MA Design and Environment, 2009-2010
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Table of contents MA Design and Environment, Goldsmiths, University of London, 2009-2010
Cover: field work image taken at the Dark Mountain Festival 2010, Raphael Faeh
Mohammad Asri Hussin
6
Ana-Maria Jaramillo
9
Junghyun Park
12
Yuki Ho
17
Ahyoung Song
20
Giona Fiorentino
24
Jaeho Lee
27
Francesca Giacosa
31
Raphael Faeh
36
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Introduction Environmental change is now happening across places and scales, from biodiversity loss to resource shortages and a warming world. Our changing environments are connected to practices and materialities that the MA Design and Environment seeks to study and realign. At the same time, the course understands that environmental practice and awareness share entangled histories, having often led toward a ready tendency to ‘solve problems.’ This course engages with these existing practices and considers how the framing of ‘problems’ and ‘action’ can be a key juncture for rethinking the cause-and-effect of environmental action. The matter of light bulbs is a clear reference point here: is it a matter of switching them off, changing them, or devising experiments to rethink energy generation, use and propagation? In this course, we have sought to rethink the framing of environmental issues and possible practices in just this way. The design research and projects collected in this online book capture the final projects undertaken by students who have engaged with a wide range of issues related to design and environment. From reused petrol stations to new environmental imaginaries, and from vertical farms 4
to green infrastructure in London, each of these projects has put forward proposals for rethinking our interactions with environments. The set of projects and practices proposed and imagined address not just the ‘stuff’ of environmental practice, but also the relationships, organisations and imaginaries that might be redesigned in less extractive and exploitative ways. Projects included in this publication represent only a portion of the transdisciplinary design research and practice undertaken in the course. Students have designed ‘political scenes’ involving political aerobics at Hyde Park Corner; developed ‘seed swaps’ as an alternative to centralised seed banking; mapped the world’s first Fair Trade town in Garstang, UK; and designed imaginary future land uses based on official government documents. The environmental issues engaged with, and the methods and material employed for assembling new approaches to these areas, point toward an expanded relevance for design and design intervention. Beyond the assembling of eco-furniture or recycled consumer goods, the approaches to design and environment cultivated in this course consider what post-consumer, postnormal design practices might involve.
Design research, or practice research, plays a key role in the development of these design and environment interventions. Practice research projects can be the site of emergent and inventive methods as well as outcomes. The projects represented here have employed fieldwork, ethnography, mapping, drawing, filmmaking, modeling, social networking, participation, speculative interventions, and the staging of events to advance design and environment proposals. This form of research similarly establishes inventive relationships with design and environment theory, where proposals are not decided in advance and subsequently implemented, but rather tested through iterative methods of making and circulating ideas in the world. In this sense, the projects included here are as much invitations as they are propositions. They invite us to reconsider the open-ended if crucial question about what shape environmental practices might take. Given the current pace and intensity of environmental change, this is a question the course seeks to answer in as many imaginative ways as possible. Jennifer Gabrys Director, MA Design and Environment, 2010
Food 5
This project aims to increase awareness about the use of palm oil in products through information sharing, and uncovers issues related to health, environment and sustainability.
The starting point for this project began with a particular subject: biscuits. As banal as it may seem, this foodstuff depends upon one important factor that consumers should be aware of: palm oil. Palm oil is among the world’s most versatile crops. However, it is causing serious environmental threats in the form of deforestation and biodiversity loss. Consumers of biscuits can unknowingly become the drivers for unsustainable production.
Mohammad Asri Hussin 6
Asia accounts for 34% of global deforestation
90% of the world‘s palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia where it is produced on deforested land.
The Biscuit Project Palm oil is used in a diverse range of products, including biscuits, margarine, cereals, confectionary goods, soaps, washing powders, cosmetics, and lubricants. The global demand for palm oil continues to rise. DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) forecasts that the demand for palm oil will double by 2020. One of the main reasons why palm oil is attractive to food manufacturers is its high level of productivity compared to any other vegetable oil like soy or sunflower oil. Although it is versatile and high yielding, palm oil contributes to climate change through the deforestation of tropical rainforests. Due to rising demand, palm oil production is consuming millions of hectares of land. Not only does this deforestation reduce the role of forests
Healthy forests absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and storing it in plants, trees, roots and soils.
Roots can hold over 40 tonnes per hectare
Trunks, trees and branches contain 100-300 tonnes of carbon per hectare
Peatland can store up to 1450 tonnes of carbon per hectare
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as carbon absorbers, it also poses threats to wildlife and their habitat. Palm oil is a complex issue, however, since while the industry damages the environment, it also provides job opportunities to local communities and helps to boost economies. With these complexities in mind, this project considers what strategies might be proposed to account for a more thoroughgoing approach to the sustainability of palm oil. One thing that should be considered is who are the main consumers of palm oil? According to DEFRA, 80 percent of palm oil is used in food products, which clearly suggests that we are the main consumers of this product. It is vital to realize that we as consumers are also the contributor towards unsustainable production. This project develops a website, www.thebiscuitproject. webs.com, to convey information about the serious impacts of palm oil to both humans 8
Consumers of palm oil can also become potential ‘agents of change.’ and environments, and also to suggest how consumers may become potential ‘agents of change.’ Besides rethinking consumption patterns, consumers also can influence the way production is carried out. However there must be a common interest from consumers themselves. This is the reason why this project is establishing a community, not simply to oppose palm oil, but to ask questions, share opinions, and become aware of the usage of palm oil in our everyday practices, which can be the initial lever for generating change.
www.thebiscuitproject.webs.com asri308 at hotmail dot com
What would happen if we were to run out of food tomorrow? How would this affect us? How would food shortages change our everyday lives? What would our last supper look like?
In this project, I have researched attitudes toward food, and the practices that encourage alternative approaches to food. In this research, I was fascinated to find that many people chose bread as an ideal food for their last meal. Bread is a fundamental form of food, made from just flour, water, salt, yeast. The history of bread is a long one, for bread is one of the oldest prepared foods, dating back to the Neolithic era. This common experience of food forms the basis for this project.
Ana-Maria Jaramillo 9
LIKE TO TRY DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOOD
TOAST NINETY TAKE TIME PREAPRING THEIR MEALS
sometimes
The Food Project
KNOW WHERE THEIR INGREDIENTS COMES FROM
EAT WHEN NOT HUNGRY
20%
REWARD THEMSELVES WITH SWEETS
satisfaction KNOW HOW FAR THEIR FOOD TRAVELS
NEITHER 30% ORGANIC 8%
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DESCRIBED THEIR DIET AS
ARE FUSSY EATERS
RAW FOODIST 4% VEGETARIAN 10% NEITHER 86%
TWELVE
REMEMBER THEIR FIRST ICE CREAM
14%
n ditio y.tra g o l .ideo ural cult
32%
12% 10%
joy.happ iness.lov e
sha rin g.b on d
. ative n.cre visatio
LOCAL 34% IN SEASON
60
impro
DON'T KNOW ANY OF THE FOLLOWING
WORLD PEACE
8%
10
KNOW WHEN FOOD IS MADE WITH LOVE
BELIEVE FOOD CAN CREATE
6% fuel necc esity
The growing concern over environmental issues has led to changes in approaches to many areas. From climate change to overpopulation and resource depletion, there are a number of environmental problems that cause us to think and reflect on the negative impact we have on the environment. This project mainly deals with our perception and relationship towards food. Our need and desire for industrialised mass goods has had a deep effect on the future of our natural resources and food supply. According to reports, we could be facing a similar food shortage not seen since 1970. Fortunately enough, we are entering an age where we are responding to this by demanding “tailor made food,” changing the type of food we buy and finding other ways of obtaining
CONSIDER THEMSELVES FOODIES
REMEMBER WHAT THEY ATE ON THEIR FIRST DATE.
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2%
94 74 66 84 8 70 58 34
CONSIDER FOOD CAN BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER
COUNTRIES INTERVIEWED Colombia.England.Sweden.United States.Mexico.
memorie s.experien ce.
MOST MISSED FOOD
NUMBER OF PEOPLE INTERVIEWED
16%
one hundred
DESCRIBED FOOD AS
SATISFACTION 32%. MEMORIES-EXPERIENCE-EMOTIONS 16%. CULTURAL-IDEOLOGY-TRADITION 14%. JOY-HAPPINESS-LOVE 12%. SHARING-BOND 10%. IMPROVISATION-CREATIVE-SPONTANIOUS 8%. FUEL 6%. NECESSITY 2% BORING-UNINTERESTING 0%. CELEBRATORY 0%. ** ALL INFORMATION MUST BE READ IN PERCETANGES
food. What we choose to eat has never said more about our political outlook than it does now. Furthermore, this project seeks to explore our understanding and conception on food in hopes of creating new connections with it. However, this project is not about what we should or should not eat. Nor is it about what is healthy and what is not. It is simply a design proposal which aims is to create an awareness that will hopefully enable us to consider going back to the basics of food, and thereby reinvigorating our relationships with food and each other. One key way in which we can contribute to rethinking environmental issues is through rethinking our relationship with food.
In order to move forward, we must experience a renewal in our habits and means of expression towards food. We must go back to basics and reorient ourselves, for we have lost sight of the importance and significance of food.
anijara84 at gmail dot com 11
This project investigates how to develop a Vertical Farm that creates a new site for the cultivation of food in the city, while also providing education and experiences that change attitudes to food.
Current issues related to population growth, pollution, and the exhaustion of natural resources pose a real threat to traditional agricultural methods, leading to the possibility of food shortages. In what ways is it possible to realize greater selfsufficiency in relation to food? There is no clear-cut answer to this issue. Genetically modified crops and advanced technologies are one possible solution to this problem. However, I attempt to explore other approaches with reference to Vertical Farming, which is a newly developing urban agricultural method.
Junghyun Park 12
façade: titanium dioxide coated façade
:Titanium dioxide coated
windmills, solar panels and and windmills, solar panels rainwater harvesting rainwater harvesting
curtain wallwall glassglass curtain
Self-Sufficient City While Vertical Farming presents some real advantages to rethinking our food systems, there are some problems that this agricultural method presents, which many architects are tackling. The main concern is the cost of building a Vertical Farm higher than 30 stories, and the means of supplying essential elements during production. I have adapted my proposal for a new Vertical Farm to be the most suitable for the environmental issues facing London’s environment. This project site is Regent’s Canal, York Way, near King’s Cross Station in London. There is a building structure between Kings Cross Station and Regent’s canal, which was used by the gas reservoir. Moreover, it will be relocated to the north of the canal because of the King’s Cross redevelopment project.
water tank water tank
main building main building
canal building canal building
existing structure :gas tank
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I propose to transform this structure into a Vertical Farm. By using the existing structure at the site, the construction cost will be reduced. Moreover, it would be meaningful if a structure that contained material that previously destroyed the environment was reused to build an environmentally sustainable building. My idea of a Vertical Farm not only concerns the method for cultivation, but also provides education and an experience to change attitudes. This urban agriculture will be developed in a variety of ways in order to influence public attitudes. Particularly, this project will incorporate applications of renewable energy, provide supplies of fresh water for cultivation, include efficient technologies for cultivation, and foster relationships with the neighbourhood for the sustainable growth of the Vertical Farm. I do not think 14
I have adapted my proposal for a new Vertical Farm to be the most suitable for the environmental issues facing London’s environment that London will become self-sufficient with food by just having one Vertical Farm. The probability is that the self-sufficient city is an ideal world. I just expect that my proposal can be a starting point. Through this project, I hope that more people will become aware of the problems and opportunities of food in the city, and develop unique approaches to this area.
www.jayfactory.co.uk jayisworking at hotmail dot com
windmills, solar panels and rainwater harvesting N
N
611mm average annual rainfall
in London
E
W
surface area 12,200 sq. feet
W 51.5Ëš E S
S London wind distribution
the optimum tilt angle of solar panel
665,021 litres = 30 tonnes of fish and 210 tonnes of vegetables rainwater harvesting
façade :Titanium dioxide coated Decomposition of EDC water- and organic matter cleaning aircleaning Decomposition of aldehyde NOx removal
Photocatalysis of TiO2
selfDecomposition of oily cleaning dust Superhydrophilicity bactericidal Kill of bacteria MRSA and virus
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Cities 16
My project proposes to reuse a former petrol station by implementing a series of sustainable site programs that are both temporary and long-term.
Petrol is the lifeblood of modern economies. Yet it also is not a sustainable or permanent energy source, which leads to the question of what future uses may be envisaged for current and former petrol infrastructures. This project looks at one of these infrastructures in the centre of London.
Yuki Ho 17
Life After Petrol This design and research proposal engages with a space with a high potential for reuse, and which may be redundant in the future: a petrol station. Economists and scientists predict that our fossil fuel resources will reach ‘peak oil’ by at least 2050. At the same time, there are a limited range of vehicles that run on alternative fuels. Many cities have different green transport schemes. In London, the cycle superhighway scheme is one recent example of an attempt to shift transportation practices in the city way from fossil fuel dependence. The scheme promotes cycling as well as a green transport plan in a safer environment. The proposed petrol station reuse incorporates connection and access to this revised transportation infrastructure. The site is 18
redeveloped as a community space and garden, which includes connections to the residences, restaurants and cycle routes. The site also incorporates an organic waste energy producer. Nearly 40 percent of waste is organic, and this project proposes to recycle these wastes by turning them into compost and generating energy. One end of the site includes the energy producer, the site being a compost container. Cyclists could help to transfer the compost to local farms and parks. The secondary space of compost product methane will be collected in the PVC tension membrane on the lattice wall. The overall site could be used as a
The site will be a community space and garden, which will include connections to residences, restaurants and cycle routes. community gathering space, activity hall, and exhibition space with interactive piezoelectricity panel and rainwater harvesting system to reduce the energy supply and expenses as well as environmental cost. uki.jobrary.com yuki dot ho dot yukkee at gmail dot com 19
The aim of my project is to construct an urban green network, thereby addressing problems such as accessibility and proximity to green space, and restoration of the ecosystems in London.
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The urban green network is the physical connection system for preserving the ecologically important areas and minimising destruction of green spaces. It will connect the ecological areas to protect and secure the biodiversity and value of the ecosystem.
Ahyoung Song
The Importance Of Green Networks Eight out of ten of British people live in urban areas, and 12 per cent of the UK population lives in London. In this densely populated city, the green space and habitats that make up urban ecosystems have often been damaged by thoughtless development and extensive sprawl. Therefore, the quality and biodiversity of urban space and green space is continually under threat. Ten years ago, British green spaces were causing serious problems. Therefore, the importance of improving the quality of life, coexisting with nature and biodiversity, management and preservation started to be recognised. As a result, the concept of urban green network 21
is now recognised as managing space and using land for continuous development. The urban green network is the physical connection system for preserving the ecologically important areas and minimising destruction of green spaces. It will connect the ecological areas to protect and secure the biodiversity and value of the ecosystem. The urban green network has environmental, socio-cultural and economical effects, such as managing the form of an urban area, preserving the disconnection between green spaces, benefiting residents‘ health and value improvement of economic circumstances. This project explores the ways of developing, preserving, and managing the green spaces of London. In addition, the main point of this project is constructing the urban green network and solving problems such as accessibility and proximity 22
The urban green network is the physical connection system for preserving the ecologically important areas and minimising destruction of green spaces. for the green space, and restoration for the ecosystem. Southwark Park is also the focus for this design and research because despite its convenient location, it is not used to its best potential. Finally, the project proposes to create a network between developed residential areas, vacant sites and the Thames, in order to realise balanced development for the whole of the Southwark area.
ahyoung dot song at hotmail dot com
Sustainability services 23
“The Good Hab� is an energy experiment that aims to foster and enhance sustainable living on a local scale.
What if you had to self-power your devices by pedalling a cycle, and were then able to exchange the effort and time you spent into it for something? What would you expect to receive in exchange? This design intends to promote energy generation as a tool to shape new communal practices while bringing local actors closer to each other.
Giona Fiorentino 24
The Good Hab The growth of ephemeral and more affordable goods and use of appliances to fulfil material-based well-being has tended to make us less aware of our personal contribution to unsustainable practices and patterns of consumption. Despite growing awareness of energy consumption and CO2 emissions, effective responses for reconsidering living habits are not pervasive. While some attempts to achieve sustainability involve investing in renewable energy and green products, we struggle to change the way we think about resources and communal goods. High-energy usage and a consumerist attitude are primary contributors to environmental damage and climate change. “The Good Hab� is an energy experiment that aims to foster and 25
enhance sustainable living at local scale. The use of human-generated energy provides the basis for new practices based on the exchange of human relations and personal contribution to achieve communal goals. What if you had to self-power your devices by pedalling a cycle, and were then able to exchange the effort and time you spent into it for something? What would you expect to receive in exchange? This design intends to promote energy generation and its exchange to develop tools to shape new communal practices that bring local actors closer to each other. The use of a bicycle to generate energy by pedalling is a way to highlight the fact that we already have the tools we need to rethink our living in a more 26
The use of a bicycle to generate energy by pedalling is a way to highlight the fact that we already have the tools we need to rethink our living in a more sustainable way. sustainable way. Thinking about the relation between energy and its “price� we can define new practices in the way we relate to people, and create resources to discover and value differently what we have around us.
giona dot fiorentino at gmail dot com
Through analysis and critical evaluations of sustainability reporting, and a specific study of the sustainability practices of BP in relation to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, I propose new ways to address different perceptions of sustainability practices.
My research and design seeks to suggest alternative ways to achieve the primary purpose of sustainability reports by identifying some factors that bring discredit to sustainability reporting. This research is carried out by drawing on various criticisms about BP from newspapers, magazines, corporate management consultant organisations, environmentalist groups and NGOs.
Jaeho Lee 27
Sustainability Review
IF YOU SEE BP, YOU MUST BE BP OR BRAINWASHED BY BP
2010
Special Edition
Perception is Reality l Proposal l
Out Of The Double Disaster Making The Case For Change
beyond paradise
brutal passions
best polluter
beyond posturing
bought politicians
You Have To Pay Heed To Public’s Voice In Order To Find Out Where You Are.
Narrowing The Perception Gap
We Urge You Not To Use Green Until You Are Qualified To Use It
What Can a Sustainability Report Do For The Troubled Company?
An Alternative Sustainability Report Designed To Narrow The Perception Gap
black planet
Narrowing The Perception Gap
The Starting Point
The Credit & Discredit Of Corporate Sustainability Reporting
big pocket
WE WANT YOU TO REALISE THE FACT THAT IT IS ONLY YOU THAT SEE BP STANDING FOR BEYOND PETROLEUM Solar
Biofuels
Wind
You Said It Yourself
Beyond Petroleum Is Shorthand For Exploring, Developing And Producing More Fossil Fuel Resources To Meet Growing Demand. It Does Not Mean We Are Abandoning Oil And Gas, Getting Out Of Hydrocarbons, Or Focusing Only On Alternative Energy.
2020
Solar Biofuels
1.39%
2.79%
Wind
2.79%
This research a possibleisform of sustainability report, The goal ofsuggests this research to explore namely ‘an alternative sustainability report’, which is dedicated and analyse the upside and downside to narrowing the perception gap. Normal sustainability reports of with corporate sustainability reporting and social deal various areas in relation to environmental practice, based on the case oftoBP, performance, but this report is devoted the which perception gap. The aimbeen of thisrecognised report is to narrow perception gap between has as athe good reporting BP and the public by helping the company realise how the company, but was recently embroiled in public looks at the company. This report adopts the form of new questions about sustainability BP’s original one on the surface, but contents aredue abouttopublic’s theon oilBP.spill Gulf toofbeMexico. views This disaster report mayin bethe expected produced by some environmentalist groups or NGOs. visual proposal In this project, I suggest waysAs toa achieve of this research project, I produced visuals illustrating people’s the primary purpose of publishing sustaopinion about BP, specifically its infamous slogans ‘beyond inabilityand reports by identifying petroleum’ ‘energy frontier’ . I think it cansome be a good form to factors discredit on sustainability only have a bringing visual type of contents without detailed description. Also, being fleshed outresearch with some suggests contents in support of these reporting. This a possible visuals can also be a good idea. These visuals are examples of a form of sustainability report, namely ‘an possible form of alternative sustainability report.
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2030
ENERGY FRONTIER
Oil and Gas 93%
MEETING THE ENERGY DEMANDS OF TODAY AND TOMORROW
TOO BLACK
TO BE GREEN YOU LOOK TO BE STILL UNDER PETROLEUM. WHEN WILL YOU GO BEYOND PETROLEUM?
2040
THIS IS
BEYOND PETROLEUM
BUT, YOU JUST LOOK LIKE
AN OIL-DIGGER WHO DRILLS WHEREVER OIL IS
alternative sustainability report’, which is dedicated to narrowing the perception gap. Normal sustainability reports deal with various areas in relation to environmental and social performance, but this report is devoted to the perception gap. The aim of this report is to narrow the perception gap between BP and the public by helping the company realise how the public looks at the company. This report adopts the form of BP’s original one on the surface, but the contents consist of the public’s views on BP. Environmentalist groups or NGOs may produce this report. For the visual component of this design project, I produced visuals illustrating people’s opinion about BP, specifically its infamous slogans ‘beyond
The aim of this report is to narrow the perception gap between BP and the public by helping the company realise how the public looks at the company. petroleum’ and ‘energy frontier’. This visual approach is specifically presented without detailed description in order to capture the gap between perception and practice. These visuals are examples of a possible form of alternative sustainability report.
2jjhh at hanmail dot net 29
Environmental imaginaries 30
My project considers site-specific strategies for reconciling our relationships with natural environments. Instead of looking at natural environments as static, pretty objects or open-air museums, I propose a series of designs for co-existing with flora and fauna.
In this proposal, I develop a series of structures and pathways that facilitate close interaction and respect between human and nonhuman organisms within natural environments. These structures attempt to realize fundamental principles of reconciliation.
Francesca Giacosa 31
Reconciliation with Nature Imagine a planet in which all the incredibly diverse inhabitants of complex ecosystems managed to survive and co-exist sustainably instead of fighting each other for space and resources. In recent years, scientists have done much to educate us about the deep links within webs of biodiversity, but apart from the concerted efforts of small numbers of people, the conservation of both flora and fauna remains disjointed. We either close off and protect natural habitats of biodiversity or strive to recreate closed patches of natural ecosystems, which we then trample and destroy with our feet, cars, boats, bikes or scooters. This attitude towards natural environments can lead to incre32
asing destruction of the fragile balance and diversity we are working so hard to save. For the basis of this project, I have been using the template of a natural reserve in South Devon, the perfect habitat for a number of endangered plants, birds and mammals. Being an area of outstanding natural beauty, Berry Head reserve is a destination loved by a myriad of dog walkers, joggers, climbers, sea-anglers, and of all those who simply want to take a stroll. I have analysed the way in which humans circumnavigate this natural habitat with onsite surveys and literature reviews. I have then planned a re-organisation of the reserve’s natural environment and footpath structure in order to create a space where visitors can experience and interact with natural ecosystems without destroying or degrading the biologically diverse species that also live these habitats. Thanks to the variety of ecosystems that can be found here, I have divided the new tracks into interactive walking experiences, each one will enable the visitors to get to know a different habitat, educating them on the characteristics of its inhabi-
We either close off and protect natural habitats of biodiversity or strive to recreate closed patches of natural ecosystems, which we then trample and destroy with our feet, cars, boats, bikes or scooters. tants. This will be achieved through a mix of informative boards, ID cards, images, sounds, videos, and a number of tools and interactive artefacts that encourage people to observe nature with a different interest, encouraging a more respectful and imaginative attitude toward biodiversity. The project aims to educate people on the importance of making space for natural environments and processes by reducing our impact on it, and by simply adapting the ways in which we navigate natural habitats.
alysifran at gmail dot com 33
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I want to take the viewer of my film on a journey of grief for a lost future. I want to tell the story of our mourning for that loss narrated through the discrete stages of grief.
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With my film I want to suggest that we should link climate change closer to reminders of mortality in order to be able to make room for an imagination of a new, different and less environmentally harmful future.
Raphael Faeh
Story Power My project tries to find a narrative that addresses the loss of our notion that the future will be an upgraded version of today. With each decade to come, our existences will be governed by greater climate disruption to our everyday lives. By logical extension and based on our collective Western histories, we might assume that humanity will continue to progress as it has been in the course of the last century. But at some point in the future we will have to replace that idea with another vision, as growth and progress will reach their limits with resources getting scarce and the climate becoming increasingly disruptive. Inevitably, this series of events will interfere with business as usual. In my short film I want to take the viewer on a journey of grief 37
for this lost future. I want to tell the story of that loss narrated through the discrete stages of grief as introduced by Elisabeth Kuebler-Ross in 1969. She defined grief as a process by which we go through a different number of strategies in order to cope with loss, from shock and disbelief, followed by anger and anxiety to longing, depression, emptiness and finally, acceptance. With this film, I want to suggest that we should link climate change closer to reminders of mortality in order to be able to make room for an imagination of a new, different and less environmentally harmful future. While my intention is to provide an audio-visual experience of grief for the disturbing loss of our future of progress, I hope my work will also help to justify feelings of despair that climate science tends to give rise to. Besides, posttraumatic growth theory suggests that death reminders shift our goals away from greed and egotism towards an increased importance on intimate relationships, emphasising personal strength, more willingness to change and a deeper 38
I hope my work will also help to justify feelings of despair that climate science tends to give rise to. valuation for life itself. As a matter of fact, I believe that this is what our affluent society needs in order to seriously, truly and reasonably face climate change. One can either consider my film as touching on the different psychological stages of individual interest groups, understand it as a person going through the stages of grief in a linear process, or look at it as a cycle which people go through, repeating, looping and flipping across the stages. I hope that the film can help encourage reflection on beliefs in relation to our environmental predicament.
raphael dot faeh at gmail dot com www.designandenvironment.co.uk www.bauzz.com
Acknowledgments The MA Design and Environment degree group of 2009-2010 would like to thank all the department tutors, guest lecturers, technicians and administrative staff whose invaluable help and support made the programme possible. Special thanks go to Alex Wilkie, Tobie Kerridge, Belinda Magee, Adrian de la Court, Kathrin Böhm and Public Works, Anab Jain and Superflux, and Jon Ardern. http://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/ma-design-environment/ MA Design and Environment, Goldsmiths, University of London, 2010
Image and data references Page 2: Page 7 / 1: Page 7 /2: Page 8: Back cover:
Mapping workshop, Raphael Faeh DEFRA (2010). Pioneering research could pave way for more sustainable palm oil [Online] Available from http://ww2.defra.gov.uk/ 2010/07/13/palm-oil/ [Accessed 25th July 2010] McMahon, P. (2009). Rainforests: the burning issue. Great Britain, Harper Collins Publisher Littler, J., Barnett, C. and Soper, K. (2005) “Consumers: Agents of Change?” Soundings, vol. 31, 147-160. Francesca Giacosa
Publication design Raphael Faeh, Jaeho Lee, Ana-Maria Jaramillo
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MA Design and Environment subtitle subtitle subtitle subtitle subtitle
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