Design & Behavior; The Human Reintegration to Nature

Since the mid 1950’s there has been a slow recognition to how the human consumption of goods and services has a direct affect to the surrounding environments and cultures. The general theme throughout the different readings was one of recognizing that humanity, has for far too long, thought of themselves as separate from their environment and it is absolutely imperative to the actual existence of our species as well as all the other species who inhabit this planet. In the essay Prometheus of the Everyday, Ezio Manini directly addresses the fact “that the environmental problematic can generate a new sensuous horizon for design and can be a source of a vast series of cultural transformations and contemporary societal practices...to arrive at a system of consumer production more favorable to the environment but also to propose new values and deeper conceptions of quality” (Manini 220). These “deeper conceptions of quality” and derived from what Walter Goldschmidt’s article The Comparative Study of Values and compares the Trobriand Islanders concept of mana, “[which] generalizes that which is virtue and power in the individual and the social symbol is the verification of that quality, not only to the public but to the individual himself” (Goldschmidt 432), to the idea that each culture has its own definition but ultimately share the same three major components: status, role, and symbolic representation (Goldschmidt 429).

The message of bio-mimicry is the loudest when reading William McDonough and Michael Braungart’s book Cradle to Cradle. The introduction is a transparent discussion of the truth behind the manufacturing of “disposable commodities”. Each chapter addresses several ways of viewing, examining, and digesting information that can ultimately change the “not so pleasant” destination of the future. Chapter Four Waste Equals Food, the opening line is the truest statements that can be made, “nature operates according to a system of nutrients and metabolisms in which there is no such thing as waste” (McDonough et. Al. 92).

On page 100 of Cradle to Cradle, McDonough and Braungart pose the question of “what would have happened… if the Industrial Revolution had taken place in societies that emphasize the community over the individual, and where people believed not in a cradle-to-grave life cycle but in reincarnation?” That is a wonderful question, what if the industrialization came from the idea of the Trobriand Islanders mana concept, or better yet, how about Buddhism? There is obvious reasons why industrialization didn’t come from these particular cultures, they had a better understanding of how to uphold the “ultimate responsibility…to contribute to the production of a habitable world” (Manzini 220). Another great point brought up by McDonough is that there must be a shift from viewing the world as having infinite abundance because this sort of thought process has brought about “decline in almost every ecosystem”. Why has industry not try to mimic nature more? Humanity as a whole can visibly observe the obvious damage that has been done through the exponential consumerism created by planned obsolescence, which is a far cry from “reaching a qualitative ‘objective’ standard” (Manzini 236).

It is extremely important for humanity to reintegrate back into the natural world and adopt a view that seems them as an important part of the cycle. The planet cannot withstand nor sustain the rate of natural resource depletion and disturbance. As a whole the global community can no longer afford to be negligent. An attention needs to be directed to reducing the manufacturing of “monstrous hybrids”, the combining of biological and technical nutrients. Combining these two nutrients creates products that cannot be disassembled and parted for reintroduction back into the manufacturing process, thus sending it to the landfill. Every product is made from very valuable materials that do not necessarily need to be in the landfill.

I have to agree with the question asked by McDonough, “what better incentive to evolve a design that does without the hazardous materials entirely?” (McDonough et.al. 110)

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Works Cited

Goldschmidt, Walter. "The Comparative Study of Values." Exploring the Ways of Mankind. 2nd ed. New York, New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1966. 428-433. Print.

Manzini, Ezio. "Prometheus of the Everyday: The Ecology of the Artificial and the Designer's Responsibility." Discovering Design: Explorations in Design Studies. Ed. Richard Buchanan, and Victor Margolin. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 1995. 219-243. Print.

McDonough, William, and Michael Braungart. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. New York: North Point Press, 2002. Print.