Design for need...NOW!

This post is challenging. I keep editing it because:

Trivializing the tragedy is not acceptable
Empathy for human suffering
Sensitivity to fellow human feelings

I have thought a lot about removing the post - but have decided to keep working on it to distill something of value.

Will governments, industry, community leaders and individuals, [designers are implicated more than others]make the connections between the positive benefits of designing objects, products, systems, services, infastructure, cities, energy systems, educational and health faciltities so that they meet the needs of people? The list includes disaster, aid and rescue services and systems.

We have known about what humans need for a long time.

It is saddening to see the horrific degradation of the post apocalyptic scenes we observe in the wake of Katrina. This saddness is sharpened especially when we examine the spectrum of contributing factors.

Of what value are vacilations about "innovation", "design thinking", service design and user experience while apparently advanced nation states cannot look after their own communities effectively, despite the clear capabilty to do so?

No-one can accurately predict terrible natural disasters of the magnitude of the recent tsunami and storms like Katrina and the others that will likely follow her. However when nations and industry continue to support the design and manufacture of systems and products that create the likelihood of such human threatening scenarios though global warming we can see that "design" can be used to create terrible outcomes. It is design - make no mistake! Papanek said that design was the conscious act of organisation to achieve a foreseeable objective.

America and Australia have refused to endorse and impliment the Kyoto Protocols preferring to adhere to existing and outmoded industrial practices that contribute to the problem of global warming. Alternative and sustainable strategies and design for living is urgently required but this requires leadership. Despite amazing innovation many world leaders are not showing the way forward...