2B BLOG

EXPLOITATION – STORIES OF LABOUR, ENVIRONMENT AND ROLE OF DESIGNERS.

 

Humans have been consumers, builders, and inventors. Humans have actively left their marks, from the prehistoric humans’ marks in the beginning of time to our growing carbon footprint in recent years. Humans claimed the resources of our planet as means of accommodation, believing them to be infinite, setting the rules to labour and often exploiting the environment and hiding the negative impact. It is important to shed light on the importance of social justice, awareness, and design activism. The impact of the growth of social justice through protest and design campaigns has been evident, and the word “change” and the urgency of it has been plastered on posters all over cities, and while some have been successful , such as the call to end fossil fuel with “the fossil fuel proliferation treaty”

 

Campaign materials,(N.D)

 

that I personally participated in with the collaboration of D&AD New Blood projects. There is no denying that the need for and importance of social justice has been imperative for years. The effects of exploitation in the past have been far more jarring and destructive than in recent years. With the emerge of activism, for example, the unfortunate story of the Radium Girls.

MA, (2019)

In 1917, Female factory workers who suffered from radiation poisoning, from painting radium dials with self luminous paints, to cut cost and maxmise efficiency. The watch company refused provide rags or water rinse the brushes in order to use less materials. The watch company told the workers to repoint the brushes using their lips to give them a fine tip. After being told that the paint was harmless, five women were diagnosed with occupational disease which means that “any disease caused primarily by exposure at work to a physical, organisational, chemical or biological risk factor or to a combination of these factors.” Skrzypczak, A,(2020)

The women who were diagnosed later sued their employers and put an end to the destruction of more lives and the unfair labour conditions.

In our day and age, more than 2 million people still die at work each year.

Occupational Disease,(2019)

Humans have not completely shifted their mindsets and are still functioning in the manner of the linear economy, prioritising profit over the environment and the well-being of the workers. This highlights the role of designers and change-makers to raise awareness and lead societies to a more just and aware society by identifying past mistakes and learning from them. This method is more suitable for the future, as the damages inflicted to our planet is no longer reversible, but we could reduce further damages from occurring.

 

 

Reference list 

Campaign materials (N.D) The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. Available at: https://fossilfueltreaty.org/campaign-materials (Accessed: 11 November 2024).

M, A. (2019) The radium girls, OfficialWatches. Available at: https://www.officialwatches.com/blogs/articles/the-radium-girls (Accessed: 11 November 2024).

Skrzypczak, A. (2020) Work-related diseases, OSHA. Available at: https://osha.europa.eu/en/themes/work-related-diseases#:~:text=An%20’occupational%20disease’%20is%20any,to%20risk%20factors%20at%20work. (Accessed: 11 November 2024).

 

Occupational Disease (2019) Accidents in workplace and occupational disease infographic, Health and safety training community. Available at: https://www.free-safety-training.com/accidents-in-workplace-and-occupational-disease-infographic/ (Accessed: 11 November 2024).