This past week I got a chance to go to the UN building in New York City. Not only I get to see the building from the inside but also attend the Sustainable Design panel held by the Parliament of Denmark in the prestigious Trusteeship Council Chamber. Over the two discussion and the talks I really understood how in the upcoming decade, sustainability is something that is really important for our future generations and economies to survive. Another meaningful moment was when they were talking about how the fashion Industry is the 2nd highest pollutant to the environment and this is related to us design students in specific as it makes us want to use more sustainable items and design clothes that will last for a longer period of time.Some of the examples given were using the leftover fish skin, sealskin after it is hunted for food. Also, the use of 35% seaweed fibers in clothing is done in Denmark that inspires us to use more sustainable and renewable items to make our products whether in the feed of fashion, interior or product design.
Christine Antoine talked about social sustainability which is the ability of a community to develop processes and structures which not only meets the needs of its current members but also support the ability of future generations to maintain a healthy community.I think making children aware of sustainability since childhood is very important because then it will become a part of them. For example the use of bikes in Denmark. Children from the age of five are taught to ride a bike and most of them go to school using their bike. An important aspect of social sustainability is that members of the society wanting to help each other and have the feeling of sharing amongst the society. People, countries, and governments should have the want to bring about a change to better the environment and follow a set of rules to accomplish this. Only then will the global community become sustainable.
Joel Towers talked about the importance of redesigning our designed world. I am very interested in interior designing and therefore I will be focusing on how I can redesign certain aspects of rooms. I would include as many plants in the spaces that I will be designing especially if they are rooftops or outside of buildings. Use of solar panels and retrofitting buildings which well be redesigning the same building and rooms. The benefits of having them will be added insulation and reduced water runoff along with absorption of air pollutants. Use of LED lighting is an easier method to ensure that home is consuming minimal energy from the lighting and we as New Yorkers can easily make this work with a little effort of changing our lights and in the long term it will benefit us.
Walking out of the UN, I felt very concerned about the Earth especially after our Vice Presidents speech wherein one section he showed how much climate change has occurred by using a digital graphics model.So much destruction is happening but we act as if we don’t know what is happening. This is because it doesn’t hit us at once and it is a slow termed process. I am definitely inspired to make if not our planet, the area I am living in more sustainable.As said by one of the professors present at the UN, it is their generation that will make the concepts but it is our generation’s responsibility to implement these concepts to design sustainably and protect the earth from the destruction.
