Designers Accord director urges social and eco-responsibility in SXSWi Keynote

Valerie Casey, founder and Executive Director of the Designers Accord, works with organizations all over the world to create positive social and environmental impact. She has been named a “Guru you should know” by Fortune magazine, a “Hero of the Environment” by Time magazine, and a “Master of Design” by Fast Company.

photo by Damon Webster

Valerie started the Designers Accord in order to bring the creative community together en mass to tackle global issues. Her main call to action is that we must team up to accomplish the major challenges ahead because no person (or president) can do so alone. We need to call on people of all walks to get to where we need to be. We have to depend on collective wisdom.

Valerie went down the bullet points on www.designersaccord.org in the mission page. She brought to light a lot of issues that are rather disturbing as well:

Baby albatrosses

The North Pacific garbage patch, a large system of rotating ocean currents packed with harmful garbage and waste products, is estimated to be two times the size of Texas. Scientists discovered albatross feeding trash from the patch to their children.

Why does a salad cost more than a Big Mac?

Not only does the economic food triangle support junk food, out of control pharmaceuticals make their way into our livestock, which affects our food chain.

Burn pits in Iraq

Haliburton is burning trash 24/7 in Iraq. The burning refuse ranges from metal, amputated limbs, miscellaneous trash, and hazardous chemicals. Soldiers are much more likely to die from breathing the smoke than being killed in combat.

Natural disasters are linked with climate change

The polar icecaps have enough weight to keep the tectonic plates in place. But as more of the icecaps melt away, there is less pressure at the poles, which have served a sort of clamping function on our tectonic plates. The result is that we are seeing more earthquakes.

Creating the right measure of success

We are singularly measuring our property index on money and not well being. Health and eco-performance standards should also factor into how we measure success. We have to reproduce what our ecological system already does. Nature is a perfect model for our own systems.

Change is hard, but don’t give up

When a group of people get excited by change. They realize how hard it is. It fizzles out. When the public has passion about something and nothing happens, it has a tranquilizing effect. A lot of people think that others are doing the; that it’s being taken care of. But it’s really everyone’s job.

Interactive community needs their own designers accord

How can our vision articulate a sustainable culture? We need to articulate the language to create a culture sustainability, as opposed to a culture of commerce. Social media is about social impact, lets use it to our advantage to engage people.