This year’s HOPES sustainability conference centered on the theme of designing in the post-industrialist era.
The 16th annual event, which ran Thursday through Sunday at the School of Architecture and Allied Arts, was sponsored and organized by the Ecological Design Center, an ASUO student group. Activities included the Material Resource Center petting zoo, a Trashy Fashion Show, live music, do-it-yourself gardening and craft workshops, and lectures and panels featuring nationally recognized leaders in the fields of architecture, design, ecology, technology, engineering and environmental studies.
Joshua Wilkinson, AAA student and director of HOPES, which stands for Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability, said this year’s theme of “Closing the Loop” examined the idea of post-industrialism in modern society.
“In reality, natural systems have no beginning or end,” Wilkinson said. “We forget that nature has no trash can.”
He said designers must learn how to make things that mimic these natural processes.
Keynote speakers and guests included Fritz Haeg, a nationally renowned architect whose designs incorporate nature. Haeg’s “Gardenlab” project tackled the concept of the American dream and the symbolism of the front yard, an ideal he called isolating.
“Our society is in a situation where people draw the lines between themselves and nature,” Haeg said. “It gives license for crazy behavior.”
Haeg traveled through the U.S. and found families who agreed to have vegetable, herb or fruit gardens replace their front yards. He found that these projects helped connect communities.
Another group of speakers addressed the idea of gardening as a tool for social change. This panel included Home Garden program manager Rodney Bender, landscape designer and consultant Heiko Koester, and permaculture designer and teacher Rick Valley. The panel discussed the issues of gardening education, food, nutrition, farmers markets and
food regulation.
“An ideal urban food system is one where fresh food is available to anyone who wants it,”
Bender said.
Other speakers included Anthony Perl, director of the Urban Studies Program at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C., and author of “Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight Without Oil.” Perl has lived without a car since 1990. Guests were encouraged to “keep it green” by using public transportation instead of driving.
Jessica Dunlap, public relations coordinator and HOPES logistics coordinator, could not say exactly how many attendees were at the conference, but she estimated that it was between 400 and 600 people.
The HOPES event is the only ecological design conference developed and managed by students, according to the HOPES Web site. One of the founders, Kevin Harper, addressed an audience of AAA students in Lawrence Hall about their role in the future of design.
“There are a lot of challenges we face,” he said. “We have great leadership. It still takes people like you.”
[email protected]