How big is YOUR closet?

Have you ever thought about all of those clothes you have in your closet that just sits there, that has caused harm on the earth and continues to every time you wash them?  Over consuming can be harmful to the earth because those material objects has to be grown, cut down, made, and then washed or cleaned with chemicals.

In the Design Activism, Fuad-Luke writes that the designers will have to be the first group of people that will have to change their behaviors.  Transforming thoughts and perceptions of the culture of design on sustainability will be tough for the designer who has attention in design research, studies, and practices.  The designer will have to learn to design for our needs so we stop over consuming and can learn to recycle or reuse our materials.  A particular strand of over consumption is where we purchase things, not to fulfill our basic needs, but to fill some voids about our lives and make social statements about ourselves.

I feel that when a designer begins with their ideas, they should look into how it will be made, as in if it will be harmful to the earth, along with what else can this product become after its first life-cycle.  When a designer makes something, they should offer ways of returns in order to get their objects back to transform them into something new and different or design to where the merchandise will be able to biodegrade safely and become food for something else.  We need to find ways that our closets do not need to be the size of a bedroom because of our over consumption.  We seem to want and desire more and more because advertising and corporations that tell us it is what we need to be fulfilled in our lives.

From what I have learned this semester, we need to consider where all of the products have come from, how they were put together, the how it can harm or help the earth.   If we keep allowing our landfills to pile up with harmful materials that do not become food for our earth and cannot keep objects in the right cycle, we will keep causing more harm.  I plan to start off recycling better by sorting my plastics, paper, cardboard etc., and taking it to our local recycling bins.  This will help keep materials in a closed cycle, not piling up in our landfills making it to where we do not have to keep making the materials, but to keep reusing.  As we continue to adapt to the recycling and reusing, I would like to learn more on how we can use organic materials and if there would be a way to go through what is already in a landfill to recycle what’s in there.