emmott - Sustainable Design

Sustainable Design

Sustainable Design Matters

Several years ago we stayed in a cabin in the Maine woods - no electricity, the only heat a wood stove. Situated on the end of a seven mile lake with only one other camp this pristine site is incredibility beautiful. I would get up early before the rest and hike out to a place high above the water to sketch, photograph and just be.

The land is surrounded by paper company land and later the same day we came upon an area where the company was cutting wood. The contrast of the violence done to the environment and the almost primeval beauty I had experienced only a few hours earlier was overwhelming.

I was on an AIGA committee at that time dealing with the issue of sustainable design. As a designer I use paper in my products, as a twentieth century industrialized person I use paper a great deal and here I was facing the results. I don't propose turning the clock back to a paperless and by extension preindustrial age but I do know that we must take better care of our world.

An AIGA publication, The Ecology of Design, states that "in addition to prudent management of our woodlands, we must also concern ourselves with water quality, wildlife habitat, soil productivity and aesthetics." This statement was made by the sponsoring paper company. Perhaps the company whose work I stumbled upon subscribes to these principles. I don't know, but I do feel that my photographs help dramatize the issue.

Beth Reinhardt Emmott