Design History, Theory and Practice
Level 3
Interdisciplinary Team Project Part 1
Patricia Griffin, Textiles
Group 14

Resource depletion and design
Definition and causes
The resources of the world commonly referred to in resource depletion are fresh water, food, land and energy. Resource depletion has becoming a major problem in the twentieth and twenty first century partly due to our rapidly increasing population, extending life spans and increasing use of what are limited resources. The ever increasing use of fossil fuels, the destruction of arable land to urban sprawl and a continual need to produce more food all lead to resource depletion. The resources of the world are not infinite, as the world’s population continues to grow, and life expectancy in many countries increases, we cannot continue to use up the natural resources with no regard for the future. The United Nations predict that the world’s population will be around 9.2 billion people by the year 2050.(http://www.un.org/popin/).
The European Union Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS) states that it stands for meeting the needs of the present generations without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/) In view of this policy it is therefore unacceptable to continue to use up the worlds natural resources without any regard to future generations. The EU SDS chose to prioritise seven environmental factors to work together on and make more sustainable in future developments. They were clean energy, sustainable transport, sustainable consumption and production, conservation and management of natural resources, public health, social inclusion, global poverty and sustainable development. One of the key facts to this is that not only are they recognising the existence of the problems, they are uniting to form policies to resolve the existing problems. It is essential that the global community works together in sustainable development to arrest resource depletion. In the United Nations, bodies such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) states “The world cannot continue with business as usual “(Nick. Nuttal@unep.org) if we cannot have sufficient clean water, cannot produce enough food to feed ourselves and have no clean available soil to grow crops or timber, have no fuel for energy then there will be nothing left to design for.

Historical Instance
One local example of resource depletion is the Scottish fishing industry; by over fishing the stocks of fish in our seas we have effectively destroyed that resource which in turn has ended the fishing industry in many areas. This in turn has a cumulative effect of destroying the local community and end a way of life which had continued for many generations. The effects of this overfishing continues its environmental impact as those who would have continued to fish, by necessity move into urban areas to find work increasing the drain on resources within the cities.
Sustainable design
Designers must, in the future, consider all aspects of their design and its effect on the environment as a whole. To use Bio fuels as a source of clean energy is no good for the environment if producing the plant matter for fuel has meant that large areas of either farmland or rainforest have been cleared and the biodiversity of that region has been depleted or destroyed.
It is therefore essential in design that we look at the far bigger picture and consider what the effect of our products or services will have on the limited resources available to us.
A company such as Designtex has a more holistic approach to design, in their mission statement they state “Our mission is to design and deliver innovative solutions that benefit human and environmental health, while educating and challenging ourselves, our suppliers and customers in sustainable practices. “ (http://www.designtex.com/environmental_design_Environments.aspx...) It is this encompassing approach that needs to be taken when considering a design project as we have to consider the best resources to use. Do the raw materials come from a sustainable source? Have they been transported far, what type of energy is going to be required to produce the design and what, if any, will be the waste product? How do we deal with that waste?
Michael Braungart and William McDonough (2009.pg3) state “Cradle to Cradle tries to put human being in the same species picture as other living things_ and to us, a misuse of material resources is not just suicidal for future human generations but catastrophic for the future of life”.. In design we need to therefore need to consider our rapidly depleting natural resources in all aspects of our designs

Referrences
Braugart,m and McDonough,W 2009
Cradle to Cradle Re-making the way we make Things
London, Vintage Books

Designtex, A steelcase company
Vision and Mission available from http://www.designtex.com/environmental
Accessed 5/10/2009

Press release from
United Nations Environmental Programme
Spokesperson nick.Nuttal@unep.org
Accessed 29/09/2009

United Nations Report World Population Prospects
http://www.un.org/popin/
Accessed 29/09/2009

Europa>European Commission>Environment>Sustainable Development
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/
Accessed 29/09/2009