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Marisa Lenhardt's Essay

The User Experience Community's responsibility to sustainability is increasing, with a great deal of attention.

Products which, for years, have needed to meet at the apex of fast and inexpensive will now need to add a third consideration – is it sustainable? It is no longer enough to claim that we have been sustainable all along; greenwashing is to be avoided at all costs.

It is, with ever-greater pressure, becoming the UE Community's responsibility to create and improve products that build sustainability into their framework. It is then the further responsibility of the UE Community to make these products appealing to people who have no interest in sustainability; people who don't believe in Global Warming, people who would really like to help the environment but for whom it has not previously been financially feasible.

We need to commit to making products that continue to be beautiful, inexpensive, fast, sexy, sleek – the best option – and to then ensure that the best option is the most sustainable. It is a herculean task, and one of which our innovators are more than capable. It is our job to create with a cradle-to-cradle mentality, and to dedicate ourselves to sharing this ideology with our customers.

We cannot afford for sustainability to be available only to the wealthy, the elite, the educated; those who can afford to be. It is our job to make sustainability universally accessible. Indeed, it's the only way to ensure we continue to create, to innovate, to grow.

Read Tim's essay  |  Read Dave's essay
Read Amy's essay  |  Read Arpana's essay  |  Read Brian's essay  |  Read Guiomar's essay
Read Leina's essay  |  Read Marisa's essay  |  Read Premjit's essay  |  Read Rhys's essay
Read Scott's essay  |  Read Tara's essay  |  Read Jimmy's essay

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