Seventeenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

My thesis focuses on research regarding attachment and care of products as a means of combating a culture of disposability, exploitation, and frugality. This idea has been part of the past, but is now lost due to a combination of factors including the Amazon Effect, industrialization, globalization, planned obsolescence, and perceived obsolescence. Although the foundation for current culture was largely laid shortly after World War II, current influencers are significantly promoted by means of social media. Members of the public are greatly influenced and even educated, in a fashion, by such short film distributors as YouTube. Rather than utilizing this tool for advertising or self-promotion, the author proposes the use of three-minute films that showcase the work of artists and craftspersons working in sustainable ways to positively move culture toward a the tipping point when the cultural norm ceases to externalize costs now paid primarily by the environment and persons in developing countries, as well as members of minority groups in the United States.