ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out to contextualise and build an agreed understanding and vision of what a sustainable planet might look and feel like. Because sustainability is more of a goal than a tangible reality, it is easier to grasp by what it is not – the unsustainable. The chapter identifies the role of different actors in driving the necessary change forward and considers the particular contribution product designers can make in transforming designers’ way of consuming, producing and doing business if they are to co-exist sustainably on the planet. The change of focus from the physical object to satisfying physical and emotional needs through the experiences, narrative and meaning that products can create is liberating for designers. Global warming together with loss of natural capital are combining to create humanity’s biggest existential threat. Exponentially increasing levels of greenhouse gases, primarily from human activity, are trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, raising overall temperatures.
