Addicted

So few music really is inspirational and tells the story of change makers and free thinkers.m

"Power to the people that got freedom in their focus."

1<3

Listener- listen to the history, listen to the present

Listener hits a nerve on what it means to be a North American.

This kind of scattered, fragmented, poignant, pop culture catch phrase, emotional, passionate mash-up style music to me is the zeitgeist of our times.



I think these guys bring story telling, expression and understanding to new heights of music. They seem to be signing to their dying love, America, and are trying to tell her story as fast as they can. We don't have much time left.



Also, this freaked me out an intrigued me a fair bit. I remember learning about magic when I was a kid, about how it mainly worked on distracting the person you are performing the trick on, building tension, and surprise. This creates a "magic" trick, which is basically controlling the viewers perception to make them think what's going on is genuine.


I don't like things like this- someone out there prove me wrong please?

Women Entrepreneurs

I can't lie, this almost moved me to tears.

We are not a special interest group.

Stories

I like stories. Most people don't know how powerful stories are.

Fashioning the Future Submission

I was a finalist for the 2009 Fashioning the Future Competition.

I shortened my B.a. thesis to fit submission criteria. It's not properly cited, but it does make it much easier to digest.

Enjoy!

NEW DEFINITION OF FASHION:

Effectuating Sustainable Behaviour Through Communication

What is the role of communication in a sustainable fashion culture? Communication is a tool. It’s outcome can be whatever is decidedly intended, then well thought out and implemented. When your intent is a large broad spectrum like ‘sustainability’, where does a business start?

A successful sustainable fashion company must foster a sustainable culture at work. Just like in any other kind of business, employees of sustainable fashion companies must be on board and have the same basic codes and eco-standards that they operate on. They must be informed and engaged by what is communicated to them about the business. This can be for a company of one or 100.

What I offer here is not a one size fits all checklist of sorts that can be implemented without fail. What I have set out to do was to see what “worked” in the past to change consumer or employee behaviour, not necessarily just in the eco-world. I kept one quote in mind:

“I cannot teach anyone anything, I can only make them think.” – Socrates.

By combining sustainable design theory with marketing consumer behaviour, we can understand some key ways we communicate and who we are communicating to. This knowledge can help engages both employees and consumers to adapt sustainable lifestyles. We have to be design conscious when we create, and design is about asking questions. Therefore we need to be aware of the right questions to ask. The answers will lead to new definitions of fashion.

The role sustainable fashion communication must play is to keep the following themes in mind, and create more threads of awareness in their own companies. In my research, I have come across eight themes that play out in both successful consumer behaviour and sustainable design fields. They are:

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1. LOHAS

LOHAS is an acronym for Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability- a market conservatively estimated at $209 billion in the U.S, and accounts for 19% of the population. LOHAS is based on psychographics rather then demographics. This is the new opinion leader and aspirational lifestyle in many marketing segmentations. By targeting these innovators, companies have paved the way to make sustainable technologies and products available to the general public through trickle-down theory; they more importantly, make the LOHAS lifestyle more desirable to the early majority, late majority and laggard consumers.

LOHAS are committed consumers with brand loyalty and have an estimated yearly disposable income of 1.4 trillion dollars. LOHAS consumers tend to demand more out of the products and services that they purchase, going beyond form and function, all the while valuing the integration of price and quality. Health and wellness are expanded priorities to now include spiritual and planetary needs.

“No business can be done on a dead planet.” - David Brower

In the application of LOHAS to changing how your company communicates sustainability; the company must understand if they are catering to LOHAS, or the wake created by this new marketing segmentation.

2. Collective Memory

Is a term coined by Maruice Halbwach, and is defined as: “The breadth of procedural knowledge the community acquires through experience when interacting with each other and the world.” Andrew Garland and Richard Alterman from Brandeis University propose that: “It is a mechanism through which a community of agents can lean improved patterns of cooperative activity to take advantage of regularities in their domain of problem-solving.”

In North America, there is a list-serve that branches from the book and movement “Fostering Sustainable Behaviour” in Vancouver, B.C. There are hundreds of similar goal oriented people on the list serve, sharing and learning information on how to create sustainable behaviour in their communities. The Sierra Youth Coalition’s mission is to foster a group resource database for activist youth, and their wiki website reflects that, as it can easily be edited and contributed to. They stress how important it is to share knowledge, and build it in a manor that passes the information on to the next generation.

"What does the blogosphere actually do for us in terms of accessing collective intelligence?... The premise of the wisdom of crowds, is that under the right conditions, groups can be remarkably intelligent, and they can actually be smarter than even the smartest person within them." -James Surowiecki

In the application; How can your company tap into it’s collective intelligence to better create desired reactions from your audience’s collective memory? What intelligence does your audience have, and what new knowledge can be contributed to it? Are you relying on your collective memory, forgetting that your audience’s collective memory may not have the same information to draw from?

3. Visualization

Humans are visceral creatures. They need to touch and see in order to conceptualize, connect, understand and believe. We must look no further than late-night infomercials to understand visualization’s importance in the marketing world. Visualization also plays a key part in environmental awareness. For example, Chris Jordan is an artist who uses everyday items and scale to visually represent consumption. His audience reacts to the images as they quantify the consumption of our society, previously explained by abstract numbers. Edward Burtynsky’s photos help conceptualize the giant industrial power that is China. Inner city youth often show greater compassion for environmentalism after being exposed to nature, which was previously a foreign concept. How can someone value something they have never experienced? When politicians go to Greenland and see the shrinking glaciers, they no longer deny global warming. When the human element (in the forms of speakers, witnesses, etc.) are added to a campaign, brand or cause, understanding and response is also greater.

The recent cultural serge surrounding visualization can be observed through Google imaging, advanced statistical maps (most recently used in political campaign reporting), Youtube, books such as The Secret, and websites like FlowingData.

“The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see.” -John W. Tukey

In the application; what information are you presenting that can better be explained by imaging? How can you use images to impact, but not desensitize your audience? What new technology is available to communicate sustainability? How can you use existing visual cues to communicate?

4. Access to information

Language can be a barrier. This holds true from profession to profession, ideology to ideology, class to class, etc. Each class, ethnicity, profession, and political viewpoint has it’s own technical terms, industry jargon, morals and values. In communication, this can lead to barriers when two different people or organizations with two different language sets communicate. For this reason, many professions have a difficult time understanding each other’s values and viewpoints. For instance: an environmental scientist and an oil CEO. This lack of common understanding leads to barriers. These barriers can be large, such as government policy, or small, such as every-day purchase decisions.

If a consumer is overloaded with information, which tends to happen when complex issues arise such as sustainability, the consumer tends to ‘shut down’ or not absorb all information at once. In short, their absorption potential becomes saturated. If a consumer is presented with a new idea (cognition) contrary to existing belief structures, it is called ‘Cognitive Dissonance’. This is the feeling of uncomfortable tension that comes from holding two conflicting thoughts in the mind at the same time. This can be used to change people’s behaviour, but it can also cause the person to come up with reasons to justify their existing behaviour. A common example is: “Humans aren’t causing climate change, so I can keep driving my SUV.”

Ewa Piwowoz-Hjort, a Swedish sociologist, believes that society’s ability to ignore the bad news may result from our tendency to shy away from things that seem frightening or ominous.

“Journalist have little to no education in the sciences, so they don't know how to address it. They know politics, celebrities- but if they have a scientist on their show they get nervous.” - David Susuki, when asked why he thought journalists dropped the ball in 1992 on the climate crisis.

In the application; what language is your company using? Who is your company speaking to? Are speaking the same language? Are you aware of your own industry jargon, and that your audience may not understand the language you are speaking? What possible resistant to your information will you have, what kind of cognitive dissonance is already there?

5. Media, Peer Pressure and Self-Image

Humans are social animals. They are products of the knowledge and experiences they are exposed to. For the most part, people believe what they are told by their parents, instructors and mentors, what the media portrays and in turn, do what their neighbors expect of them. This drive to ‘fit in’ is their main motive for purchases and activities. Media dictates how they should act, what is new, popular and acceptable. Most people conduct their lives based on how they believe the rest of the world behaves, and what they believe the world expects them to do. Sheena Iyengar’s research at Columbia University proves how group pressure influences our choices. Understanding this concept is key in persuasion, as changing behaviour takes more than just information.

“We Focus on behaviour change and marketing, one concept is to promote the ‘Successful Deviant’, a farmer who did something different and prospered.” - George Roter, Engineers without Boarders founder, when talking about how EBW effectively change behaviour in Ghanaian farmers.

The self-image is another form of pressure, but from within. A consumer chooses products and services that has an image which is similar to the view they have about themselves. They imagine and associate certain attributes with regard to their tastes and personalities. That being said, a person's perceived self is not a static concept. When a consumer buys a ‘green’ product, they associate themselves with the ‘green’ movement. This attaches a green ideology onto the person’s self-image and as the person views themselves as a ‘green’ person, they buy ‘green’ products, and the cycle reinforces itself.

In the application; fashion companies have always thrived on these concepts. How can a company operate to use these principals to make sustainability community norms and develop their customers to view themselves as sustainable?

6. Kaizen

Kaizen translates into "continuous improvement” and is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continual improvement throughout all aspects of life. This model doesn’t place blame on past oversights or failures; it encourages participation from all levels of improvement, from factory worker to company president. Toyota, a company known for it’s innovation in sustainable design, operates on the Kaizen system.

Kaizen methodology: making changes and monitoring results --> large-scale pre-planning and extensive project scheduling are adjusted and thereby replaced by smaller experiments. These can be rapidly adapted as new improvements are suggested.

The theory of Conscious Evolution plays out many times while talking about the greater good of social enterprises. Conscious evolution can be defined as an ethical and philosophical theme of conduct where everyone takes responsibility for the health and direction of human progress.

“We are on the cusp of a design revolution in business. As a result, today’s business people don’t need to understand designers better, they need to become designers.” Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management.

In the application; what is your company doing to break down hierarchy, so that all workers can contribute? What systems for input and improvement do you have in place? What is your company doing to evolve consciously?

7. Reframing the System

If one wants something to change, one has to consciously alter the system in which one operates, be it internal or external. (I.E. personal values, company policy, government laws, etc.). On a corporate level, by evaluating where a company is by setting benchmarks and schedules, a company can follow their improvement, thereby keeping the company motivated. This concept is used heavily in popular and effective weight loss systems and by personal trainers and life coaches. Socially, lobbying the government and being an active citizen is crucial in effectuating change. In activism, the Anti-Oppression framework operates heavily around questioning existing social structure, and re-framing these systems to be more inclusive.

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind."- William James

The question of WHY plays an integral role. For instance, the question: “Why does our society have commerce and why do we trade? Is it for money, or is it for the betterment of everyone and social prosperity?” If we re-frame the reasons of why we consume, we change what we consume. Re-framing is about believing in an alternate future and consciously building towards it.

“We can not solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”- Einstein

In the application; are you aware of the constructs which your company operates in? Can you change what you think by how you think? What benchmarks are you setting up? Why are you in business?

8. Creativity

Sustainable design and consumer behaviour require thinking outside of the status quo in order to be successful. We are witnessing a paradigm shift towards design not only regarding form and price, but for ergonomics and ecology. This push towards design requires creativity. The new term for this concept is Integrated Design Thinking, which is a collaborative method for designing which emphasizes the development of holistic design, a term coined in the Architecture field. It’s toted as the new paradigm shift in design theory. For example, GE encourages it’s employees to use their ‘ecomaginations.’

“Integrated design thinking is the real break through, not gizmos.” – Peter Bushby

The Creative Class is a concept pioneered by Rotman School of Business professor Richard Florida. This new class of people is loosely defined as “people who get paid to think.” In Toronto, this comprises of 34% of the job market. Recently, The Martin Prosperity Institute in Florida was commissioned by the Ontario Government to analyze the changing composition of Ontario’s economy and workforce. It examined historical trends and projected futures, providing recommendations on how to remain globally competitive. In February 2009, they published the report “Ontario in the Creative Age”. This report suggested that Ontario must transform it’s routine-oriented economy to a creative-oriented one. Routine-oriented is defined as repetitive tasks with a set of operating procedures, which can be outsourced, automated, and replicated by anyone. Creative-oriented is defined as analytical skills with social intelligence skills, which cannot be outsourced, automated and replicated easily. This means that emphasizing creativity in our economy will lead our culture to a more environmentally sustainable future, but a fiscally sustainable one as well.

In the application; how are you using your ecomagination and promoting creativity and integrated design thinking?

OH CANADA!

I've been gone for a bit.

I graduated school and have being going through a cocoon faze. More to come soon.

I just sent in this response to Tree Hugger's new eco-fashion blog, Ecouterre, on SANS ridiculous understanding of what sustainability is.

"While this woman is very intelligent and makes interesting points, her argument has a lot of holes in it, and in fact is a bit hypocritical and not well thought out.

Well, who says that because people make it at home it will fit or be of good quality? Home sewn clothes may also not fit and be worn only once, left to rot in the back of a closet OR half finished in a ‘to-do’ pile instead of a warehouse. Let us not forget that sewing is a developed skill, that takes years to develop properly to ensure durability and fit. She makes it seem like anyone sitting in front of a Singer can be a tailor.

Also, her methodology of production would mean that everyone would have to go and purchase sewing machines, surgers, button hole makers, and other tools and machines to make their clothes… if every household had to purchase and run these, it wouldn’t be very sustainable or economical, would it? Where does the electricity come to power home sewing machines? Then everyone would have to drive to stores and tansport their fabrics to their own individual houses. That may not be very sustainable either. Logistics play a huge role in sustainability. Where does the fabric you buy “from your local store” come from? Probably from china, from fabric sales points. Why not produce it in a factory in China if that where the fabric comes from anyway? Then it at least gets produced in factories that generally currently now recycle fabric scraps.

Another point is who has time to make all those clothes? Designers like this usually spend very little time in front of their sewing machines producing anything but their samples- sometimes not even that. They forget how time consuming sewing is. Mass production – or outsourcing the production of your clothes- actually lead women to have more time to do things like develop a career. I’m not devaluing sewing at home, nor am I validating mass sweat shops that take advantage of developing classes in countries with corrupt and lax labour laws- but it is something to be considered.

This woman has an interesting concept- and her clothing is beautiful. It puts the VOGUE patterns of old to shame. Most major fashion labels in the 1800’s to the present produce patterns to buy and sew at home. You know, the patterns that also never got purchased and sit around in the backs of fabric land or were sent to the landfill… oh now you can download them from her. We all know how sustainable computer and printer production is. E-waste isn’t an issue, right?

Patterns and home sewing have died off for a reason. It’s not something new or radical. It’s not pioneering or building a new path. SANS just does it with a neo-sustainable, ungrounded modernist attitude, that’s all.

I also find people who smoke (usually putting money in the pockets of huge and ethicalless corporations) a wee bit out of touch with what they preach. You know the average smoking habit takes 300 trees a year to support?"