So the dawn of Monday 11th / March was a day of progress for Industrial Design at RMIT. Even though they didn’t know it yet. Moss was freshly cut from the banks of Merri creek, cacti located in a sea of prickly peyote, midnight succulent raids took place, Terrariums were potted, a chalk board commandeered and a greener RMIT emerged.

But first a bit of back story.
Formed in 2011 ‘The Summer of Social Change’ took off like a rocket. A mixed group of likeminded, passionate designers and students from various backgrounds who share in a love for social innovation, sustainability and a desire to help people and make change in the world got together and said ‘Hey, Let’s make this happen’. 2012 saw the group recognised as having potential for development by the RMIT school of Design and Social Context. A course titled ‘Activating Change’ was created for the continuation of the group’s work in social innovation working under the mentorship of RMIT’s social design experts.

Monday 11th is important because the word ‘activating’ truly became apart of our groups mentality when we began on our mission to green RMIT’s building 88. At around 1:00 AM on the brisk Monday morning a pair of students from the course took off on foot to collect all of the ingredients required to make terrariums. On the list was sand, gravel, moss, soil, succulents, clover, micro flowers/herbs and cacti.

After a round trip of about 3.5 hours which had excitements such as; brushing shoulders with dodgy silhouettes under bridges, only being in possession of one torch, a pocket knife that couldn’t be closed. no map, no mobile phones and no idea where to go, all of the items on the list had been checked off and we were ready to plant.

The collection crew

The nights winnings

terrariums are containers which attempt to replicate the natural environment of the plant sample in use, a good idea when trying to ‘gorilla garden’ a sealed air-conditioned office block because not many plants like the low light and dry air environment of offices but in the vessels which house them the plants create their own mini ecosystem ideal for its survival.

Our very own terrarium

We all got together in the afternoon to replace the class we missed due to labour day long weekend (the commitment factor in this group is gob-smacking) and got our hands dirty planting. Super happy fun times were had by all with the exception of one lunatic accidentally stabbing herself in the hand trying to extract an avocado seed to make snacks (I’m just not going to say that was me to save myself the embarrassment) and we ended up with a lovely little green garden in the corner of our building to call our own and share with others.

Dirty hands

Super happy fun times

The spoils

TA – DA!

we also are attempting to cultivate that avocado seed to grow a tree. Here’s hoping!

88 goes green = Activating Change. May the remainder of the semester be as fulfilling and hands on as that day.

The all knowing Ella

The cripple with the stab wound

So after a small hiatus where most of us took a break, sat back, sipped beverages and hung out with the family over the festive season we are finally back and ready to get our hands dirty! I’m super recharged and have had time over the break to step away from the group to see what we really need.

I loved the enthusiasm we showed initially with active and passionate conversations about what we wanted to focus on however after choosing a direction I found the enthusiasm dropped off and action did not follow as it should have. I’m sure this is because talking is easier than doing and one would much rather sit and ‘do coffee’ instead of volunteering at a food rescue business. While talking and passionate debates are important how will we make the next step? to move beyond Ideology into reality. Bricks and mortar. Actual stuff…

I’m thinking a motivating and fast paced 1 day project could help. Seeing a project through from start to finish is valuable enough but if it succeeds as well! well then, I’ll be fighting people away with a stick to get their hands on some work to do. Guidelines will be important. We need some limits so that its not too big of a task to complete in 10 hours or so. Where, when, who, why & how is always a good start.

Where – needs to be a big space with tools and materials handy (Gossard workshop at RMIT sounds like a place)

When – soon! so that we can get a project under our belt to feel good about and use as a spring board to launch us into other projects. (Sat 21st jan perhaps?)

Who – young, old, small, large, marginalised, frail, disabled, homeless, over achievers, ‘suits’, malnourished, unloved… the list in endless but what will make for a good project is something that we can all relate to and appreciate.

Why – that will have to be determined after we work out who we are targeting. what are the biggest problems affecting students, or single mothers or 40 sometings who haven’t got any time to see their family’s???? Research will have to be done!

How – sustainable, eco, recycled, upcycled, made by hand, made with love, made by students for students, free????

With regards to the first project in food rescue – its still happening. It will just take a lot longer that we’d first thought for it to bear fruit. In the mean time our main focus should be on immersion and educating ourselves. We need to know about the industry before we can try to help.

I’m really pumped for 2012 and what will come out of our minds and into the world!