Hopes for a new tomorrow...

Sometimes I ponder our ultimate demise and wonder if it is at all possible to turn around the wasteful and destructive nature of our ways.

Al Gore talks about the explosion in our population and how the Earth is having a difficult time sustaining its inhabitants. While we might be to really decrease the population of the world, we certainly can change the way we do things - we have to. I suppose if we didn't we would be heading down a path so painful that a whole generation would question having children, because what would there be left for them?

Well, I think that the move for a sustainable tomorrow brings great hope. And who better to lead this revolution than the designers of the world.

Kohler-sponsored website: H2OVisions just shows us a glimpse of the possibilities.

The city of Vauban, Germany, one of the first car-less cities, shows that it is possible to design cities around this new idea as well. A similar city is being tested out south of the Bay Area here in the United States.

Ceramic artists also have a great responsibility in creating a brighter future. By being responsible about what we make, we can create less waste that lasts thousands of years (ever see any of the paintings from the Golden Age of Rome...nope...but you will find remaining ceramic works!). While some may say that clay makes for a great sculpting medium, perhaps it is time to measure it's "functional"/utilitarian value.
And of course, we can fire cone 9 (or even cone 5) instead of cone 10 to save gas...but what we really need is to re-evaluate the forms of which we produce and understand the environmental ramifications of what we create.

hope!