Was watching William McDonough’s talk on TED, and he mentioned a one-liner he shared with the White House:

Our goal is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy and just world with clean air, clean water, soil and power — economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed, period.

At the end of the video, he then demonstrates a project with the Chinese government; an assignment to develop protocols for the housing of 400 million people over 12 years in 12 cities.

To prevent verbal diarrhea, I shall not copy and paste his exact words. But what called for much respect is William McDonough and his team’s effort to utilise the natural resources + non-obtrusive technology available in the assigned plot of land, to help sustain the energy supply needed for each city. I.e. to use whatever available in a non-polluting manner, to achieve the above quoted goal.

Applying it back to whatever I’m doing
As it’s now the holidays..it’s inevitable for the question, “so, what have you been up to” to pop up every so often. Honestly, what I’ve been doing is changing on a weekly basis, though why am i doing all these remain the same. It’s likely that I’m undergoing “depression” now, upon the most recent realization that cash is indeed KING. With the lack of resources (and dammit skills)…its depressing to apply for funding etc when you find yourself smoking others with a half-baked plan, flooded with assumptions. Am probably gonna keep a low-key for whatever I’m doing now, a part from school stuff… sorry to those who are keen on asking, “So, what have you been doing?”. Really, I am.

Though one thing I’m certain… design is really about intent. It’s about making do with the resources you have, and piecing it together to come up with a solution that can either fulfill all or one of the following: to enable economical, equitable, ecological and elegant enjoyment.

Side note…found another distant “mentor” through the WWW, and am about it. –> William McDonough