Okala Practitioner Applying Ecological Design

Okala Practitioner supports working designers, engineers, business planners and students in all design related disciplines to provide practical information and methods for designing products, services and systems with low impacts to ecological health and human health. Ecological design takes a holistic system view of products and services, attending to the complete range of environmental impacts over the full cycle, from material extraction to end-of-life. Systemic tools such as the Ecodesign Strategy Wheel and life cycle assessment (LCA) help designers see the wider view and manage a depth of information to steer their work towards more ecologically responsible designs and ways of living. Okala Impact Factors are a designer-friendly form of LCA developed with robust North American science. They were designed for quick and easy "back of an envelope" decision-making, so that an understanding of ecological impacts can be factored into design decisions as early as the concept phase. Okala Impact Factors have been calculated for more than 500 materials and processes employed in hard products, architecture, softgoods and electronic systems. They include a wide range of transportation, energy use, incineration and landfill processes, which allow modeling of environmental performance over the entire life cycle. Core methods are clearly indicated for practicing designers with limited time. Supplementary chapters describe topics in more depth, including the science of LCA, the condition of the planet, and the challenge of resolving social inequity. Overall the tools and information in this guide support informed dialogue and responsible decisions with your clients, supervisors and design team members.