Originally from Montana, Gretchen now resides in Providence, RI where
she commutes by bike and studies Industrial Design as a graduate
student at RISD. As a designer, she is curious about the ways that
the built environment and everyday products can affect daily life,
reflect human needs, and impact the world. She is passionate about
issue-oriented design and especially work which addresses
sustainability and humanitarian concerns.
[...] GRETCHEN HOOKER I’d like to see a LEED-type analysis emerge for evaluating the sustainability of consumer products. The word ’sustainable’ is bandied about so often that its meaning is becoming more and more inexact. For example, can a product truly be called sustainable because it is made out of bamboo, even if that bamboo was harvested 2000 miles away and used fossil fuels to ship it to the manufacturer? Sustainability is informed by a matrix of factors (material source, manufacture, labor, transportation, packaging, disposal/reuse). I think both consumers and designers need a way to clearly conceptualize how these factors interact. [...]
Gretchen!
I Googled you and found this site, and I hope to get in touch with you somehow. (Gretchen and I went to college together)
So if by some chance you read this or someone who knows Gretchen’s email reads this, pass my email along to her. I would love to get in touch.
(I know this has nothing to do with sustainability or anything, so I don’t expect it to be put on your site, I’m just trying to reach Gretchen)
-Terri Noel, Twin Cities, MN