Episode 5 – Sustainability Paradox

Chic

The 5th episode was recorded at the University of Southern Denmark, where I currently teach Fashion Studies, in the Department of Design and Communications. I was invited by Vinnie Hansen, the Chairwoman of HAU – the Network Association for Design Studies – to present a talk on fashion and sustainability, to both the association members – the future generation of professionals in Design Studies in Denmark – and the general public, at their annual General Assembly Meeting in 2019.

I focused my presentation on where we are in the current sustainability discourse, where the main challenges lie now, and what we can all do as educators, designer, entrepreneurs, consumers, researchers, and innovators. I argue that in light of the current climate crisis, sustainability is no longer enough, that we need to envision new ways to move beyond sustainability towards re-generation, and that we need to connect the sustainability research, development, and discourse with creativity across multi-disciplinary fields of research, inquiry, think tanks, and the future directions in design.

I believe that creativity is the key ingredient, that is unfortunately still under-valued and under-funded, in generating new ideas and new directions for making our lives, work, and our environments more sustainable. I leave the audience with some points of inspiration on where we should re-direct our focus, and what we can all do, individually and collectively, to generate change.

I mention Greta Thunberg, who, at the time of this presentation, was organizing climate strikes across Canada, and specifically in Edmonton, Alberta, the former oil capital of Canada, and also in Vancouver, British Columbia, where currently Indigenous communities and climate activists are protesting against the Government of Canada for allowing oil corporations to build a pipeline that stretches from the Alberta tar-sand fields, where oil is still extracted at a high cost to the environment, to the Pacific Ocean, through a province that experiences uncontrollable wild fires each summer. The fact that Greta Thunberg managed to bring out so many young people both in Alberta and BC to strike is very inspiring. But it is only the first step in the right direction. The many, new, next steps still need to be envisioned, initiated, and sustained.

My presentation was followed by a panel discussion with several Danish fashion professionals and fashion educators on the challenges of fashion sustainability both in education and in the industry. The panel was in Danish, so it is not recorded here, but I provided some guiding questions for the panelists to discuss, that I list at the end of my presentation.