Meaningful design as a pathway to sustainability

In response the The Oil Drum conversation on “Beliefs at a turning point?” allow me to cross-pollinate with a few things I’ve learned as a user-experience designer (and I don’t speak for all user-experience designers – I’m still a fairly new one. Many crazy-smart people in the design and human computer interaction world are way ahead of me on this – I invite the experienced ones to point me to better sources or correct this thought train):

Belief systems are very hard to change.  Many people in America, if not outright thrust towards sustainability, may move towards a more sustainable lifestyle on their own but for different reasons that arise from their beliefs.  Many religions store food or don’t use cars now.  Members of some political groups want independence, so they grow their own chickens.  Members of other political groups want equality, so they teach everybody to grow chickens.  Environmentalists find sustainable solutions because it’s better for the environment.  Peak oil-ists find sustainable solutions because they know they had better learn how to deal without oil now.  People who have lost their jobs use less energy and grow more of their own food (hopefully) because of the reality of their economic condition.  So many people are moving towards sustainability but from a different set of circumstances or beliefs.

So who do you really want to influence first?  Who are the worst offenders?  Whose belief systems don’t point toward sustainability?  And whose lot in life necessitates an un-sustainable solution in order to put food on the table, be happy, or survive?

For now, while the economy still has legs (and perhaps even when it doesn’t have legs), any person, company, group or government who designs/sells/creates anything needs a new way forward, “one that is innovative, meaningful, sustainable, and profitable.”  I think many people could find this on their own in the face of adversity – I’m learning not to underestimate the power of human creativity.

For those who feel like getting a jump on things, perhaps it isn’t a question of changing belief, but of changing behavior by creating meaningful, sustainable communities, experiences and designs.  When sustainable solutions are designed for use and access and meaning, perhaps then you can get buy-in from the people.

Nathan Shedroff , author of “Design is the Problem” introduces many ideas about making meaningful experiences, a meaning-filled development process, and other tools that we already have in the following presentations:

Rethinking the Consumption Compulsion: http://www.nathan.com/thoughts/RethinkingConsumption.pdf

Meaningful Innovation: Interaction and Service Design: http://www.nathan.com/thoughts/IXDA2010.pdf

(I went to a dinner with him and some other usability folks during UPA 2009 – he’s inspiring, peaceful and humble, has traveled the world sitting with tribal people, worked for huge companies on design problems, and is teaching sustainable design.  Many of his students go through their own ‘end of suburbia moment’ when they first start taking his courses.)

This is clearly not the only answer and is only a small part of the puzzle. But a lot of little, manageable changes could add up to big changes, and changes that are meaningful could be adopted in good and interesting places, right?

So, where can you start?  Do you have data to identify whose behavior (and what behavior) should be changed?  What sustainable, meaningful, useful solutions can be implemented now? What do the other phases look like? What is the objective?

And when do you start?  Does it pay to even think about it with economic predictions like this looming? I don’t think it can hurt.  I plan to get out of debt and prepare my life for the possibility of things going very wrong - not doing so would be like saying “I think dieting is a terrible idea.”  But after that, I will personally feel more fulfilled if I am finding or creating meaning in my life and in the lives of others.