THESIS PROPOSAL
Lou Mutsaers-Hoyte

In Britain, McLaren and colleagues (1998) calculated that a fair use of “environmental space” (the earth’s capacity to support human activities) requires that the nation cut its consumption of steel, aluminum, and energy by over 80% by 2050, implying reductions of at least 20% by 2010. From Slower Consumption, Reflections on Product Life Spans and the “Throwaway Society” Tim Cooper

My Resaerch Thesis will investigate the significance of the above statement in the area of Product Design, items we design and buy. What products and their production use large ammounts of energy and material, and which products encompassing these problems actually have viable alternatives which are not being used or demanded by the public? I aim to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of these alternatives, and what power do we as future industrial designer have in order to create public awaness and in turn, a strong market to support products which can be created within sustainable boundaries. I belive it begins with consumer demand. If products as sustainable options are presented to the public with the information required in order to make an educated personal decision.

In May 1999, the Ford’s ‘River Rogue’ in Michigan, USA factory embarked on a $2 billion redesign of the entire complex and its’ system of production, with ideas growing beyond beyond recycling and efficiancy. The Factory which lead the industrial revolution would soon become an icon of the new, the revolution of stainability. These changes were made possibe by the companys’ new chairman opening possibilities of eco-efficiancy thinking, and reductions in energy and material consumption, building on the idea of ‘waste equals food”. The reaction within the factory grew at a fast pace and ideas came in from 100’s of employees who willingly participated. As awareness grew, ideas came from everywhere, fueled by the vast number of mployees and their specialised areas of knowledge.
From the above paragraph, we can see that somebody had to initiate this reaction in the employees of ‘River Rouge, and only then did idea get thrown around, and action occur. Is it lack of public awareness that hinters our ideas and actions, or that we as individuals don’t have control. I believe that, as a whole, the people of the Western world, the consumers have the power to initiate these transitions, but have not yet realised or harnessed this collective power. I believe that there should be a clear division between sustainable and non-sustainable products along with an adequate public awarness online system or product labelling system to lay out the facts between a particular product and its energy and material input/output. This will give the general public a tool to begin taking their own educated personal inspiration and action from others. I think that the more success in sustainable but perhaps more expensive design will encourage other companies to begin making changes, as the ‘River Rogue’ Ford Factory did early last decade.

Bibliography:

McDonough, William. Cradle to cradle: remaking the way we make things. New York: North
Point Press, 2002.

Cooper, Tim, Slower Consumption: reflections on Product Life Spans and the “Throwaway Society” Journal of Industrail Ecology Vol. 9, Issues 1-2 - Winter-Spring 2005

Papanek, Victor, The Green Imperative: ecology and ethics in design and architecture. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004

Redstrom, Johan, Towards user design? On the shift from object to user as the subject of design, Interactive Institute, Hugo Grauers gata 3, SE-411 96 Go¨ teborg, Sweden

Manzini, Ezio; Cullars, John, Prometheus of the Everyday: The Ecology of the Artificial and the Designer's Responsibility Design Issues, Vol. 9, No. 1. (Autumn, 1992), pp. 5-20.

Greener Gadgets Design Competition, February 2008. In conjunction with 'Greener Gadgets'. www.core77.com