Try not to think about it.

In recent news, humanitarian and environmental issues have been hurled at us from every direction. Daily, we are begged to go green, use less, recycle, to help the starving, the homeless, and the dying, as if we forgot these are issues affecting the world. But maybe we did forget. Maybe we forgot about the on-going civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or about the tons of plastic garbage floating (and sinking) in the Pacific, or even about the war in Iraq.

Or could it be that overwhelming cycle of coverage is making us go blind?

Is it a socialist idea that we should help people who don’t have as much as we do? Should we force our aid and values on people suffering in lands raped by industrialization and colonialism? Haven’t we been “changing” since the first tool was built millions of years ago?

It’s safe to say too many of us are content living on this continent, blocking out thoughts of people suffering on the other side of the world (and the other side of town). Maybe humanitarianism and environmentalism should not be thought of merely as a fad or a political tactic. Maybe the real change needs to happen within us.

At times, I feel as if my peers and I are walking backwards into the “real world.” Have we given enough thought to what industrialization has done to our planet? Do we care what excess has done to our culture? While we’re still in this “fake world,” maybe we should make the effort to think about how our designs will eventually affect not only consumers, but the rest of the planet. I challenge any of you who end up reading this to think about the things you chose to forget.