11 th Hour

11th Hour is a very interesting video that educates individuals about the impact humans have on the earth, and our environment. The video explained various global and environmental issues in a very well constructed manner which made it very interesting. The explanation of nature and the amount of resources it gave us was very effective because I have never actually thought about nature in this manner. I think the major thing that would really help me, based on this video as a designer is to design products that change consumer habits without them knowing about it. By doing this we designers would allow consumers to use less, and this would lead to an advantage for the environment in the long run. As a designer we must look at the products life cycle and choose the correct material in order to use the least amount, to ensure that the product doesn’t become an issue when no one wants it.
I think sometimes using green materials may require more carbon emission or resources, so the best method to choose the most suitable material for the product and the environment is to have a guide or a book. This book would obviously have all the possible materials that a designer could use that would be most beneficial, by stating its environmental impacts.
What really made me not agree with some parts of the movie was when they suggested decreasing income taxes and increasing the rubbish collection taxes to fix up the way we use our resources. This would not be possible because as they stated due to all these resources we use so many illnesses have been recognised, which leads to the intense need of medical treatment and obviously all the issues dealt with public health comes out of our income taxes. So therefore wouldn’t we need more income tax to look after the health and well being of individuals, rather than introduce new methods of fixing up our consumption pattern?
The major factor that really clicked as a designer in my mind while watching this video was how can designers design products that require less energy and have less effect on the environment? By manufacturing more sustainable products consumers do not need to educate themselves about the environment because we designers are looking after the environment and giving the required service to the user without them knowing. This method would be very effective because it would take place immediately and it occurs without the need of educating individuals. The only way this would happen is to encourage designers to research further into the lifecycle of a product and encourage changes.