17/10/2024
I don’t know about you, but there are times when the weight of the global situation feels overwhelming 🙈
The state of the Earth, the environmental degradation, the climate crisis—it can often feel hopeless. It’s tempting to search for hope, to believe that optimism will drive change, but maybe it’s more about finding courage. Courage to act, to grieve, and to face the harsh realities we are collectively going through.
In the context of this grief and agency to do something, Mathilda Tham’s and Kate Fletcher’s “Earth Logic” has been a powerful source of inspiration for Seams Helsinki. During talk today, Tham explored meta-design and the ways we can create change within the prevailing logic of endless growth. She posed a basic question: Why haven’t we been able to shift away from these unsustainable models? (With circularity for instance.)
She pointed to several barriers that hinder change: the concentration of power, outdated thinking, a misplaced hope in technology, and a tendency to focus on parts rather than whole systems. These are all deeply ingrained in the structures that govern how we approach sustainability, and they limit our ability to imagine and implement alternatives.
Despite these challenges, she emphasized the importance of working collectively, relationally, both locally and globally to foster true agency in driving change. It’s not just about systems and structures, but also about individual responsibility. (Especially for those who are priviliged) Each of us must confront the difficult questions: How are we contributing to the current system? How can we envision and practice alternatives in our daily work and lives?
Grief, as it turns out, can be a starting point for this work. It reminds us of what’s at stake and pushes us to act with urgency and care. In this way, design becomes a tool for both grieving and agency—an active practice that helps us imagine new ways of being and living, beyond the limits of growth and towards something regenerative and with new kind of paradigm.
