I keep thinking, over and over again, about this quote that I read on Treehugger.com in the midst of the Earth Day celebrations:

“Writing in Mother Jones, Joel Makower waves the white flag. Green consumerism, it seems, was one of those well-intended passing fancies, testament to Americans’ never-ending quest for simple quick, and efficient solutions to complex problems. It’s only a matter of time before… the public recognizes that for every pound of trash that ends up in municipal landfills, at least 40 more pounds are created upstream by industrial processes – and that a lot of this waste is far more dangerous to environmental and human health than our newspapers and grass clippings.

At that point, the locus of concern could shift away from beverage containers, grocery bags, and the other mundane leftovers of daily life to what happens behind the scenes – the production, crating, storing and shipping of the goods we buy and use.”

Read the whole story here.

It also reminds me of The Story of Stuff and that, as designers and consumers, it is our responsibility to consider the impact of each and every decision in the design, development and manufacturing process.

As I told a group of students at SCAD last week:  For a very long time, designers have been at the core of the problem, creating product, after product, after product without regard to the consequences.  It is time for us as designers to solve the problem and design the solution.

My Maggie, pictured above, thanks you…