November 2009 Issue #6
Can designers save the planet?
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.
More to think about
How to get started
Making business green
New living systems
Joining the Carbonrally
If designers were world leaders, they might enlist the participation of the collective to change people’s behaviour on a local and global scale.
One example is Carbonrally, an online platform that allows individuals and groups to have an impact on energy consumption and climate change in a fun, simple and social way.
It’s the creation of Jason Karas, a corporate strategist and new product developer with advanced degrees in business and environmental economics from Duke University.
People can suggest ideas for saving energy and reducing CO2 emissions. The community chooses the best ideas and encourages people to commit to small actions, such as turning up air conditioning by two degrees for a week.
The site tracks the impact, showing the power of the collective. Gradually the community learns the link between climate and lifestyle, and literally racks up tonnes of carbon benefits along the way.
It’s design thinking brought to life. Carbonrally is participatory, inclusive and above all motivating. Via co-creation, it empowers people to bring about change in their behaviour.
A total of 29,578 Rallyers have reduced CO2 emissions by over 3,783.35 tons so far. That's equal to taking 748 cars off the road for about a year. Proof that small actions can have big impact – especially with the help of the collective.
Making business green
If designers were world leaders, they might ensure the business world jumps onto the green bandwagon.
One example of this is Future 500, a not-for-profit alliance of Fortune 500 companies, which aims to forge relationships between corporations and NGOs to advance the triple bottom line: the environment, society and economy. Via stakeholder engagement, the alliance ensures businesses are sustainable and responsible in their activities.
It’s created by Bill Shireman, a so-called “master of environmental entrepreneurism”, advocating market-based environmental policies. He’s helped the world's largest companies and most impassioned activists – such as Coca-Cola, General Motors, Nike, Greenpeace and the Rainforest Action Network – to work together to develops profitable business strategies that drive pollution down and profits up.
Future 500 shows how designers can act as independent facilitators, engaging stakeholders and business to bring about change.
New living systems
If designers were world leaders, they might suggest an entirely new way of structuring society that places humans more in harmony with nature.
One example is the Venus Project, the brainchild of Jacque Fresco, a self-educated industrial designer, author, lecturer, futurist, inventor and social engineer.
The Venus Project presents a brave, new world that requires a total redesign of our way of living. It proposes a resource-based economy, in which the world’s resources are the common heritage of all the Earth's inhabitants.
The system distributes the planet’s resources in the most humane and efficient way possible. All goods and services are available to everyone without the use of money, credits, barter, or any other form of debt or servitude. The aim is to allow human beings, technology and nature to coexist in a long-term, sustainable state of dynamic equilibrium.
Certainly a radical approach and not one likely to gain worldwide acceptance any time soon. But it certainly gives food for thought. The Venus Project supports all its work with international research, so the vision is technically feasible.
How to design think
1.
Reframe your challenge
First find out if you are solving the right problem. Then look at that problem from new angles. Think laterally!
2.
Gather stakeholders
Unless you gather all stakeholders, you risk creating a solution that is irrelevant or ineffective. Talk to all stakeholders – not just users – and engage them in finding the right solution.
3.
Visualise, prototype, create
So you think you’ve got a winning concept. But you won’t know if it actually works until you test it. Visualise or prototype your ideas so you can eliminate the problems before you implement.