by Agence France-Presse
Valerie CaseyAUSTIN, Texas—Techno-hip trend-setters that design online services, software, buildings, and other components of modern life were told Sunday to “get off the sidelines” and start saving the planet. Designers Accord founder Valerie Casey issued the rallying cry at a South by Southwest (SXSW) gathering considered “spring break for geeks” and a mecca for those that deftly wield Internet Age tools.
“Despite the fact that the interactive community has been virtually absent in the talk of sustainability, almost to the point of complicity, it is that community which will take the lead,” Casey said in a keynote presentation. “We don’t have the luxury of deciding whether we want to do this.”
Designers Accord was established in June of 2007 with a stated mission of changing the way the creative community does business. Casey referred to the credo inked by the group as a “Kyoto Treaty” for the creative community. The agreement sets a philosophical framework for factoring climate change and humanitarian concerns into designs from urban developments to web-based applications.
“We started an accord which could look at design with optimism and creativity rather than doom and gloom that paralyzes,” Casey said. “We have to do it as a collective.”
The movement has grown to include firms and schools in 100 countries on six continents. Among the group’s projects is setting ecological performance standards for buildings.
“The creative community designs systems, and systems effect how things come out,” Casey said. “Everyone in this room creates the strategies and designs shaping the global community. It is powerful.”
“What would happen if our purpose was oriented toward cultural sustainability instead of profits?” Casey asked rhetorically. “What if social media was about social impact? This is the time to make change.”
SXSW launched more than 20 years ago as a premier annual event for new music and has grown to also be a showcase for fresh independent films and innovative internet technologies such as Twitter, Foursquare, and Gowalla.
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