Reflecting on Designing in State of Climate Emergency

The seminar started with the concept of designing in a state of 'polycrisis', which refers to the simultaneous occurrence of multiple crises, each linked to different factors. This was a significant shift from the conventional focus on the climate emergency alone. The discussion emphasized the interconnectedness of various crises and urged the consideration of the chain of links connecting different issues.

For me a key idea that stood out to me from the past week is that there is a displacement of problems within many solutions that are traditionally considered climate positive. Furthermore there is lack of transparency and curiosity within design and government, with solutions often merely shifting the problem elsewhere rather than truly resolving it. This also led me to look at how achieving a balance within the planet is possible, a key role in this is that humans are not just inhabitants of the Earth, but integral parts of Earth.

Next to this looking back at the second lecture we touched on the topic of time I really was intrigued by how time can be seen differently from many different cultures. I think for me the main point to take into account moving forward is that there are already a lot of solutions and that we can look to the past for inspiration for the future.

Finally the final lecture given on growth seemed interesting to me. The concept of degrowth was something I had already spent time looking into throughout term 1, and it was great to see how different experts viewed this topic. One from a more economic point of view and the other took a holistic stance. I stand by the fact that we need to be able to share the information to shift perspectives on economic degrowth and climate effect.

For myself and gaining insights to move forward on the interventions of term 2, the small experiment we did in groups by the beach were extremely valuable. I feel that after listening to how others feel about the problem I now have some new ideas in how I can research and integrate ideas they stated into my own project. In relation to energy, perception of usage and human behavior there is a lot to be learned from this seminar. Moving forward, I hope to use the knowledge that to design is to make choices, and that we need to act now, however by implementing small changes you can work to change the future in a much more realistic way.