7A - Testing the Hypothesis Part 1

Sustainable buildings and products to reduce climate change.

Opportunity: Climate change has become a more prevalent problem in our world, affecting our physical environment and now clearly apparent our economic society as well. Estimates by 2100 will have the U.S. GDP decrease by 10.5% and countries GDP follow suit. 

• The who: the common person and country governments
• The what: Climate change is speeding up and it is affecting common people and the government. As of right now there is not anything that could reverse climate change but there are sustainable practices that could greatly reduce its effects. 
• The why: Many practices are not sustainable and contribute to climate change. Governments need to focus on sustainability. 

Testing the who: The whole world is affected by climate change. The U.S GDP could decrease by 10.5% by 2100, China decrease by 4.3% and the EU by 4.7% if we continue the route of climate increases by 0.04 degrees celsius (0.03 above the stated number in the 2015 Paris agreement). There is not limit to “the who”, but the first countries to feel this effect are the ones that depend heavily on agriculture as climate change will cause major repercussions. The common person is affected firstly by notices in weather changes and secondly by changes in the economic sector (agriculture), and thirdly how unsustainable practices could affect your health. 

Testing the what: What practices do we pursue in that affect heavily climate change. Are all people willing to invest big money into innovating and creating sustainable buildings and products. THe government has more money that could invest in bigger projects. It depends on the company size in their ability to invest in sustainable practices. The common person would most likely be able to invest only in smaller scale sustainability. 

Testing the why: People may not pursue sustainable practices because it is costly and could be a little out of the “easy way”. They may also not understand the gravity of climate change. Governments and bigger businesses may not have invested heavily yet because they don’t perceive the seriousness or are still putting behind adoption of sustainable projects in favor of other projects.

Interview #1

In this interview I noticed that some people actually don’t care as much for sustainability. This interviewee doesn’t feel the direct impact of climate change, but is aware that at some point it could cause damage. This relates to my idea that without a direct impact on people’s lives, people won’t care as much for sustainability. He doesn’t go out of his way to buy sustainable products. He recounted a story of him going to a restaurant one day and was offered plastic straws, and while his friend refused it because of its impact on the land and oceans, my interviewee accepted the straw and said if it’s already there then there is nothing else that can be done but use it. After I gave him alarming facts of how climate change will impact not only the physical environment but world economies as well, he said he felt sad that was a result and that the government should put more effort into sustainability and climate change. 

Interview #2 

In this interview I found it interesting how this man answered to the question of “why do you think people don’t invest as much as they should to mitigate climate change damage” and he responded that how could you really blame people if large companies are trying to suppress information about the topic. He believes people don’t realize the impact they have or don’t have, which relates to my first interview where the person didn’t engage in sustainable projects (like using the plastic straw that was already there instead of refusing; lower importance of what our actions and money CAN buy) because he doesn’t realize the direct impact of his actions. This interviewee also does not choose sustainable products per se because he isn’t clearly aware of what is sustainable or not. He is aware that the government carbon tax, but isn’t aware of more products and services that could be used to produce more sustainable products.

Interview #3

This interview hit another persona I knew would exist. One that is fully aware of climate change and would love to make more of an impact to reduce climate change but has limiting factors; power and budget. She thinks it is messed up that governments and large corporations don’t talk enough about the implications of climate change, it doesn’t bring in revenue for them. She thinks that rich people hold too much power and are selfish. If this changes then more people would have influence and speak up about climate change. She also believes people don’t invest as much in sustainable products because they are selfish and don’t want to do work that they know other people won’t help in. She knows the government invests in solar panel and tries limiting offshore drilling in oceans. 

Interview #4 

This interviewee is also completely aware about the dangers of climate change. She thinks the government and large corporations do try to lower climate change, but realistically they don’t get economic value from it, so they invest less. She would invest more in sustainable products, if it was cheaper, and also if she perceives a benefit from investing in sustainable practices. People don’t invest as much as needed to lower climate change because they don’t regularly think about the problem. They think about more tangible problems (i.e. technology advancements, healthcare…). She is aware of governments trying to lower emissions such as having windmill fields.

Interview #5

This interviewee highly knows climate change exists and will have negative impacts in the future, near future even. She would invest in eco-friendly products even if her budget is tight. She believes the government is selfish and they don't care about the rest of the world. She would rather go for sustainable products because if the government doesn't do anything about climate change, then even small influences could make an impact in decreasing emissions. She believes people don't invest as much needed in products that help the environment because of budget or ignorance. She says government promotes "fake" views of climate change, that ultimately impacts the people and their desire to invest in sustainable products. They should be a lot more transparent about their data and actions they should take so people will follow suite. This would help the environment a lot because a large group of people would combine efforts.  

Given your interviews, what do you know about the opportunity that you didn't know before?
I found that people are much less knowledge about the topic than I somewhat expected. I guess because I have a great interest in the topic, I am more aware of how much effort is being put into environmental changes. This problem stems from what many people believe is the government and large corporations trying to repress the topic, as seen in interview #2. I believe the opportunity still exists, because eventually it will be a CLEAR and DIRECT hit to our society, but as of right now more knowledge about the topic needs to disseminate. From interviews #3 and #4, I believe the opportunity could have a stronger hold if governments and large corporations see more benefits (or the realistic threat) of mitigating climate change. This would make it easier for them to invest heavily in sustainable practices. Also people are selfish so an opportunity would exist that has perceived benefits to the person investing the the product.