Have We Learned Nothing from Covid-19?
A funny thing happened in the first 30 days after European countries shut down their cities, borders, and almost all economic activity. Streets were almost entirely empty and quiet—no cars or trucks transporting people and goods. The skies were clear, devoid of jets shuttling thousands of passengers between cities. The prolonged shutdowns, while difficult to manage psychologically, emotionally, and financially, resulted in an approximately 7 percent drop in CO2 emissions.
… But at the same time, single-use plastic consumption jumped significantly
… with a significant portion of this waste coming from single-use face masks and face shields.
And now, as vaccines are being rolled out in Europe and across the globe, governments are pushing hard to completely reopen, to get back to the way things once were.
Types of plastic based biomedical wastes originated during COVID-19 pandemic.
Have we learned nothing from this experience?
It’s a question I ask myself almost every day as a designer when I simply walk around my neighborhood and see more and more masks littering the sidewalks. Sure, they’ll go away eventually (not recyclable), but I can’t help but think that this was a lost opportunity for our society to remake how it consumes.
It’s funny because we know the impact our society has on the environment. We have the science to show it. And yet we fail to take the steps necessary to address the most pressing, existential threat of our time. In fact, we do just the opposite !
The very principle of promoting consumption encourages behaviors that we know are detrimental to achieving sustainable development and a low energy/low carbon emission civilization. It’s very obvious that we should be using local resources and establishing shorter delivery routes for goods and services with the ambition of creating a more circular economy.
But this challenges how today’s Industries are organized and Design is done.
The discipline of industrial design is obviously turned upside down in its practices and probably also in its thinking. Human-centered design shouldn’t be reduced to an attractive aesthetic form, to perfect ergonomics and easy user interface. Instead, it should seek to fulfill both individual needs for well-being but beyond that, it should seek to scale and extend well-being to the broader society. It should influence and promote responsible behaviors and habits through a well thought out relationship with technology, using resources according to what is available and lengthen product lifecycles.
We have the technology and tools to make this a reality,
There are many unexplored possibilities that can emancipate our society and our local communities from the stranglehold industry has on our economy and lives. If anything, we’ve learned during the pandemic that the organization of work and the distribution of value can be dramatically changed by developing platforms for direct and easy connections to meet a large number of needs.
The DIY ethos is an enduring trend that is continues to spread and is now accelerating because of the pandemic. This might start with some home renovation projects, or maybe some fermentation experiments in the kitchen.
The infusion of digital connectivity into nearly every aspect of our lives paves the way for developing systems that are increasingly resilient and responsive to our needs and our ambitions. The impact of the Paris Agreements on future legislation will certainly reinforce this trend. New laws will be written to promote eco-responsible design, and we must support emerging entrepreneurs who practice a form of industry that demonstrates its limits in human, economic and environmental impact every day.
Indeed, if this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we have the tools and capability to create a more sustainable society.