The influence of this course on my way of thinking about the environment has been extensive. It has broadened my perspective, through each theme discussed throughout the semester. Gradually, I have started incorporating some of the concepts like upcycling and reusing into my daily life, and I have started retrospecting and questioning certain things that were at the back of my mind but had never fully occupied my attention. For example, when recently visiting a retail store, I noticed that they generally pack their inventory, each in a plastic bag when they could reduce the plastic consumption by packing several items in one bag. The operations team could invest some time and thought into making the business more environmentally sustainable by focusing on these minute details that would compound a bigger impact. Putting forth another example, I involuntarily shied away from purchasing Halloween decorations that would have had to be discarded after usage, instead, I bought things that could be multi-purposed as decoration during the festivities and later could be used for generic storage or other purposes.
The structure of this course divided into four components – Lectures, workshops, debates, and reading groups, made learning more interactive and engaging. While lectures gave us an insight into the tutors’ minds, workshops allowed us to experiment with themes and materials while collaborating with our peers. However, I especially enjoyed the reading groups and the debates since they pushed my boundaries and made me think from different, unprejudiced standpoints. The reading groups expanded our knowledge through various literature, but the one that truly changed my axis of general perception was ‘Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things’ by Jane Bennett since processing such a distinctive, imaginative view on environmentalism helped me break my conventional confines of thinking. The debate motion that truly surprised me with my own thinking was that of Plastics. While agreeing that the further generation of plastics, especially the single-use kind, is detrimental to our ecosystem, the debate enabled me to see the other side of the coin of how the existent plastic needs to be treated. My developed stance on Plastic was not something I had expected and helped me believe that I could develop my rather obstinate notions when equipped with knowledgeable arguments. The blogs aided with furthering my readings and formulating rather solid opinions on various topics. Most of all, while writing about the impact of design on the bigger picture, it underlined the social and ethical responsibilities that I need to undertake as a designer and that substantial agency also lies with me to contribute to the betterment of the environment. The learning between my first blog post to my week 10 blog post, both of which are coincidentally related to Architecture, has been expansive and has equipped me with considerably better skills in writing.
In conclusion, I am immensely satisfied that I chose Environmental design as my elective since I now instinctively integrate sustainable themes that I have learned here into my other core design courses.
