TreeHugger never shuts up about the importance of design as a key to sustainability. It touches everything- how we live, work and move, almost every part of our life. In North America kids don't learn much about it outside of a trip to IKEA, it is not part of our culture as it is in other parts of the world like Scandinavia. Paul Rowan, co-founder of Umbra, notes “Most parents think a career in design is a complete waste of time. It's important to address the parental issues."

That is why we are so excited to be part of Explore Design, essentially a design show and seminar for kids and parents, to show them that design is important, that designers are needed, and that it is a real career opportunity. As they say to the target market:

While it is easy to realize that your Playstation and your iPod have been designed to look as sleek and cool as possible this is only one aspect of design. Everything that surrounds us has been designed - whether it’s the clothes you wear, the spoon you use or the highlighter in your pencil case. It ranges from the artistic/theoretical (like couture fashion) to the practical (like architecture or software design).

"Running on October 10 + 11 at The Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, a consortium of educational institutions, associations and professional group will provide 2 days of interactive exhibits, hands-on workshops, and seminars. Keynote presentations will be provided by internationally recognized design professionals and design celebrities.

The full range of design disciplines will be represented including video/game design, furniture design, architecture industrial design, textile design, fashion design, interior design, graphic design, and the dozens of other design disciplines. "

TreeHugger will be there with speakers on green design and sustainability; more information will be posted over the next couple of days. Learn more at ::exploredesign

Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:

• Santa Cruz, Ithaca, Sweden Consider Pod-Car Transport Systems
• The Old Urbanism: It's A Wonderful Block
• World Foodless Day
• Vote Early and Often for the Peoples Design Awards

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