Rethinking Design’s Relationship with Nature
For decades designers have created as if humans were the only species that mattered but this myopic approach has devastated ecosystems, accelerated climate change and brought countless species to the brink of extinction. The carbon accountancy and sustainability models—where we tinker at the edges while fundamental problems persist—represents a profound failure of imagination and responsibility.
According to the UN Environment Programme, the building sector accounts for 37% of global energy-related carbon emissions. Concrete production alone is responsible for 8% of global CO2 emissions, and according to the European Commission, product design choices determine up to 80% of a product's environmental impact. These aren't minor problems, they’re systemic failures. Every project, product, and urban plan must begin with the question: “How does this serve all living systems?“ Anything less is an abdication of responsibility.
When we build with concrete instead of using oyster reefs as wave breakers, we're choosing convenience over sustainability. When we create sterile glass towers instead of buildings that host biodiversvity, we're perpetuating the fallacy that humans can thrive while nature collapses around us. The International Energy Agency reports that the transport systems we've designed around cars instead of people have led to 24% of direct CO2 emissions coming from fuel combustion. Unfortunately, sooner rather than later, this dependency and complacency around “how we’ve always done it” will catch up with us.
Some might argue this approach is impractical or economically unviable, but this perspective is dangerously short-sighted. The real threat lies in continuing to design as if the life that sustains us doesn't matter and that our wellbeing isn't extricably linked to the health of all living systems. It is. Humanity doesn’t exist in a vacuum—everything is connected.
There’s still hope. Milan's Bosco Verticale incorporates over 900 trees on residential tower facades, absorbing 30 tons of CO2 annually while supporting over 1600 species of birds and insects. The Bullitt Center in Seattle generates 60% more energy than it uses through solar panels, collects and treats rainwater, and uses only non-toxic materials. Singapore's Khoo Teck Puat Hospital has reduced patient recovery times by 20% through incorporating natural light, ventilation, and healing gardens. The Netherlands' Room for the River project addressed flooding by restoring floodplains rather than building higher dikes. One Central Park in Sydney transforms a high rise into a living, breathing ecosystem that enhances biodiversity, improves air quality, reduces energy consumption and rethinks how design interacts with nature.
These examples demonstrate that regenerative design, biomimicry and circular economy principles aren't only idealistic concepts but practical, functioning realities delivering measurable benefits. At MEK, we apply these same ecological principles to brand transformation, creating systems where every element—like in nature's most resilient ecosystems—serves multiple purposes beyond aesthetics. By integrating impact and innovation as core structural elements instead of superficial additions, we build brand systems that, like these examples, achieve their primary function while actively creating impact.
2025 is the halfway point of a very critical decade. In order to limit global temperature rises to the 1.5°C agreed by the international community, the IPCC estimates that humanity will need to almost halve its carbon footprint by 2030. Design must transform into a discipline that heals rather than harms or it risks becoming complicit in ecological collapse. Either we redesign our relationship with the natural world or nature will force a much harsher redesign upon us. The time for action is now.
“It seems that Mother Nature has this infinite intelligence and knows what's best, and that we oughta listen to her if we know what's good for us.“ —David Lynch
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