Can designers save the planet?
More to think about
Next month, world leaders will gather in Copenhagen to thrash out a successor to the Kyoto protocol that will radically reduce carbon emissions.
And the heat is on. As heads of state frantically make the final preparations before December, the effects of climate change are unfolding before our eyes. In Canada, the Intuits are struggling to cope with disappearing Arctic ice and permafrost. In Africa, nomads are being forced out of their traditional way of living because of successive and worsening droughts. And in Europe, people are witnessing it in fatal heat waves and extreme flooding.
But what if these leaders were designers instead of politicians, what would they negotiate? How would they go about tackling this most pressing of issues? And would they do a better job?
Power of design thinking
Designers have one powerful weapon at their disposal, which enable them to act as problem solvers in just about any field or subject, including climate change: design thinking.
The term is coined by IDEO, the idea and innovation company, which has recently launched a website devoted to climate change. In the words of CEO Tim Brown: “One of the most important ideas about design thinking is that it creates new ideas that provide new choices for business and society.” Instead of talking about what we will give up in combating climate change, says Brown, we should talk about what we can create. Wise words.
Thinking for global change
If world leaders had this open mind and a holistic approach, they could convert needs into demand – creating new solutions to the right problems. They could challenge assumptions, seeing global warming from new perspectives. They could gather new insight about human and environmental needs, linking the two with lateral thinking. They could test ideas, ensuring they work before enlisting the world’s help. And crucially, they could change people’s behaviour by providing relevant, motivating solutions.
In short, Obama and company could imagine and shape the future – rather than merely reacting to the present.
But we also need design doing
But design thinking isn’t enough. What the world desparately needs – and what the environmental campaigners long have been calling for – is design doing. Policy without action is useless. We need to be able to translate new ideas into action – on a local and global level.
Some designers are only capable of design thinking. IDEO, for example, has masterminded some of the world’s most innovative solutions. But when it comes to doing doing - actually implementing innovation - some designers stumble at the first hurdle.
If designers are to make a meaningful impact on climate change, they need to be able to deliver actionable ideas – and then act on them. They need to go past the insight and ideation phases to implementation. Because only here will ideas become a reality.
Below are three examples of what designers might do, if they were responsible for negotiating global climate change reductions.
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