RE: What If
Sustainability
Doesn’t Work
Out?
This is an excellent article that
raises significant issues that are
largely overlooked (see November
+ December 2012). The prospect
that the collapse of sustainability
for a growth/consumption-related
societal model is inevitable, is
a topic I have often wondered
about, given the nature of capitalism as we know it today. Even
the “Great Recession” of current
times gives me pause to wonder
just how long we can keep this
economic engine going before we
have to face the reality that we are
all going to have to learn to live
with less (a quantitative assessment, not necessarily qualitative).
Keep up the good work.
Hopefully you will raise awareness of these topics.
Rick Norton
This is a very nice article that raises
meaningful questions. I actually
think that the idea of sustainable
products and sustainable product
development is a bit of a myth. All
products consume energy and other
resources in one form or another
during their production, use, or
reuse. The key, ultimately, is to bal-
ance resource consumption with
resource production, but we will
always need to be producing new
resources. See my blog post on the
subject at: http://productinnovation-
blog.blogspot.com/2012/11/are-there-
sustainable-materials_7159.html
This is a topic that is thought pro-
voking and important. The message
explores how humans can escape
and survive the world they have
jumbled. So many of the theories
and ideas are basic. Our future may
look a lot like the distant past. And
indeed we may be happier for it.
Noah McNeely
RE: Created
in China
The quote in the article (see
November + December 2012) mis-
contextualizes James Landay’s
essay. James actually is actively
working to break down those
stereotypes, but you can’t do
that without understanding
what the deep problems are.
Ed Chi
This is a great article, David and
Silvia! I’m excited that you wrote
this up and are showing everyone
the complexities in this space. I
hope interactions features more of
this kind of research on China. I
do agree with Landay’s assessment
of China’s creativity problem—but
he’s working with a very different
population than you are. I think
your research is absolutely on
point: Creative folks are going to
hacker spaces like Xinchejian; they
aren’t ending up in institutions
like Tsinghua! I explain more here:
http://www.88-bar.com/2012/12/
where-are-all-the-creative-chinese-people-hanging-out-in-hacker-spac-es-apparently/
Tricia Wang
DOI: 10.1145/2427076.2427098
© 2013 ACM 1072-5520/13/03 $15.00
March + April 2013