Combating Consumerism with Design

In this episode, we discuss consumerism, the impact of consumerism with a sustainability lens, and how design contributes to, or combats, consumerism. We’ve discovered that the impact of fast fashion goes beyond just the types of fabric in use, but also affects social injustices like ethical labor and systemic privilege. We talk about consumerism tactics like greenwashing within marketing and branding, and how greenwashing leads to consumer distrust and consumer manipulation. We think about ways we can combat consumerism as designers through prioritizing our own ethics as Climate Designers. We discuss details of our ethics courses in college and how we would like to see them improved. And lastly, we consider how educators can better support students so we don’t fall into the deception of consumerism. How can students avoid feeling like baby birds being shoved out of their nest? How can our educational institutions create better connections within the sustainability world? We have some suggestions that include job fairs, teaching about and identifying greenwashing, and sharing resources for post-graduation.