As designers, we are accustomed to making things. Accordingly, it is difficult for us to get accustomed to the idea of unmaking them. This is one of the more vexing conundrums one encounters when exploring sustainability from a design perspective. Oftentimes it is the absence of a thing that has value: Consider carbon-trading schemes where companies speculate and trade on their ability to refrain from doing something.

By extension, our contemporary society and its economy are structured around the production, distribution, consumption and eventual disposal of things. Virtually all economic metrics attribute success to increases in consumption (i.e., “growth”). Very few attribute success to reduction.

Perhaps our definition of “success” needs examining. In our lifetimes, prosperity and happiness have been synonymous with affluence, which in turn is synonymous with having more stuff. Certainly this is drilled into our collective heads via advertising and mass media. The unsustainable nature of this dynamic is compounded by the toxic compounds from which much stuff is made, and the obsolescence that was designed into it.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS PLACED ON SUSTAINABILITY
Our current economic situation and the arrival of a forward-looking president have placed a tremendous emphasis on environmental matters. In addition to President Obama holding environmental concerns in higher regard than his predecessor, the stakes are much higher than ever before: Climate change is progressing faster than anyone expected, fisheries are being rapidly depleted, deforestation continues at a reckless pace and global carbon emissions are not exactly shrinking.

The thought of many is that the development of a “green economy” will help lead us out of our current economic funk. This idea is due in part to people like Van Jones, author of The Green Collar Economy, who have had an impact on how policy makers are viewing the current economic malaise.

Normally dour business publications speculate, “...capitalism has gone off the rails.” For now, the immediate prescription seems to be heaping doses of bailout, administered liberally. But looking ahead, President Obama has promised reforms that are up to the task. It is now conceivable that some sort of radical overhaul of our taxation structure might actually be implemented. Initially advanced by Paul Hawken and advocated by Al Gore, the prospect of “tax what we burn, not what we earn” would reflect the true costs of production, providing economic incentive to develop earth-friendly means of commerce.

For clues about what everyday life in the U.S might soon look like, a quick glance at Europe can be instructive. In Germany, kitchens routinely have five trashcans, none of which are for glass (most liquids come into the home in Tetra Pak). Glass is relatively uncommon, so much so that when you do use it, you are responsible for hauling it to a central repository; it is not picked up. In England, people are fined for any trash that does not fit into modest-sized, government-regulated bins.

WHAT CAN SUSTAINABILITY EXPECT FROM DESIGNERS?
Design has played a more active social role in the past. A quick flip through Meggs’s History of Graphic Design shows a robust application of design skills in a variety of settings. However, as of late, concentration on commercial interests has left the design muscles needed for other functions weak. Designers stand at an impasse, not quite certain what role design will play in this emerging reality and daunted by the prospect of this uncharted territory. What exactly is the larger role for design? For the most part, we haven’t really figured that out just yet.

As a profession, we have finely honed the skills necessary for the commercial applications of our craft. At Denver’s 2007 AIGA conference, IDEO’s Stephen Wahl said: “As designers we have been very effective in teaching people about more; can we teach them what enough means?” Ben Davis of words pictures ideas in San Francisco wants to go even further: He preaches the gospel of less (<) and developed what he calls the world's first “open source brand” to support that idea.

Elsewhere, schools and AIGA chapters across the country have begun to fill in the gaps by producing a variety of competitions showcasing design applied to social change: the 2007 cause/affect competition in San Francisco and the AIGA Colorado Design for the Greater Good Awards competition among others.

Targeted titles on design are now being released. Brian Dougherty’s Green Graphic Design and Aaris Sherin’s SustainAble field guide are complete with resources and examples that show theory meeting practice in projects specific to graphic design.

WHAT DOES SUSTAINABILITY EXPECT OF YOU?
Sustainability is the epitome of the “think global, act local” dynamic. It is a problem that faces us all, yet it must be solved at the individual level. As the U.S. assumes a leadership position on these issues, so too must its citizens. To paraphrase Free Range Media’s online video The Story of Stuff, there is so much that is wrong, that there are many points of intervention. Below is a range of possibilities for designers to consider as they look for wider circles of involvement: personal habits, studio procedures, business practice and public policy.