(no subject)
Sustainable design is created with the intention to serve people efficiently. The good thing about sustainable design is that it creates a quality product that should be intended to help people in some way or another. Take for example the clean energy industry which provides many example of sustainable design. Solar power is one of these examples. A house that is powered by solar energy harnesses the natural energy of the sun and converts it into usable energy like electricity. This helps the environment because solar power doesn't leave toxic waste behind like burning oil does. Not only that but, oil is a finite substance, which means we will eventually run out of it. On the other hand the sun probably isn't going to burn out any time in the near or very far future. Largely sustainable design is a good thing.
The bad thing about all this is that many people may disagree on what may or may not be sustainable design based on opposing moral views. For example if I have no problem with mucking up the environment for whatever reason, maybe I just don't care, or maybe it is worth the damage for the amount of money I'm making. Surely people in the high chairs in the oil industry know by now the damage they cause not only environmentally but socially and culturally. Moral views may change drastically if you are pulling in billions of dollars a month. Sure, oil may not be sustainable forever, but if it lasts your entire lifetime and provides enough security for your future then it is sustainable to you.
I think good sustainable design is the best design. If your design serves its functional purpose and it benefits humanity on a large scale then you have succeeded in adding a puzzle piece to a perfect world. Again, this all depends on personal moral values. The evil side of sustainable design is the selfish side. The side that benefits a small group of people while damaging the well being of a larger group of people.
As design students, or even professional designers, we should combat the bad sustainable design by exposing it. We should tell people when they are being taken advantage of. We can also make it a point to strive for good sustainable design in our own work. Its heaven or hell. We may not always get it right every time. There may always be a better sustainable design than our own. But even though we can't design a house that runs on rainbows and happy thoughts we should always strive for that.