Thank you for the feedback - good points here. Regardless of the larger issue of capitalism, there is still growing white space within product design to create eco-friendly products. Consumers are beginning to ask questions, demand ethical production, and seek out higher quality goods. Obviously, this is still in early stages but I believe in the upcoming years we will see an increased consumer demand for more ‘ethical’ product, whether that means ethical production, material sourcing, etc. We are already seeing this with the recent backlash at Apple - with factory conditions and material sourcing coming under fire. There are also other industries to learn from outside of architecture. Fashion and clothing companies are cropping up that ethically source their materials, inform their consumers of factory practices, and reject the current industry standard of ‘fast fashion’. Everlane and People Tree are great examples. Patagonia is obviously another big hitter in this space. If these ethical clothing companies can revolt against current industry culture, I don’t see why we can apply the same standards and process to products. Clothing is product and likely has smaller profit margins than say GE or P&G - obviously, Everlane, Patagonia, and People Tree are turning a profit so there is a lesson to learn here.
Mainly, I was curious if any companies were doing this on a larger scale. I’ll likely take the advice of AVClub and ask these questions during future interviews 