Life-Cycle Thinking
Life-cycle thinking means systematically weighing the environmental and social impacts of a product or service across every stage of its existence, from raw materials to end of life, and the book names its absence as a cause of outcomes falling short of symbiotic potential.
"This necessitates adopting a rigorous lifecycle thinking approach, systematically considering the environmental and social impacts associated with every stage of a product's or service's existence, from raw material extraction and processing, through manufacturing and distribution, during the use phase (energy consumption, maintenance needs), and finally, through end-of-life management (reuse, recycling, disposal)." Also named as part of what genuine sustainability performance requires (against "greenwashing" and "ethical washing"): "the critical need for designers to engage in deep material literacy and lifecycle thinking, to advocate for transparency in supply chains"; and, at the Outcome level, its absence is named as a failure condition: "if Technology are chosen without lifecycle thinking and ethical labor considerations, then the resulting Outcomes will inevitably fall short of their symbiotic potential."
Related in Community
Entries this one is tied to through the book.
Methods
- Sustainable Design · both placed under Greenwashing and ethical washing
- Anti-Racist Design · discussed together in section 155
- Biomimicry · discussed together in section 155
- Closed-Loop · discussed together in section 096
- Decolonial Design · discussed together in section 096
- Design for Disassembly · discussed together in section 096
- Inclusive Design · discussed together in section 155
- Modular Design · discussed together in section 096
- Precautionary Approach · discussed together in section 155
- Regeneration · discussed together in section 096
Examples
- Brundtland Report ("Our Common Future") · discussed together in section 096
- Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) "Seventh Generation" Principle · discussed together in section 096
- MOTH (More-Than-Human Rights) Program (NYU) · discussed together in section 096
In the Framework
- Sustainability
- Outcomes Component
- Technological Component
In the book
- Chapter 9, section 096 · Sustainability - An Ethical Obligation Across Time, Species, and Justice
- Chapter 16, section 155 · Alignment with the Four Mottos
Mentioned in
Methods