! Been corresponding with the wrong group so it's great to get to read your bog. I also agree with Nicole on technology being a crutch for human communication. Girls are thrilled if a guy calls because we are so used to texting. What ways do you think we can change the media into providing more economically friendly commercials? Some commercials play on your emotions with disturbing images and depressing music. What other ways are effective?
Natalie,
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed reading my blog this week! Well instead of making a commercial that simply states that facts about sustainability, businesses should make commercials that show more real-life situations. Maybe like telling us how we can improve our lives to be more sustainable or how what we do everyday affects the environment around us and how we can improve. I believe by having these more real-life commercials we could see people actually putting into action what they see on television.
Rachel,
DeleteThat is a good idea! Do you know of any companies or organizations that do that?
Hi, Rachel;
ReplyDeleteNice job! I recently read an article that essentially said that money can buy happiness, as long as we are spending it on others!
This OneTribe company seems very interesting. 50%!! It seems that the purpose of the business is less about the economic bottom line and more about doing social good. In your opinion, what are the odds of this shift occurring at a greater rate in the apparel business? One of my concerns that I wonder about is what it's actually costing this company to make the product, what their margin in, and what is sacrificed in labor standards and quality to make this charitable contribution. Just curious.
Dr. Armstrong,
DeleteThank you for the feedback. I read a book last summer for my freshmen orientation class that was a spin off of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, but it was written for students. I wish I could remember the name of it. It had a chapter that talked about how people feel better after spending on others rather than themselves. I completely agree with this. The feeling you get when seeing someone open a gift is amazing. I believe the odds of apparel companies shifting the economic bottom line so drastically to address current issues in our environment is slim although there are some companies that are doing it in a not so dramatic way by donating maybe 5-10% of profits. Some apparel companies probably think that if they donated as much as 50% they would see a decline in their profits and the sales they make wouldn't balance out the losses.
Hi, Rachel;
DeleteI agree, this charitable approach is definitely a long-term view. The company, Nau, which I think some of you blogged about, was originally a stand alone company (now owned by Horny Toad), and their original business concept was to donate 5% of all sales. They went belly up in 18 months. There were other things that led to their demise, but the industry average is about 1%, so doing more than that really does require a very different business model (perhaps, one with little overhead costs).
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI love your blog this week. I can't believe that One Tribe donates 50% of their profits. I have never heard of any company committing that much to non profits. I recently learned that Macy's donated over $41,000,000 in 2010. I thought that was amazing. I couldn't agree with you more that interacting with another person is much more fun than watching a youtube video. I love getting on the computer but talking with my friends is what makes me happy. I think this is what Thorpe was talking about when she says we need to have our needs met internally instead of externally. Do you know of any examples of companies that are meeting our needs internally?
Carly
Carly,
DeleteWow $41,000,000?? That's amazing! I actually can't think of any companies I go to currently that are meeting needs internally but I did think about our college, Oklahoma State. Think of Oklahoma State as one big company, because technically they are making profits off of tuition and bursar sells. OSU has formed all of these groups that get students involved internally. The purpose of these student-led groups is to get people out and interact. It's almost impossible at OSU to sit in your dorm all day and not get involved just because this campus is so student oriented.
Rachel,
DeleteWhat a great example. That is what I like about OSU so much. Anyone can come and find a group that they can be a part of. I was a little worried about going to an out of state school but I can't imagine being at any other school. OSU is my home now.
Carly, Natalie and Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI too love when I get a phone call or talking face-to-face. I think this is a huge problem in our society. One way that I know of companies meeting our needs internally is Chick-Fil-A. Not only do they have a polite and service-focused staff but I know my local Chick-Fil-A at home puts their employees in the cow costume and they have days where you have to find the cow around Kansas City. If you go find the cow, you get a stamped card for a free item. Another thing they are considering doing is hosting a summer book club. Even the chick-fil-a in Stillwater has begun to get customers involved by having "date nights", remember like on Valentines Day? In Kansas City the chick-fil-a recently had a Daddy Daughter Date Night! How fun is that?!
Cara,
DeleteI love Chick-Fil-A. After reading your comment, I went to their website and found a page where you can share your story. It made me think about how we learned this week about companies need to have interaction with the consumer. The first story was about a young man that worked for Chick-Fil-A for 12 years and how it shaped him. I also found that the owner, Truett Cathy, has given over $24 million in scholarships to more than 23,000 restaurant employees. Anyone need a job? Sounds like a good place to work and you might possible get so money to help you with your education.
Carly