Image

I swear, this isn’t a sustainability blog, but it’s beginning to sound that way. 

I was recently enlightened to the demise of the human race. Predicted to occur around 2030 based on the limits to growth info graphic shown. Having previously been completely ignorant towards this prediction, it came as quite a shock to me as i hope it will for anyone reading this. Recent predictions also show that we are on course for this demise, with no signs of slowing up. But with everything i have mentioned, aswell as consistently shocking headlines about the topic of a sustainable future, why haven’t things changed? Why are we still so irresponsible when it comes to protecting our future? 

we are not alchemists. We cannot create gold from steel and we cannot, just now at least, produce oil and resources from nothing. Everything has an inherent cost and everything takes time and effort, particularly oil, as we all know. This points to a blatant fact about the way we live, our system of economics isn’t working and has to change. 

This does not mean we cut all of our habits cold turkey and change over night, but the question is ” can we descend to paradise rather than climb into hell? “. This can be achieved if we change our economic ways and alter our levels of consumption but this can be a gradual change. 

To take lead from previous posts, i believe we as design engineers have a key role to play in this. But can we infact prove that we are the K species after all. This theory states that the R species come along and use the land to the point of overshoot. The K species then move in to fill the niches and live more sustainably by learning from the mistakes.  

So, can we become the K series? can we ADJUST our ways to live more sustainably or will we just use the earth to the point of destruction? I think design engineers can be the pioneers of this way of living and by attempting to adopt a new form of economics early in our careers, we can open up possibilites for future generations. Although we may not be able to design with the same freedom as we experience today, our designs can actually enrich the experience of those who need the product.