Sustainability

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Sustainability Ideo http://sustainability.ufl.edu/forum/attachments/IDEO_Sustainability.pdf

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USING LIFE CYCLE AWARENESS TOOLS Sustainability: A Lens for Design REAL GENEROSITY TOWARD THE FUTURE LIES IN GIVING ALL TO THE PRESENT. Albert Camus page 2 Consider this an invitation to give sustainable design thinking a try. This book introduces a set of tools we are using at IDEO to help us design more sustainable solutions for our clients. PURCHASES ARE NO LONGER BASED SOLELY ON FUNCTION AND APPEARANCE, BUT NOW INCLUDE QUESTIONS LIKE “WHERE DOES THIS PRODUCT GO WHEN I DISPOSE OF IT?” THIS CHANGE IN ATTITUDE IS CREATING NEW CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMPANIES TO DEVELOP PRODUCTS THAT ADDRESS THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS OF THEIR CUSTOMERS. Jeanne Isaacs page 4 Sustainability demystiﬁed. Okay. Deep breath. We’re going to take a stab at deﬁning sustainability. Not in the textbook way that makes everyone’s eyes glaze over, but rather in the IDEO way. In the big sense, sustainability is about the ongoing health of the earth, the living things on it (including people), and the natural systems that support them. One step further in, it is about solving problems in a way that balances the needs of people, the environment and commerce to create long-term viability for all. Immediately, for us at IDEO, sustainability means beginning to broaden our view of the reach we have as designers and the importance of the decisions that we make on a daily basis. Sustainability means doing what we already do well, but doing it in an enhanced framework of understanding and asking some new questions—or asking old questions in a new way. Sustainability is a target we aim for, but it isn’t an action we can take. Sustainable development is the process by which we pursue sustainability. Sustainable design is an essential, enabling part of sustainable development. Sustainability is about taking a systems-level perspective when solving problems. From a systems view looking at our planet, if we don’t provide adequately for the basic needs of people around the world, we create imbalance, and with it an inability to address the mounting pressures upon natural systems. When we take more out of the earth than naturally goes back into it, we create problems. And when we introduce more man-made substances into the ecosphere than are naturally removed from it, we create problems. When we degrade biological systems, like forests and oceans, we create problems by decreasing their ability to give us the things we need, such as clean air, clean water, biodiversity, and so on. THANKS TO GEORGE BASILE AND THE NATURAL STEP FOR INSPIRATION AND ILLUMINATION OF THE SYSTEMS-LEVEL APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY THAT LED TO THE CREATION OF THIS TOOL SET. As designers, we can’t change the infrastructure of our society immediately, and we wouldn’t want to. But we can start heading down the path to improving it right away. One designer has deﬁned sustainable design at IDEO simply as “guilt-free” design. Thinking sustainably can readily become an integral part of the designer’s process—it is just one more ﬁlter through which decisions can be evaluated. THE MOST SURPRISING PART OF THE PROJECT WAS THAT ALL OF THE STAKEHOLDERS WERE OPEN TO THE POSSIBILITY OF SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS, BUT NONE FELT DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. CONSUMERS FELT THAT THE PRODUCTS MUST BE GOOD OTHERWISE THEY WOULDN’T BE SOLD, WHILE MANUFACTURERS CLAIMED THAT THE PRODUCT MUST BE GOOD OTHERWISE PEOPLE WOULDN’T BE BUYING IT. THE RESPONSIBILITY ULTIMATELY CAME DOWN TO THE DESIGNER WHO WAS SPECIFYING THE PRODUCTS. Aaron Sklar page 6 By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufﬁciently desired. Franz Kafka page 8 Sustainability as it relates to IDEO. We are all designers. No matter what our area of expertise happens to be, we are here because we are passionate about designing things better, be it a product, a place, a piece of technology, an experience, a service. Sustainability is a big, huge, honking topic. One that has the potential to improve pretty much everything, one way or another. We don’t begin to pretend we are able to tackle sustainability as a whole. But we are intrigued and inspired by the opportunity to make meaningful strides in the context of design. Hence, this book: a starting point for us to learn more about, grow from, and contribute to sustainable design. Think of it as another lens. A brainstorming tool. New questions to ask. A different perspective to take. Another avenue to explore. It’s a truly postdisciplinary topic. It applies to everyone in the work they do at IDEO, no matter what their area of expertise happens to be. �� THE METHOD OF DESIGNING WITH SUSTAINABILITY IN MIND IS KIND OF A PARADOX. RATHER THAN WORKING WITHIN THE DESIGNER’S BUBBLE, FROM START TO FINISH, IT FORCES YOU TO WORK BACKWARDS, WITH THE END OF THE LIFE CYCLE AS THE POINT OF INSPIRATION. MATERIALS AND SYSTEMS COME FIRST—YOU ASK YOURSELF WHAT MATERIALS ARE SUSTAINABLE AND THEN (TAKING A BACK SEAT) WHAT DESIGN WOULD BE COMPATIBLE WITH THOSE MATERIAL PROPERTIES. Lisa Hsiao THE WORLD OF SUSTAINABILITY HAS TRADITIONALLY FOCUSED ON SYSTEMS AND SCIENCE. IDEO BRINGS EMPATHY AND ACTIVATION TO THE MIX. Kara Johnson page 10 Sustainability as it relates to clients. Bringing clients with you on this journey can be informative and inspiring. So far we’ve used this set of tools in kickoff meetings with clients as a way to broach the subject of sustainability, start the conversation, get a sense of their knowledge and their willingness — or lack thereof — to learn more. Though they may not choose to pursue it further, sometimes simply going through the process is another tool for invention and innovation that may ultimately take you places you wouldn’t normally go. It’s rarely a bad thing to be stretched outside the perimeter of our process. At best, it will provide inspiration. At the least, it’s a lens for rethinking. We’ve found these tools help clients understand their place from a systems perspective: how the making, manufacturing, use, end-of-life, and disposal of their products affects the big picture — the world we live in and all that encompasses. It’s also a way for IDEO to help clients realize savings, improvements, and other valuable opportunities for their businesses. Typically, these activities help the client realize they know very little about the implications of their products’ impact on the world. Let’s not forget ourselves here. This is also a valuable toolkit to use internally, to help project teams understand the possibilities for creating more sustainable solutions. Or, at the very least, to understand the larger systems implications of our design choices. It’s also a great way to begin educating ourselves about sustainable design. page 12 We must look to the big picture to understand all of the opportunities. If we only focus on one small section of the life cycle (the larger whole), we can’t contribute to it as meaningfully as we could if we broadened our horizons to look at the larger context of how we do the work we do. And we must understand the implications of those decisions, both for quality of life and quality of product. As soon as we ask ourselves “Where does it come from and where does it go?”, the product life cycle becomes an option, an opportunity, and a design inspiration. Right now IDEO’s focus lies mainly within use and manufacturing. However, widening our view to include the entire product life cycle will allow us to contribute more holistically to the big picture. When we pull back, that’s when we can truly understand and observe the implications of and possibilities for the things we design. We can see cyclical paths for products that we might not have seen before. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE [TYPICAL FOCUS] energy energy energy energy energy WHERE DOES IT COME FROM AND WHERE DOES IT GO? RAW MATERIALS ACQUISITION MATERIALS MANUFACTURE PRODUCT MANUFACTURE PRODUCT USE OR CONSUMPTION DISPOSAL: LANDFILL INCINERATION RECYCLE RE-USE waste waste waste RECYCLE waste RE-USE waste ECOLOGICAL LOOP page 14 A 4-STEP TOOLKIT THERE IS NO SINGLE CORRECT SOLUTION TO SUSTAINABLE DESIGN. ALL DESIGN SOLUTIONS WILL HAVE COMPROMISES. THE GOAL ISN’T TO AVOID COMPROMISES, BUT RATHER TO MINIMIZE THEM. EACH ITERATION OF A DESIGN SHOULD TAKE US ONE STEP CLOSER TO SUSTAINABILITY. Opher Yom-Tov No one starts out as an expert. Like most things, it takes time, trial and error, and repetition to begin feeling comfortable with the process. The more we learn, the more we realize what an amazing opportunity sustainability is in so many ways. Not only can we make more sustainable contributions to the planet, but as a result our clients can, too. Just imagine what kind of change we can create together. Where to start? With some good old-fashioned homework. Before using the tools in this book at a client kickoff or even internally, give this a try: do a little life cycle homework, and/or assign it to the client to gather some research about the product they have come to us to help design or improve. Spend a few hours developing knowledge and expertise about how it’s made, where it’s made, what it’s made of, how it’s manufactured, how it eventually breaks down—or not, etc. This will likely make the workshop discussion even richer. Feel free to call the contacts in the back of this book who have used these tools to chat about their experiences and suggestions. (Workshop leaders, see page 37–39 for more detailed instructions.) page 16 What’s next? Well, ﬁrst things ﬁrst. Learning is a process. Don’t feel compelled to ﬁll out the following charts completely. The areas you leave empty are as telling as the ones you can ﬁll out. Allow yourself the room to take a step back, see the areas of greatest density, and understand what you know and how you can make a difference. Super-size it. Plot and print out the charts on the following pages, and pin them up for the kickoff/ workshop. This will enable everyone in the room to contribute to the discussion collectively, rather than individually as they might if you passed around handouts. We have found the group dynamic and collective knowledge of the attendees to be powerful. Consider this an early-in-the-process, pre-strategic inspiration tool. The workshop should be fun and lively and reﬂect the spirit of a brainstorm. 1 2 3 4 5 DO THE PREP. GET REAL SMART. UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’RE UP AGAINST. INCREASE YOUR AWARENESS. REALIZE HOW POWERFUL AND INSPIRING AWARENESS CAN BE. page 18 1 AWARENESS Understanding your product from a systems perspective 3 OPPORTUNITIES Imagining what’s possible 2 UNDERSTANDING Understanding the impact of the choices we make 4 Identifying areas where IDEO can make a difference GET TING TRACTION page 20 WHAT GOES IN? WHERE DOES IT COME FROM? 1 AWARENESS Understanding your product from a systems perspective First we must ask a few questions. As designers, we have tremendous leverage when we create and craft solutions. For everything we make, we focus things like materials, energy, people, and places into our solutions. However, at some point in the life of most objects that focus dissolves. We don’t always think about the consequences. If we decide to, however, that focus can become a new design opportunity. That type of thinking can be a powerful tool for design; a reminder that we can positively affect people and the planet. What goes into making your product? (materials, energy, resources) What goes out into the world as a result? (toxins, persistent compounds, solid waste) Where do the resources come from? (ecosystems, communities, economies) Where do they go? (into the air, the soil, our cells) WHAT GOES OUT? WHERE DOES IT GO? YOUR PRODUCT HERE Earlier prototype in use page 22 UNDERSTANDING Understanding the impact of the choices we make Putting things in context. Once you have an idea of where things come from and where they go, map them out in the context of what we know about how they interact with people and the planet. We can look at a product throughout its life to identify hot spots that may be problematic for the producer, the user, or others who encounter it at various points along its journey. Here we simply try to understand the potential impacts of a design that we envision. We look at four things that we have some intuition about as designers: materials, energy, toxicity, and people. The following are straightforward design questions, but they are asked through a lens with a somewhat broader focus than we may be used to. When you have ﬁnished the mapping process, step back from the chart and squint at it. You will see clusters where you have a lot of knowledge, and empty spaces where you know very little. This is okay. It gives you some guidance about where to focus your energy, and where you can learn more. Does your product depend upon resources that are limited, or not renewable? When? Where? Does your product require more energy than necessary to fulﬁll its function? What kinds of energy? When? Why? Does your product depend upon, or produce, substances that endanger human health, or the health of ecosystems on Earth? What? When? Are there behaviors that your product encourages that are harmful to individuals, or to society at large? Earlier prototype in use PEOPLE TOXICITY / PERSISTENCE ENERGY 2 INPUTS MANUFACTURING USE END OF LIFE OUTPUTS MATERIALS page 24 3 OPPORTUNITIES Imagining what’s possible Identifying opportunities for change. Now we begin to look for design inspiration. Are there ways that we can reduce or negate the potential effects that we have mapped out? Try not to narrow the ﬁeld at this point. In fact, do the opposite. Consider this a brainstorming tool to inspire innovation and possibility. With each question you ask about the product and its life, an opportunity for innovation presents itself. Reduce? Replace? Rethink? Can you reduce energy consumption or material use at any stage of the product’s life? Can you do more with less? Can you replace a toxic substance with one that is less so? Can you completely eliminate the use of a problematic process by radically rethinking the solution, negating the need for the process entirely? INPUTS MANUFACTURING USE END OF LIFE OUTPUTS Earlier prototype in use RETHINK REPLACE REDUCE page 26 4 GET TING TRACTION Identifying areas where IDEO can make a difference Where do we focus? Now imagine the “sweet spot.” We can’t realistically take on the whole world (at least not right away), but there are areas in which we, as IDEO designers, have a great deal of leverage. Look at your results from Step 3, and think about where you want to focus your energy. By constraining the space to a limited area where you think you can make a difference, you create an environment in which you can innovate, and a better likelihood of success. This step also helps scope the trajectory of a project with your client. Very early on, you can create a common understanding together of where interest may lie in a potential solution. INPUTS MANUFACTURING USE END OF LIFE OUTPUTS Earlier prototype in use Where can we make a difference? RETHINK REPLACE REDUCE page 28 1 AWARENESS 3 OPPORTUNITIES 2 UNDERSTANDING 4 GETTING TRACTION These earlier protoypes give a sense of how to use the tools in this book. page 30 SUSTAINABILITY IS NOT ENVIRONMENTALISM DRESSED IN NEW CLOTHES. IT’S ESSENTIALLY A NEW WAY OF SEEING THE WORLD. Author Unknown page 32 Looking through a sustainability lens doesn’t necessarily mean it has to become a sustainability project. Quite the contrary. The sustainable design lens is one of many we can apply to a problem. Think of it as a facet of a project, rather than the entire gem. It’s simply another way of looking at things. An internal inspiration and an external exercise. How long does the whole thing take? In our experience, it has taken an hour or two to use these tools in a workshop. Often, we have run brainstorms directly afterwards, based on our insights around opportunity and action. We have found this to be a nice ﬁlter to inform our work and gives the client a sense of what can be using this lens alone. It gives them a glimpse into our process and helps illustrate one of many ways we are inspired to “make things better.” THE LIFE CYCLE TOOLS PUSHED US AND THE CLIENT TO BROADEN THE TYPICAL USE AND PRODUCT RESEARCH PROCESS — LITERALLY FOLLOWING THE PRODUCT FROM RAW MATERIAL TO TRASH AND TALKING TO ALL THE FOLKS INVOLVED ALONG THE WAY. THE TOOLS PROVIDED A FRAMEWORK THAT ENSURED THAT WE UNDERSTOOD ALL STEPS IN THE PRODUCT’S LIFE—THEY WERE SOMETHING WE COULD COME BACK TO IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE OUR INVESTIGATION WAS THOROUGH. WE COULD THEN SEE WHERE IN THE PRODUCT’S LIFE THE MOST PROMISE FOR IMPROVEMENT LAY AND THEN FOCUS OUR ENERGIES THERE. PERHAPS MOST IMPORTANTLY, WE INTRODUCED THE TOOLS DURING THE PROJECT KICKOFF, ENSURING THAT WE AND THE CLIENT WERE ON THE SAME PAGE ABOUT THE EXTENT OF THE INVESTIGATIONS, AND HOW THOROUGHLY WE WERE GOING TO QUESTION AND UNDERSTAND THEIR PRODUCT AND BUSINESS. Jeff Chapin page 34 Sustainability enthusiasts and educators at IDEO. Here are a handful of others who are leading the initiative to give sustainability a presence across practices. This is a partial list. In fact we have a large and growing community of sustainabilityminded folks at IDEO. The people listed here represent those who have used the tools in this guide — among others — and would be happy to talk to you further about your questions, thoughts, concerns and general interest in learning more about what worked, and perhaps, what might work better. Bob Adams Ingrid Baron Andrew Burroughs badams@ideo.com ibaron@ideo.com aburroughs@ideo.com jchapin@ideo.com jcollins@ideo.com jfourt@ideo.com lhsiao@ideo.com kjohnson@ideo.com andreak@ideo.com bmacgregor@ideo.com joliver@ideo.com kritscher@ideo.com bstewart@ideo.com asklar@ideo.com oyomtov@ideo.com QUESTIONS? CONTACT: Jeff Chapin Jim Collins Jesse Fourt Lisa Hsiao Kara Johnson Andrea Koerselman Bruce MacGregor Joanne Oliver Ken Ritscher Bill Stewart Aaron Sklar Opher Yom -Tov DOING A SIMPLIFIED LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT DEFINITELY MADE ME THINK ABOUT MY DESIGN ALTERNATIVES IN DIFFERENT WAYS. SOME STAGES OF THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE ARE ONLY BRIEFLY CONSIDERED (IF AT ALL) BY THE DESIGN TEAM IN A TYPICAL DESIGN CONSULTING ENGAGEMENT. DOING A SIMPLE LCA FORCES SOME CONSIDERATION OF ALL STAGES —A PROCESS THAT IS POWERFUL AND ILLUMINATING. HOWEVER, ONE SHOULD BE AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE RESULTS MAY SUGGEST DISRUPTIVE CHANGES TO A PROJECT. TIMING AND PERSPECTIVE ARE IMPORTANT. EARLIER APPLICATION OF THIS KIND OF THINKING IS BETTER, BOTH FOR MINIMIZING DISRUPTION AND FOR GETTING THE TEAM THINKING ABOUT THE BIG PICTURE WHILE THERE IS TIME TO REACT. PERSPECTIVE IS ENHANCED THROUGH RECOGNITION THAT EVEN SMALL IMPROVEMENTS CAN HAVE A BIG IMPACT WHEN MULTIPLIED BY LARGE PRODUCTION VOLUMES. Jim Collins page 36 Preparation for workshop leaders. Think about this as a ﬁve-step process: 1 Acquire knowledge—get smart 2 Prepare yourself— decide upon your focus and point of inspiration 3 Plot charts— get PDFs off the server and plot at 36 x 48 inches. Get a lot of Post-its 4 Provide background— give the group a quick introduction to sustainability (page 7), and the life-cycle awareness for designers as a point of inspiration (page 10) 5 Run the exercise (page 21–31) a Awareness b Understanding c Opportunities d Traction 1 Acquire knowledge—get smart This exercise is best performed with some knowledge going into it. Acquiring the background does two things. First, it enables a well-informed and inspiring session. Second, the process of getting smart creates awareness for the team member leading the exercise, providing a solid base of understanding from which to innovate. By seeking out the information you need (which is not a slam-dunk at this point in time) you will acquire understanding that is rare amongst designers, thereby differentiating yourself in the eyes of your colleagues and client. And you will see things differently than you did before. The tool presented in this booklet is not a quantitative lifecycle assessment (LCA) tool, nor is it meant to be. However, rigorous life-cycle assessments of existing products are very useful (and sometimes necessary) in preparing yourself for this type of exercise. LCAs are readily available on the web for a variety of products and can usually be found by googling “product name LCA,” “product name environment,” or some similar search string. There are quantitative approaches available that are less cumbersome then a full-blown LCA. Designers at IDEO, such as Jesse Fourt and Jim Collins, are developing expertise in using LCAs at differing levels of resolution. One approach, (called an eco-indicator or single-digit LCA), as described in the IDSA pamphlet “Business EcoDesign Tools”, provides a good introduction to life cycle assessment, and gives instructions in using the single-digit LCA approach. This approach is at a realistic level for use by IDEO designers during the design process. It is not exhaustive, but it can be a useful tool for understanding trade-offs in design decisions. It is focused primarily on environmental impacts of design decisions, rather than on social or economic factors, but it gives some feeling for what we know today in our current system. For the full background on this approach check out the PRé Consultants website (www.pre.nl/life_cycle_assessment/). 2 Prepare yourself Establish a point of view from what you learn. This will be important in leading the upcoming exercise. Look for an intersection that is relevant to your project, some insight that will inspire awareness. It may take some time before you find the information that is compelling, or even find the source, but usually it is out there if you stay after it. Then compile the evidence and bring it with you to the session. Bring in some LCAs that you’ve printed out, and if they contain charts and graphs that are easy to reference, so much the better. These are things you can use to prod the proceedings should a lull occur. You’ll need to lead others through this process, it will not be intuitive for them. But it will be eye opening when they begin to understand how their actions and products affect the world at large. Decide what you are going to focus on for the exercise. You can look at a single material (PVC, polypropylene, etc), at a product (vacuum cleaner, toothpaste, etc.) or at a system (sewer system, community, restaurant, etc). In some cases, we’ve broken a product down and done two exercises in parallel; one about a product and one about the system in which it exists. 3 Plot the charts The PDFs for these charts are located at: www.ideo.com/sustainability Plot them 36 x 48 inches and hang them up in the room where you will run the exercise. We’ve found the best way to use them is to use Post-its. Feel free to write on the charts, change them, or do whatever you need to. Remember this is a starting point for a conversation, not a solution of some kind. 4 Provide background Give the participants a short introduction to sustainability (see page 7), tell them why we care about it at IDEO (page 10), and why they might care about it (page 12). Tell some stories. Do an exercise to loosen them up — have them talk about an object they love, and ask them the question, “Where does it come from, where does it go?” Neither you, nor they, will know the answers. That’s the point. 5 Run the exercise a Awareness Map the space. On the far left, you will be literally talking about ecosystems, communities, and economies. As you move in toward the center you look at raw materials, energy, infrastructure, and so on. Continue to narrow your focus to speciﬁc materials, assemblies, and so on. Use your research to help fill in the blanks, and to inspire the participants. As you move further toward the right, you will once again eventually return to talking about ecosystems, communities, and economies as you follow the stream of outputs into the world at large. This process does not have to be comprehensive (see example on page 31). The point is to have the conversation. Sometimes an LCA isn’t available for a particular product, but one can be found that targets a closely related product. For example, you may not be able to locate an LCA for an electric can-opener, but you can easily ﬁnd a vacuum cleaner LCA on the web. In this case, there is enough similarity in materials used, energy consumed in manufacturing, transportation impacts, and so on to draw relevant conclusions and insights. LCAs for specific materials area also available and can be fascinating. For instance, check out the APME website (apme.org), which posts highly detailed LCAs for all the engineering thermoplastics produced in Europe — inputs, outputs, chemistry, fuel use, emissions, etc. Also, there is a lot of other environmental information out there on the web, and in books. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Greenpeace or The Natural Step, and government agencies (EPA, etc.) have information available. And there are reams of academic research papers available upon almost any subject you can imagine that intersects with sustainability. page 38 Accessing these tools. b Understanding Once you have an idea of where things come from, and where they go, map them out in the context of what you know about how they interact with people and the planet. And you can look at a product throughout its life to identify hot spots that may be problematic for the producer, for the user, or for others who encounter it at various points along its journey. Simply try to understand the potential impacts of a design that you envision. Look at four things that we have some intuition about as designers: materials, energy, toxicity, and people. We ask questions like: • Does your product depend upon resources that are limited, or not renewable? When? Where? • Does your product require more energy than necessary to fulﬁll its function? What kinds of energy? When? Why? • Does your product depend upon, or produce, substances that endanger human health, or the health of ecosystems on Earth? What? When? • Are there behaviors that your product encourages that are harmful to individuals, or to society at large? When? How? And so on. These are straightforward questions of design, but they are asked by looking through a lens with a somewhat broader focus than we may be used to. When you have ﬁnished this process, step back from the chart and squint at it. You will see clusters where you have a lot of knowledge, and empty spaces where you know very little. This is okay. It gives you some guidance about where to focus your energy, and where you need to learn more. (see page 31). c Opportunities Now begin to look for inspiration for design. Are there ways that you can reduce or negate the potential impacts that you have mapped out? Ask three questions: Reduce? Replace? Rethink? Can you reduce energy consumption or material use at any stage of the products life? Can you replace a toxic substance with one that is less so? Can you completely eliminate the use of a problematic process by radically rethinking the solution, negating the need for the process entirely? With each question you ask about the product and its life, an opportunity for innovation will present itself. Try not to narrow the field at this point. In fact, do the opposite. Consider this a brainstorming tool to inspire innovation and possibility (see page 31). d Traction Now imagine the “sweet spot.” We can’t realistically take on the whole world from IDEO (at least not right away), but there are areas in which we, as IDEO designers, have a great deal of leverage. Look at your results from step c, and think about where you want to focus your energy. By constraining the space to a limited area where you think you can make a difference, you create an environment in which you can innovate, and a better likelihood of creating an example of success. This step also helps scope the trajectory of a project with your client. Very early on, you can create a common understanding together of where interest may lie in a potential solution. You may not to come to a solid conclusion in this step. That is okay. You may be able to narrow the field, and that is worth a lot (see page 31). REMEMBER: THIS IS NOT A TOOL THAT WILL CREATE A SOLUTION, BUT IT WILL START A CONVERSATION AND PROVIDE DIRECTION. IT MAY PROVIDE INSPIRATION. IT WILL SURELY CREATE A COMMON PLATFORM FOR DISCUSSION WITH YOUR CLIENT THAT CAN SUPPORT YOUR DIALOG THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF THE PROJECT. These tools can be found at www.ideo.com/sustainability page 40 Sustainability Resource (Internet) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 The Center for Sustainable Design www.cfsd.org.uk National Center for Design RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) www.cfd.rmit.edu.au Rematerialise—Database of more sustainable materials www.rematerialise.org Online Magazine—Sustainability in Business www.greenfutures.org.uk The Natural Step www.naturalstep.org Demi—Overview on sustainable design www.demi.org.uk Sustainable Measures—How to measure sustainability www.sustainablemeasures.com Bio Thinking—Information about bio thinking www.biothinking.com Life Cycle Analysis Software www.pre.nl Environmentally Sustainable Product Design www.espdesign.org Locus Research—Sustainable product design www.locusresearch.com APME—Life cycle analyses of plastics www.apme.org US Environmental Protection Agency—Design for Environment www.epa.gov/dfe US EPA—Green chemistry www.epa.gov/greenchemisry/index.htm IDSA—Business Ecodesign Tools www.idsa.org/whatsnew/sections/ecosection/tools.htm Sustainability Resource (Books) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 The Ecology of Commerce, Paul Hawken Cradle To Cradle, Michael Braungart, William McDonough Natural Capitalism, Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins Design + Environment, Helen Lewis, John Gertakis The Green Imperative, Victor Papanek Design for the Real World, Victor Papanek The Total Beauty of Sustainable Products, Edwin Datschefski Ishmael, Daniel Quinn Sustainable Solutions, Martin Charter, Ursula Tischner Silent Spring, Rachel Carson Biomimicry, Janine Benyus Covenant of the Wild, Stephen Budiansky The Sacred Balance, David Suzuki Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold The Natural Step for Business, Brian Nattrass, Mary Altomare Mid-Course Correction, Ray Anderson page 42 Notes The medium is the message: We’ve printed this booklet on paper which is made of 50% post-consumer waste, 100% recycled and processed without chlorine. It’s called Reincarnation and made by New Leaf Paper. It’s the most environmentally sound coated paper manufactured in the United States. Sustainability: A Lens for Design