ABSTRACT

Sustainability, it must be acknowledged, is not a destination, but a journey. In order to move toward a more sustainable, or better yet restorative, operating model decision makers use a variety of systems thinking methodologies to help them manage both big picture goals and the seemingly endless pile of small details that make up the mechanism for attaining those goals. Life-cycle Assessment (LCA) is a term used to describe methods of assessing environmental impacts connected to a product's life from raw material extraction, processing, manufacture, distribution, use, and disposal. One of the big mistakes designers make is to dive into an LCA before they really understand what it is they are trying to ultimately accomplish. LCAs should absolutely be part of the early design process, but it should not always be the first tool a designer reaches for, as these assessments need to be run on each component that makes up the object.