TED Talks Reflection

William McDonough: (Filmed Feb 2005) “Our goal is a delightfully, diverse, safe, healthy, and just world, with clean air, water, soil and power – economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed.” William McDonough highlights problems we have within our world regarding sustainability and the power as designers to create something that is helpful to our environment. We have to be able to work with our planet to make sure we don’t ruin it. McDonough has a system worked out with absolutely no failure called “cradle to cradle”. I think this is perfect because it shows how with the proper research and materials, anyone can create something perfect for people as well as the environment. For the final project, I could possibly use sustainable materials and focus on creating something that can bode well in nature.

Alex Steffen: (Filmed July 2005) Alex Steffen explains that we don’t have a system yet that “promotes stability, democracy, and human rights”. It’s unimaginable because it’s something we haven’t really thought of yet. He goes on to highlight how we are growing faster and faster as a species each week and if we just changed a few things, we could live and grow with our planet. Starting with urban areas affected heavily by poverty, we can make big changes and strides to using techniques like leapfrogging, collaboration, and southern cultural explosion. Change is cheaper and not that difficult to maintain.

Suzanne Lee: (Filmed March 2011) Suzanne Lee grows Kombucha leather in her backyard. She takes a few steps such as brewing tea, adding sugar, pouring it into a bath, and adding living organisms but after that it’s just a watching process. It’s the absolutely best way to redefining the way we think of clothing and textiles. She even believes that in the future, you could use it to grow cars and houses. It’s amazing because if you wrap it around a mold, it will take its shape and sew itself together. There are still some problems with it such as degrading from sweat and water but the future for this is very bright.

For the final project, my group is deciding on creating seating for where different communities can gather rather than seating for a particular community. I am drawn to the cradle to cradle method and I could possibly use sustainable materials and focus on creating something that can bode well in nature and adopt the method. Creating something that would go in full circle might definitely be something interesting to look into for this project.

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