Sustainability

The following is a compulsory element of my Reflective Journal and Professional Practice module.

My Understanding of the term sustainability is that it is the ability to sustain the way things are at any given time. It is a term hot on the international agenda at present due to scientific discoveries on Global warming and Climate change and it is a term that at times is controversial and divides opinion. Sustainability has also come into the conscience of graphic designers and as a result has laid founding principles in some agencies, including London agencies Futerra and Thomas Matthews for example that pride themselves on creating thoughtfully ‘sustainable’ solutions for their clients.

One of the big issues within graphic design and in the wider field of advertising is the issue of green wash. This is the problematic concept of companies making unaccountable and false claims to be sustainable with the use (and abuse) of science to convince the consumer that their products and services are ‘sustainable’. This is because from research they think that most consumers will buy something they believe to be sustainable over something that its not. The danger of this is that if the term sustainability is used as a lie than people will go on believing sustainable solutions are being reached when they’re not, and so they never will be. Futerra have published an interesting and thorough account of greenwash and can be viewed here.

Reaching more sustainable solutions in graphic design may consist of using, recycled paper, using low VOC inks or opting for the digital solution as opposed to the printed.

Personally my position on sustainability is that it is a positive thing. I do understand however that sometimes sustainability can occasionally provide obstacles in which case common sense and priorities must be re-evaluated. I realise that technology sometimes takes issue with sustainability as holding it back, and while this is true in some cases I do not see why the world cannot continue advancing but with a more sustainable mindset.

Last year professor James Woudhuysen gave a very interesting talk on how he sees the future entitled ‘future proofing’. He made some very powerful and relevant points regarding sustainability, mostly opposing the term. He argued his discontent with sustainability with the example of people suffering from Malaria in Africa who are denied the right to certain medicines by western authorities as they are unsustainable, and are instead are given much less effective mosquito nets. In this case I feel priorities have to be re-considered and sustainability has to take a back seat over the wellbeing and immediate survival of large numbers of human beings. There was one statement he made however I disagreed with. Regarding sustainability he said ‘The more I think about my grand children the more I hate them’ I think this was quite an outlandish statement to make and one that I think was effectively a lazy and selfish excuse to not care about the physical health of the world that he comes from.

I recently saw the C4 series ‘Slumming it’ with Kevin McCloud, who lived with families in the slums Mumbai for two weeks. In these slums the people recycle 80% of waste, a figure that puts the west to shame. I do not see why if they can recycle so much, why we can’t. As a graphic designer and in large part large-scale user of resources I feel keeping sustainability in mind is an important thing. However as we move towards a more digital world, I feel sustainability may become less of issue.