I want it all; I want it now.

There are some conversations that wear a little thin. My threshold for hearing about global warming has very nearly been breached. But I guess he irritation factor is important for the idea to become integrated. Sustainability is an issue for design and designers that will only become more important as consumers increasingly demand products that make them feel better.

Whether or not consuming more of anything will make any difference to the health of the planet is moot - but that is one of the perversions of this whole debate. Buying a hybrid car will make you feel good about your choice (if not superior), but, in truth using a car at all is probably pointless if you really want to make a difference.

Living on Auckland's North Shore it is almost impossible to to practicably rely on public transport if you travel to more than one destination per day. One of the things I enjoyed about living in London was the tube. I didn't drive a private car in the entire time I was was there. There was simply no need. Aucklanders are about as addicted to private cars as we are to real estate.

Elected officials pander to that by building more motorways. I recall a visiting Australian traffic expert saying that imagining more roads will resolve traffic problems is like loosening your belt as an antidote to obesity. The reality is that visionary leaders who are prepared to make long term, strategic decisions for the future are like to be chewed up and spat out by an electorate that has become obsessed with immediate gratification and an adversarial political system that relies of polling and talk show monitoring to determine the next move.

I like this little movie (above) from the GenArt film festival in New York. Nicely done. Reminded me a little of the much vaunted The Secret (and What the Bleep before that).

Comments

Addict-o-matic

A cool resource for you to try. Aggregates search topics from a number of sources. Thanks to Brand DNA (again) for the heads-up.

Johnny Bunko competiton

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