CR05

The video clips showed in class on Wednesday showed the importance of the role that design plays in sustainability initiatives. Getting from the processes used in the production of today's goods to closed loop, cradle to cradle process cannot be done without design thinking. The growing momentum behind creating more environmentally conscious and sustainable practices likely bodes very well for growth in the amount of opportunities available in many design related fields in the near future. The concept mentioned in the videos that was the most interesting to me was what William McDonough termed, "technical metabolism." I thought this was a very good term for describing the goal of sustainable design practices. Getting modern industry to implement cradle to cradle processes is one thing, but this term helps to convey the goal of these programs very succinctly while also creating a standard that could be compared across different industries. In addition to this, I thought the video/person talking about the biomimicry website was interesting because that would be such a beneficial tool for designers/inventors/engineers looking to find quick and easy examples of how a problem they are facing is already solved by nature.