The Essence of Sustainability
What is left after you’ve peeled off the eco-groovy labels and unwrapped the post-consumer recycled-content packaging? Will the product underneath stand the test of time? Will the business you run survive the next recession? In a word, are they resilient?
Resiliency is all about being able to take the heat, stress, impact, pressure, market changes, etc., and be able to return to business as usual or else leverage what has been learned and adapt. Resiliency leads to quality, timeless products and long-term businesses.
If there is one thing that I have learned on this Ride the Talk cycling trip is that resiliency is at the heart of sustainability. On those days when the sun doesn’t come out from beneath the clouds, when the wind refuses to shift to a tailwind from a headwind, when the road shoulder only gets narrower and more shrapnel-ridden, when the hills get more abundant and steeper: these are the times I dig deep and rely on my resiliency.
Resiliency is that gristly, unshakable part of a person that won’t give up. It’s that piece that always sees the bigger picture and hangs on until the bitter end. It’s that part that keeps plugging away, flexing and adapting as it needs to reach the end goal. I am quite sure that this part lives in my mind and soul rather than my body. It can’t be pointed to in a medical textbook but believe me, it exists. I wouldn’t be writing this dispatch after putting in 105 miles today if it didn’t!
When I was being pummeled by incessant winds over the past few days, I began to think about the cattails beside me. They 
have the incredible ability to sway, deform and bend yet remain strong and undamaged. This is resiliency in nature. Witnessing a palm tree dance in a hurricane leaves a lasting impression of the beauty and strength that is resiliency. A palm gives where and when it needs to give, tatters and frays where it’s inexpensive to repair, flexes and twists to cast off energy and returns to its original shape when the hurricane passes. It’s able to do each of these things with grace due to design that integrates diversity, redundancy and multifunctionality that has evolved over time.
How do human designs adapt and evolve under duress? Will a product or service design withstand a recession or the next fad? How about a business? Good, sustainable designs will and do if they are designed with resiliency in mind. Just like my resiliency will pull me through to my end goal to make it to Minneapolis.
Take a moment to reflect by watching these videos from the ride: Cattails and Resiliency
Cindy Gilbert i
s faculty, student advisor, and directs MCAD’s Sustainable Design program which currently offers an 18-credit Professional Certificate in Sustainable Design (just launched!) and a 30-credit Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Sustainable Design. The program emphasizes small classes (capped at 18 students) at the graduate-level that foster interdisciplinary and cross-cultural collaborations, global innovation, and creative leadership – all taught by a diverse faculty of practicing professionals. Learn about systems thinking, biomimicry, life cycle analysis, sustainable product, packaging, and graphic design, as well as design for social change and sustainable business practices. Interested? Contact us to learn more; we’re always happy to answer questions.
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2 Comments
I loved your analogy comparing the resiliency of cattails to life. I am considered a novice graphic designer. I went to school for desktop publishing back in 91/92 (community college). While attending school i did work for a few company’s since you know they dont have to pay students. Right before i graduated i went around to applying for work with these company’s willing to start at the very bottom. none hired me because they got what they want from me for free. At that time i gave up graphics and went back to building cabinets. Right now i am on disability and am working to get off of it and Hopefully own my own graphic design company. I have tons of graphics i did for two games that cant be finished now because i am not a programer. So i am going to try to go back to school to get my bachelors degree. I dont want to go to work for some big graphics company because of the resiliency of big company’s. I honestly find it hard to believe alot of these company’s even survive. I lived in seattle for ten years and when i started to go back to school i got to know this gentalman that owned his own design company but finally sold it because he got tired of how people treated each other. And thats were the problem lies. Example. i lived in a small town of about 8 to 15 thousand working as a bartender. when my roommate started to tell people i did graphics i got flooded with all kinds of request for flyers, business cards, banners, ex. Being in a small town alot of these people didnt have the money to drive to the city and pay an arm and a leg for something that takes minutes to make. On top of that everyone of them said they felt like they were treated like lower class people. So when i sat down with them and actually took the time to find out what they wanted and did not limit them tojust a few designs or fonts. I would also take the time to make 5 to 8 different designs to let them chose or change untill we had what they wanted and not them just setle with what ever. I gave it that personal touch and since i had another job it was not about the money. I got paid for all the work i did but i charged little and or took trade. I love my coffee. i did business card and punch cards for the only coffee shop in town and took free coffee for trade. I think i ended up getting only two or three coffee’s from them because i worked night and they were usally always closed by then but through them i got several other graphic jobs and was even offered a job creatting a new newspaper. Big business need to stop looking at how much money they can make and start caring about that personal touch. There will always be a need for designers weather it is designing major advertisements or just simple typography. If you cant learn to bend and flex with life nowaday you will break and the little business folks that still believe in the human touch will thrive. Ok so there in some of my thoughts…lol
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Gary Sypolt, OPD
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Wow! Thank you for this detailed comment. I am happy the the piece resonated with you.
You may want to see the original post on Core77.com where I have embedded a video of cattails being resilient live:
http://www.core77.com/blog/sustainable_design/ride_the_talk_resiliency_the_essence_of_sustainability_20583.asp
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