For this assignment I chose the talk by Mark Kendall about the needle free vaccine and the talk by Ray Anderson about the business logic of sustainability. As I one day intend to own my own veterinarian business, medicine and business are two areas that I need to be well educated in and as efficient as possible.
When it comes to sustainable design there are 3 P’s: People, Planet, Profit. With this vaccine nano-patch Mark Kendall speaks of, it greatly reduces the cost of the actual vaccine, the phobia behind needles, and the pain associated with shots while still being able to more effectively dispense medicine and prevent diseases. As health insurance for animals is an obscure thing in most places, a cheaper option allows owners to better take care of their pets and opens up a wider profit margin for the business owner. If fewer resources are used then less will be distributed to waste and proves to be more economically friendly.
In the second video by Ray Anderson, he mentions how he was challenged to make his business more sustainable. This was a turning point as they decided to only take from the earth what could rapidly be renewed (i.e. no more oil) and to do no harm to the biosphere. Eventually, he makes our impact a quantitative number directly produced by a formula. His plan to reduce, or rather negate, the impact was to make the impact by technology no longer a numerator, but instead a denominator. This directly relates with the first article as that is exactly what the nano-patch is doing; drawing less from the Earth that cannot possibly be naturally or rapidly renewed.
I was unaware of the new vaccination technology prior to listening to this talk but am now very interested in how it will benefit human medicine and eventually veterinarian medicine. Sustainable design (or lack thereof) impacts my life daily, whether it be negative or positive. These videos helped to further my understanding of how to use sustainable design as a tool to better my future business, this world, and those around me.
The original formula for impact.
The revised formula for impact that Ray Anderson strived to follow.
Links to talk: