If you’ve been considering going to graduate school, you might have noticed that most of the Masters programs in sustainable design are Master of Science programs and are housed in engineering and/or architecture schools.  MCAD is an Art+Design school and our masters is a Master of Arts in Sustainable Design. What’s the difference between an →

If you’re thick into the world of sustainability or sustainable design, I’m guessing at some point you’ve hit the metaphorical brick wall erected by conventional thinking.  Perhaps you’ve designed a beautiful sustainable innovation inspired by nature that outperforms anything out there. Perhaps you’ve made compelling arguments for doing well by doing good. Perhaps you’ve done →

We’ve been recently reminded of Neil Armstrong’s proclamation “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” as he became the first person to walk on the moon. In later interviews, however, Armstrong said his statement was actually “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”, intending to highlight →

The 25June2019 post of this blog suggests that there have been many discussions and declarations around the definitions of sustainability and sustainable design, but not so much around what it takes to be a sustainable designer, which the blog explores. Here I want to revisit the challenges of creating sustainable designs from the perspective of →

Sustainable Brands has embarked on a three-year journey to understand what “The Good Life” means to people today, to raise this conversation around the globe, and to find, share and celebrate brands that are innovating on this new collective vision.  The theme for the third year of this journey is Delivering The Good Life. Sustainable Brands has discovered →

Mark Chamberlain is a recent graduate of MCAD’s MA in Sustainable Design program. Mark live in Minneapolis, MN.   What attracted you to MCAD’s MA in Sustainable Design program? I wanted a different perspective on my professional work. I felt that the Sustainable Design program could offer me a new way to increase the value I →

Michelle Santos, LEED AP, is an assistant project manager for a high-end residential builder in Palo Alto, and a Fall 2018 graduate of MCAD’s MA in Sustainable Design Program. What attracted you to MCAD’s MA in Sustainable Design program? The most unique qualities of the program are the interdisciplinary approach, having students from various backgrounds →

It is easy to feel as though the world is spiralling out of control, that we’re caught in a downward spiral of our own making. This downward spiral is, curiously, caused by positive feedback loops. A positive feedback loop is when the result of an action tends to drive more of the same action. Positive feedback →

The lifestyles of the rich and famous are notoriously consumptive and unsustainable. It’s so easy to point fingers and assign blame, but the lifestyles of us “eco-groovies” may not be that much better. We may ride bikes and take mass transit, but most of us still own and drive cars. We may recycle and compost, →

Our society has become increasingly divided and self-sabotaging. We seem to have become a collection of myopic paranoid binary thinkers, if we pause to think at all. We seem to think that we are either victors or victims, and we describe our wins and losses in superlatives. We seem to believe that our survival requires →