I was taught of these three principles in Year 4 of my first degree. We were exposed to a plethora of sustainable projects and construction materials. At that time, I thought - Wow, if we use these principles carefully we can really make an impact. So years went by and the principles became one of my criteria of observing the environment.
I went to further study for the professional degree (some called it B.Arch, some called it Post-Grad degree, some called it Masters now) and my observation became a thesis in implementing sustainable ideas. Although I never use any sort of sustainable principles directly into my student projects, my peers' arguments sometimes made me wonder.
So to implement sustainability, there are 3 Rs - Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. So at uni, what do we learn?
Reduce - not reduce the workload! I think in a way reduce the independence of the subjects that are offered. I found that the subjects are too different with each other that it is so riddiculous to inter-relate. For example, at my uni, my thesis subject has no connection whatsoever with the major design subject. Well, although the old syllabus supported this, not the one I took. So I did miss out on the integrated part of the study. Oh well, so much for $20k a year.
Re-use - plagiarism. While its good to develop one topic over and over, this facility might be taken for granted by students who just wants to copy other people's work. But how much originality can one produce? Its a hard and tough world and not many has the ideals to bringforth into the real working world.
Recycle - I loved the recycle bin at uni! When I did my first degree, for the first 2 years I didn't buy much model materials because we picked up things from the recycle bin. Like they said, 'Someone else's trash is someone else's treasure'. I agree with that because we might find a diamond in the rough. Different textures and colours give the model a little spice.
So the proper way to Sustainable futures? Implement 3 Rs deep inside your hear first.
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