Hasta La Ideas

Sunrise in Ushuaia, Argentina

Today, June 8, is World Oceans Day. Around the world there are events happening in classrooms, businesses, parks and beach fronts to create awareness of the role oceans play in our daily lives.

To mark the occasion, I’m not inviting you to participate in an event for just a day. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing a series of experiences from my time living in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica last March.

Our role as designers, the ultimate storytellers, in saving Antarctica is paramount. Piles of plastic would not be floating in the Ocean if such products had been designed in a closed loop. Aerosols wouldn’t have opened up a hole in the atmosphere if manufacturing processes were designed more responsibly. Business propositions to exploit the natural resources in the poles would not exist if energy efficiency and better sources of energy were more broadly used.

Designers have a time and a place to engage: The time is now and the place is your own community. You don’t need to live in Antarctica to contribute.

Departing the Port of Ushuaia aboard the MV Sea Spirit.

The ultimate goal for this series, Becoming an Antarctican, will be to share with you the idea that Antarctica IS part of the ‘real world.’ The continent belongs to no one; at the same time the shape of humanity itself would be different without Antarctica.

There lies the lesson, and the warning flag.

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