Dearly Beloved by gnv1322

Dearly Beloved

Theories of Sustainability X Gabriela Velez 2016 1

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.â&#x20AC;?

Photograph X NASA

- Prince

Preface

William Anderson took this picture from the Apollo 8 spacecraft during the first manned mission around the moon on December 10, 1968 (NASA, 2015). The photo shows every single life that Earth held to that day. From microbacterium to the blue whale. Life that is sad, scary, hopeful, beautiful and dangerous. Despite its share of bickering and wars, love and celebration, heartache and loss, it is home. It is a home that we have taken for granted, left to fend for itself without maintenance, nurturing, or support. And for what? To make more, buy more, sell more and profit, all in the name of our differences? Profit that breeds insecurity, makes friends enemies, divides us based on differences we should be celebrating. There must be change and it must be now. We can embrace our differences, collaborate in our uniqueness, and mend the wounds we have placed on our home. Amidst hatred and fear, there can be kindness. In fact there is nothing more importan. That is too easily forgotten. The habits we have developed have made an impact on life all over the planet. We need to leave a legacy of helping each other. Without it, there can be no home, and no one to claim it so.

Contents 01 x 01

Cells

02 x 02

Systems

03 x 03

Complex Systems

04 x 04

Consumer Power

05 x 05

Industrial Revolution

06 x 06

Models of the World

07 x 07

Climate Change

08 x 08

System Reconstruction

09 x 09

Biomimicry

10 x 10

Paradigms

The Secret Valley X Raphael Alberquerque

01x01

Cells

Without cells there would be no conceivable life on Earth. A cell is a collection of organelles encased in a membrane that constantly builds up, breaks down and recreates. The first cells formed when the earth started to cool down at its inception. Oceans and rocks had formed and every fundamental element of life combined with carbon. Molecules evolved and transformed inside primitive versions of the cellular membranes we see today. This membrane regulates the metabolism within the cell. It is made of a double layer of fatty molecules called lipids with one hydrophobic end and one hydrophilic end. Utilizing these characteristics, lipids work together to maintain a barrier between the molecules outside the cell from the water inside the cell. Within those membranes, molecules became more complex, and evolved to break apart, creating identical complex molecule filled vesicles. It can only occur with a flow of energy and matter through its permeable membrane. Molecules could be absorbed into the bubble, or incorporated into the membrane itself. Molecules that absorb sunlight are called Chromophores. When they are incorporated into the primitive membrane, the vesicle could convert light energy into electric potential energy and so drive the metabolism inside.The vesicle could now grow, reproduce, and maintain

an equilibrium in their environment. Outside these bubbles open systems of continuous energy and matter flow. By contrast, the interiors of the vesicles are closed spaces, where metabolism and self-maintenance takes place. These membrane wrapped bubbles continued to grow and evolve. As larger populations of the vesicles developed, many differences in their chemical properties developed too. This caused a Darwinian competition and certain molecules that happened to have evolutionary advantages were â&#x20AC;&#x153;selectedâ&#x20AC;? to reproduce (Capra, 2002).

02x02 Two Volcanoes and Two Galaxies X Danny Darquea

Systems

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” -Vincent Van Gogh

A system is a set of things interconnected in such a way that they produce their own pattern of behavior over time (Meadows, 2008). To this point, life has proceeded through three major avenues of evolution. Cells randomly mutated and happened to gain evolutionary advancements (knowledge generation); cells freely passed information about hereditary traits in a global exchange network using DNA (information processing); or cells lived in such close proximity to one another, that new forms of life were created through permanent symbiotic arrangements (innovation). These avenues of evolution eventually lead us to vegetation and an oxygen rich atmosphere. Those plants and algae fought their way through evolution to be bigger, stronger, and more resilient to atmospheric changes and consumers. Vegetation is still trying to do this today. In the immortal words of Joni Mitchell, we continuously â&#x20AC;&#x153;pave paradise to put up a parking lot.â&#x20AC;? The environments of the plants on earth are changing because of our developmental actions and consequential poisoning of their nutrients. You can see them fighting back everywhere. From small lines of grass growing through cracks in the concrete, to trees enveloping fences and destroying paved streets. This gradual process by which ecosystems develop (in our case re-develop) over time is called succession. There are three stages of this process (Thompson, 2016).

Succession Stage 01

The picture to the right shows a brick removed from a path, where small plants have made their way back into the inorganic environment. These are plants that pioneer the new environment. They are opportunistic and grow quickly. They can start as small as lichens or annual grasses and perennials.

Succession Stage 02

Tiny Forest X Tumblr

More hardy bushes and small trees slowly utilize the environment the grasses and perennials are creating. These plants are usually slower growing with robust root systems, flower and seed to reproduce, and have an optimized energy flow.

Succession Stage 03

Over the course of hundreds of years, trees will make their way into the environment. They create conditions that are conducive to life. Trees shed their leaves which decompose directly over their own robust root system, providing nutrients to the soil. They have stem systems to match their roots, and easily create symbiotic relationships with other plants.

An important thing to remember about succession: one stage does not cease when another begins. All of these plants can coexist and create rich environments that promote even more growth. Humans should look to this third type of succession and evolve to be more symbiotic with the environment in which we live (Boylston, 2016).

Advocates: Individuals “We need to re-discover the pleasure of moving on foot, of eating local fruit, of feeling the cycle of the seasons, of caring for things and places, of chatting with neighbours, of taking an active part in the life of the neighbourhood, of gazing at the sunset, and so on.” - Enzio Manzini A lot of people have taken action to alleviate their impact on the earth. Individuals making decisions to adopt environmentally conscious behaviors are similar to the pioneering plants in the first stage of succession. You can compost, recycle, buy locally. More eco-efficient means of transportation, like public transport, biking, carpooling, ridesharing apps, and walking are slowly becoming more prevalent. People are installing energy star appliances, low flow water faucets and shower heads, dual flush toilets, rainwater barrels, and efficient light bulbs into their homes. Home energy management technology like nest, the Amazon Echo, Google Home, and GE’s wifi connected appliances not only make life easier, but can also reduce the cost of heating and cooling, lighting, electrical and water use. People are installing solar panels onto their houses, wind turbines in their backyard, and heating systems using geothermal water pumps. In some cases, people have decided to forgow the traditional idea of a home and have opted to live in tiny houses. These actions are the building blocks of a movement. As more people incorporate behaviors like this into their lives, they make the environment more conducive to larger more radical “stage two” environmental agencies, organizations, and policies.

Tiny House X Inhabitat

03x03

Photograph X Wilson Ye

Complex Systems

“If I know only one thing, it’s that everything that I see of the world outside is so inconceivable that often I barely can speak.” - Robin Pecknold

To reiterate, a system is a set of things interconnected in such a way that they produce their own pattern of behavior over time. These elements of a system are organized in a way that achieves a specific goal. You are a complex system. Every animal, tree, watering hole, organization, insect, classroom, city, and person on Earth is a complex system. Science tells us that to understand something completely, we should study its component parts in small and understandable pieces. That logic is flawed in the case of complex systems. By standing so close to a problem, we are unable to see the root causes of the failure. We then inaccurately blame the source for those problems, attempt to fix it, and are dumbstruck when the failure persists (Meadows, 2008). A complex system is made up of stocks, flows, and feedback loops that cause common patterns of problematic behavior. A stock is something you can see or feel and is measurable. That doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean a stock is something physical. It can be anything from the money in your bank account to how safe you feel while walking home at night. Flows are the manipulation of stocks. Take a waterfall for example. The pool at the bottom of the waterfall is filled with a precise amount of water: the stock. That water is lead elsewhere by streams: subtractive flow, and fed to the pool via the stream-fed falls: additive flow.

If either of these flows were to be increased or decreased, so would the stock of water in the pool, respectively. A feedback loop is a mechanism that controls how the flows affect the amount of stock and can be either positive or negative. Without looking broadly at how all of these things are working together the system can potentially get caught in a trap.

Traps Unfortunately, systems fail. Fortunately, systems fail so consistently and so similarly, that archetypes of those failures are able to explain them and possible solutions to them. There are eight archetypes, listed to the right, that Donella Meadows defines in the book Thinking in Systems. (Though she prefers to call them opportunities to escape the trap and possibly change the system into something better.)

Policy Resistance Tragedy of the Commons Drift to Low Performance Escalation Success to the Successful Shift the Burden to the Intervenor Rule Beating

Photograph X David Chalifoux

Seeking the Wrong Goal

Trap: Seeking the Wrong Goal Gross National Product is one of the primary ways the health of a country is gauged. It measures a country’s goods and services produced over a specific period of time. It is essentially how much money is spent over the course of a week, month, year, etc. The GNP lumps together goods and bads, as long as money is being spent. If the goal of a society is defined by the GNP, the society will do its best to make that number go up. That means buying and selling products, goods, and services which leads to overproduction of things no one really wants. GNP is also a reference for human welfare. However, money being spent isn’t always positive. Insurance losses alone from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 were more than $40 billion, raising the GDP (Herman, 2006). Wendell Berry, an American novelist, poet, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer says, “The gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile (Meadows, 2008).

The way out of this trap, defined by Donella Meadows is to make specific indicators and goals that truly reflect the welfare of the system. The Genuine Progress Indicator was created by Redefining Progress in 1995. GPI is an alternative to GDP that measures health care, safety, a clean environment, and other indicators of human welfare. The GPI enables national, state, regional, and local policy makers to measure how well their citizens are doing economically and socially. The GPI is used by governmental and non-governmental organizations as a tool for sustainable development and planning (Genuine Progress Indicator, 2006). Several US states including Maryland and Vermont have incorporated GPI’s 26 indicators of human welfare. The indicators are broken down into positive and negative metrics in the social, economic, and environmental realms. Consider heating homes with coal. GDP would go up with the revenues of coal mines, burning utilities, and income of all employees, and subsequently treating coal-related asthma. According to GDP, power from burning coal benefits the economy more than it causes any problems to Earth or the people on it (Alpern, 2015).

Genuine Progress Indicator Matrix X Donella Meadows Institute Photograph X Dewang Gupta

Leverage Points While systems fail, there is usually a way out. It may be hard to find, especially when immersed in it. However, if you are able to find it, often â&#x20AC;&#x153;solutionsâ&#x20AC;? push the results in the wrong direction. Remember, we learned that studying the parts of a system, individually and up close, you fail to see the broader picture. Many traps exist because the actors are behaving selfishly, manipulating the result of the stock to suit their best interests. Leverage points allow a catalyst to look at the system from farther away and understand how all of the cogs work together to deliver the outcome, then assess how to accurately change that outcome. Because systems fail so consistently and so similarly, solutions can be used to leverage your way out of a trapped system. These solutions are aptly called Leverage Points. They fall on a scale of ease of implementation and the magnitude of their effects. The first four are physical manipulations of a system that can get it out of a trap. The last eight involve the information and control areas of a system, and provide more leverage (Meadows, 2008). Ten will be explained here, the last two will be introduced later.

Changing the Numbers is first on the list. Replacing the people working within a system might make a difference in the outcome of their efforts.

Manipulating Buffers makes a slightly larger impact on the problem at hand by changing the parameters of part of the system. Using our example from before, if the pool at the bottom of a waterfall were larger and could handle more water than was coming in from the fall, a devastating flood is less likely to occur.

Balancing Feedback Loops letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s imagine that if the pool at the base of the waterfall began to overflow and submerge the surrounding plants and wildlife. The stream leading away from the pool the waterfall would become more rapid, until the water level returned to equilibrium. This is a balancing feedback loop.

Reinforcing Feedback Loops

can really only be fixed if they are rebuildable. Something like the stress on school systems during the education of baby-boomers is inevitable. From elementary, middle, and high school into college, the only thing to do is prepare for the overflow of students.

can, left unchecked, destroy itself. Luckily, a balancing feedback loop will usually kick in eventually. As farmers use the same field over and over, the soil breaks up with each end of season till. The soil erodes, leaving new soil to be broken up and erode. This either happens until the bedrock is exposed and crumbles into new soil, or people will stop tilling and plant permanent vegetation.

Delays

Information Flows

in the information about the state of the stock changes the way an actor behaves to accomplish a goal. If you only add salt to a stew at the end of the cooking process, you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t taste it immediately. So you add more until you just begin to taste it. But, by the time itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s served, the salt has had time to dissolve and be absorbed by the contents, resulting in an over salted dinner.

is one of the most common causes of system malfunction. Moving the electric meter to a location easily visible on a daily basis reduces the amount of energy a family uses in their home. Making the feedback of a system clear adds accountability to the actions of the people within the system.

Stock-and-Flow Structures

Rules recreates the boundaries of a system. You go to school to get an education. You are told when you have achieved that education, and when to leave. Suppose you could go to school to learn something, and leave when you’ve learned it.

Self-organization is manipulating any of the leverage points we’ve talked about so far. A system evolves by changing an aspect of how it works in order to function properly. Rules are set in place for when and under what circumstances a system can evolve, much like the DNA in our cells.

Manipulating Goals changes what every aspect of a system is working toward. In numbers, we said that replacing the actors in a system

Photograph X Evan

might have a chance at altering the outcome. If we completely shift the goal the actors are working toward, we will see a definite change in the results. We’ve seen it happen time and time again. A high powered leader comes in, alters the goals of a nation and hundreds of intelligent people swing into a new direction: Hitler, Reagan, Voldemort, Gandhi. The key is to make sure people are following the right leaders with the right goals (Meadows, 2008).

24 Photograph X Batey Rehab Project

Advocates: Local Organizations and Non-profits Individual decisions to carpool, recycle, and install dual flush toilets are great. They introduce environmental thinking into the communities around the people implementing them into their lives. Much like the pioneering plants in stage one of succession; decisions like these becoming commonplace make way for bigger developments in attempts to clean up our mistakes. Education also plays a big part in advocacy. If people are ill-informed of the world they live in, they may be unaware problems exist at all. As we learned earlier, the flow of information makes a big difference in the manipulation of a stock. Educating the public can make a difference in the decisions they make, from where they shop and what they buy, to their car selection or their diet. The best way to ensure that people have the correct information about the world is to know what schools are teaching. There is as much controversy around the existence of human caused climate change as there is the theory evolution. Many textbook manufacturers are largely funded by oil industries. These monied interests then have control over the content. Taking real steps to solve this problem, the school board in Portland, Oregon removed any doubt from the textbooks used in their public schools. Any textbook that uses words such as, “might,” “may,” or “could,” in terms of climate change was removed from the shelves (Moore, 2016).

Other individuals and student organizations and localized non-profits that are advocates of sustainability:

Pearl Jam

partnered with organizations to offset the carbon emissions of fans traveling to and from their shows (Croswell, 2013).

Project H

teaches young people in rural communities to design and build spaces to benefit their community (Project H, 2016).

Cate Blanchett

installed one of the world’s largest rainwater collection systems in Sydney, Australia (Ecorazzi, 2011).

Terracycle

is a recycling program that allows homes, schools, and individuals to send in materials for a specific waste stream (individual coffee pods, laboratory waste, used pens, plastic food containers, etc) to be recycled (Terracycle, 2016).

The Batey Rehab Project

helps university students design sustainable programs and projects that aid community development that are executed alongside locals in communities of the Dominican Republic (BRP, 2016)

04x04 Photograph X Clark Street Merchantile

Consumer Power

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Industrial design has put murder on a mass production basis.â&#x20AC;? - Victor Papanek

globe. These networks allowed people and corporations to buy and sell across every segment of the economy in any country almost instantly. This sounds great for everyone involved. People can make transactions online, billions of dollars are essentially moving around the world constantly, markets are rich and thriving. However, transnational corporations became major actors on the global stage and ignored social and environmental costs of their economic activities. In his book The Hidden Connection, Fritjof Capra says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the critical issue is not technology, but politics and human values. And these human values can change; they are not natural laws. The same electronic networks of financial and informational flows could have other values built into them.â&#x20AC;? (Capra, 2002). Consumers have the power to dictate the market. Starting with the objects you use everyday, design should disengage itself from current consumer culture. Instead rethink its role in the world as a catalyst to change consumer culture into an advocate for sustainability (Margolin, 1998).

Photograph X NASA

Take a look around you. Everything you see: the seat youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in, the table in front of you, your clothes, the phone in your pocket, has been designed, produced, and shipped to a store or directly to you. You have the power and the ability to buy the next best thing as soon as it comes out. When clothes have gone out of style, you can throw them away and buy new ones. Companies are constantly coming up with new improved versions of the objects you already have, hoping you will get rid of the old and buy the new. Your buying decisions are also influenced by trendsetters (any influential people in the public eye). From trends like bell-bottoms to skinny jeans, from putting other food in jello to putting avocado on every other food, from smoking being universally accepted to universally disrespected - your purchasing habits dictate what and how much is produced. This culture of product based well-being was first brought about by the technological advancements of the industrial revolution (Manzini, 2002). However, over the last few decades, the world has been shaped by globalization. Globalization has given rise to an information society that Manuel Castells, Professor of Sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, calls the Information Technology Revolution. The Information Technology Revolution created information and communication networks connecting people all across the

Material Health materials that can be defined as biological or technical nutrients and are safe and healthy for humans and the environment.

Material Reutilization One way design is changing the current idea of consumption is by creating products within a circular economy. A circular economy changes the current industrial production system to one which views materials as nutrients in a metabolism, able to be reused in a continuous loop. Materials used in a product are separated into biological nutrients and technical nutrients. Every product should be easily separated into two material flows so each can be biologically broken down, or recycled and reused without loss of quality, respectively. This takes the place of a traditional linear economic idea of taking materials, making a product, its life with the user, then disposal in a landfill; or cradle to grave. William McDonough and Dr. Michael Braungart have incorporated this idea of a circular economy into a system of product certification called Cradle to Cradle (C2C). The idea is to promote this circular economy by encouraging industrial manufacturers to embody their holistic economical, environmental, and social view of creating products and systems that are essentially waste free based on 5 criteria.

eliminates the concept of waste and promote design that encourages the recyclability of the product for future uses.

Renewable Energy going beyond energy efficiency. Manufactures are encouraged to use solar, wind, geothermal, energy sources during the manufacturing process.

Water Stewardship water leaving a factory as clean or cleaner than when it came in to respect the need for all living things to have clean water.

Social Fairness conduct business in a way that is respectful of the health, safety, and rights of people on the planet. (Cradle to Cradle, 2016)

TECHNICAL NUTRIENT

PLANTS

PRODUCT

BIOLOGICAL RECYCLING

BIODEGRADATION

USE

Cradle to Cradle Principle

TECHNICAL

Photograph X Wyndsale Blog

BIOLOGICAL NUTRIENTS

Good Guide evaluates the health, environmental, and social impacts of productsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; life cycles. Their online database of many popular brands can be accessed through their website or app. Each product is rated based on its health effects, the amount of information they can access about a product, if any ingredients are on banned or restricted ingredient lists, and third party certification like a Cradle to Cradle rating or certified organic foods (GoodGuide, 2016).

BlueSign helps manufacturers produce clothing free of harmful substances and sets standards for environmentally friendly and safely made products for consumers to feel good about buying (Bluesign, 2013).

Higg Index also works with the textile manufacturing industry. They provide online tools to generate sustainable performance scores that businesses or individual clothing producers can use to benchmark against the industry (Higg Index, 2016).

Photograph X Jakob owens

C2C awards companies with certifications -- basic, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum -- based on the adherence to the five criteria. Over 200 companies are participating, with 6,000 certified products on the market. Companies like Puma and Patagonia are producing clothing and footwear than can be easily broken down and recycled into more of the same product. Method soap and household cleaners are certified gold. They are natural and biodegradable, reduce water use both in production and in your home, the bottles are easily recycled, and they provide volunteer days for their employees. Home and office furniture company, Herman Miller, ensures that all of their products are easily disassembled into technical and biological nutrients to be reused again and again. They cut down on shipping waste by using moulded trays instead of cardboard boxes to carry the furniture that then get sent back to them to be used again (Cradle to Cradle, 2016). As a consumer, you have to make quick decisions about what you buy. There are companies that have taken this into account. They have accumulated and rated vast quantities of products, materials, and food items to provide you with the tools to easily incorporate sustainable products into your life.

Photograph X Darius Soodmand

Ezio Manzini, a leading voice in the field of Design for Sustainability, proposed a way to change the role products play in the lives of consumers created by the industrial revolution and strengthened by the information technological revolution. In 1994, he proposed three drastic changes in consumption patterns called â&#x20AC;&#x153;New Radicalism.â&#x20AC;? Manzini suggested that designers should develop products that could survive for longer periods of time as technical and cultural artifacts. If people cared for their products, they would develop a relationship with them, care for them, and mend them when they broke- a piano that is passed from generation to generation, or a good pair of leather boots. He also asked consumers to shift from the idea of buying everything they only use a few times to leasing or sharing the service. Much like many home improvement stores allow you to rent tools you need for a project, without having to buy and store them in between infrequent uses; or the use of Uber in larger cities where owning a car is impractical. Most radically, Manzini suggests to consumers to consume less (Margolin, 1998).

05x05

Photograph X Leo Fosdal

Industrial Revolution â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hear this young men and women everywhere, and proclaim it far and wide. The earth is yours and the fullness thereof. Be kind, but be fierce. You are needed now more than ever before. Take up the mantle of change, for this is your time.â&#x20AC;? - Winston Churchill

us to use, with such efficiency we didn’t know how to handle it. We became so far removed from nature and so much more dependent on the “spoils of our rational mastery.” (Benyus, 1997). People were buying things to replace things they already had or bought products to perform tasks they didn’t do in the first place. The quality of their objects surpassed what was usually needed, and they usually bought several specific items to do the same task they were previously doing with one (Margolin, 1998). Those spoils of production came at a cost. With the introduction of so many products into people’s lives materialism became integral to the notions of happiness. “The well-being of a nation is measured by how many resources it can transform every year, and at what rate. Product development is inextricably bound to striving for human betterment” (Margolin, 1998). More consumption equated to more production. Because we were so removed from nature at this point, we used water, minerals, coal, petroleum, and land without remorse. We also believed Earth was ready to digest and dilute all of the waste we were producing (Benyus, 1997). This blatant disregard for how much we were using was causing irreparable economic and ecological damage. In 1987 the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development’s “Our

The Divide X Kathleen Dolmatch

People are being more conscious about where their products are coming from, what they’re made of, and what happens to them after they’ve served their purpose. There is power in being able to buy the objects you need and want in your life, and even more power in deciding exactly which object to buy. You have this choice because of the Industrial Revolution. From the 17th into the 18th century, the Scientific Revolution began in Europe. Developments were being made in mathematics, biology, astronomy, chemistry and physics. Through the Scientific Revolution, reverence for the earth became obsolete. “Once nature was demoted to a dead and soulless assembly of atoms, it became socially acceptable to exert our “God-given” dominion over her. The path was cleared for worldwide exploitation” (Benyus, 1997). Early in the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution manifested this exploitation with the efficiency of machines. We started building with iron and steel, generated power with petroleum and coal, and used machines like power looms and cotton gins. This introduced the factory systems with individual specialized laborers with explicit knowledge to replace craftsmen full of tacit knowledge one only gets from experience. With the help of these machines we were able to tap into the earth, brimming with materials for

Common Futureâ&#x20AC;? grouped these damages as failures of development and failures in the management of our human environment. Failures of development included more hunger, fewer people able to read and write, people without safe homes, no way to cook and warm themselves, and no available clean drinking water. Failures in the management of our human environment are productive dryland weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve turned into desert wasteland; acid rain that kills forests, lakes, and destroys architecture; deforestation for the use of land or wood; and excessive CO2 emissions that cause global warming (WCED, 1987). The culture of product based well-being, along with global economy we talked about earlier, and over population have increased consumption to the point where we have overshot our limits. Since 1987, we have seen a widening wealth gap which means that basic needs in a large section of humanity are not being met. There are worldwide inequalities based on sex, age, race, religion, social status, and caste. Developing nations feel the strain from excessive debts owed to developed nations who live unsustainable lifestyles that rely on industry in those developed nations. The unsustainable lifestyles of the richer segments of the world place immense stress on the environment. We are using material from the earth

faster than it can regenerate. We are seeing soil erosion and species going extinct from deforestation. Soil is losing its nutrients from overworked farmland, leaving unusable wasteland behind. Our over consumption of livestock is leading to unethical treatment of animals just to meet our demands. Fossil fuel is being overused. The extraction wastes clean water that has nowhere to go but back in the ground or into our waterways. Our landfills are full of everything we throw out and toxins are leaching back into the ground (WCED, 1987).

06x06

Photograph X Jason Leem

Models of the World

“When biceps and back muscles ran the shovels, our rate of destruction more closely matched nature’s rate of renewal.” - Janine M. Benyus

The current consumer culture made through the industrial revolution and the Information Technology Revolution perpetuate what Victor Margolin, in Design for a Sustainable World, calls the Expansion Model of the World. This is made of markets that rely on products for tokens of economic exchange. The capital they acquire is either recycled back into production, or it becomes part of an accumulation an individual’s or corporation’s wealth. The expansion model is dominated by the idea that technological innovation will enhance human experience. As we’ve already seen, this model is unsustainable. Historically, this model rested on the developed shoulders of Japan, North America, and Europe. With the advancements in globalizing technologies, China and Southeast Asia have joined the expansion model. The expansion model of the world is on a collision course with the sustainability model of the world. Also defined by Margolin, the sustainability model is a system ecological checks and balances made up of finite resources. If any element of the system are damaged or thrown out of balance, or removed completely, the system will suffer and possibly collapse. The sustainable model has received support from liberal parties in many countries, and has been the topic of several UN conferences on the environment, population, and women’s rights. The collision happens when the sustainability model

reins in on resource use that directly challenges the expansion model (Margolin, 1998). The widening gaps between rich and poor, the communication technology that includes some and excludes others, as well as the myriad of environmental situations are the effect of the expansion model. The Information Technology Revolution made economic activities global. The main source of productivity is innovation, knowledge generation, and information processing structured largely around networks of financial flows. Capitalist countries, major transnational corporations, and global financial institutions designed this globalized capitalism. Because their connections are nonlinear, rapid feedback loops were generated. Those feedback loops that created problems remain a mystery. Anthony Giddens, director of London School of Economics admits, “The new capitalism that is one of the driving forces of globalization to some extent is a mystery. We don’t fully know as yet just how it works.” This uncertainty is perpetuated by investors playing emerging markets like a craps table. The exchanges on the global market (over two trillion dollars a day) largely determine the value of any national currency. Capital is global but labor is local. They exist in different spaces and times. Economic power is in the global financial networks and determine the fate of most jobs. The actual jobs

Photograph X Gor

and contribute to the inability of governments to control economic policy. Larger, more stable economies are able to absorb the turbulences with little damage. But speculators who invest heavily in emerging markets then remove those investments at the first sign of trouble cause more speculators to move more capital, which destabilize the small economy and create a crisis. In order to attract investors again, these countries usually have to raise interest rates, deepening their debt and recession and increasing poverty (Capra, 2002).

42 Digital Panel of Hong Kong X Evan Batky

million people in the least developed countries. In The Hidden Connection by Fritjof Capra, he says â&#x20AC;&#x153;The fragmentation and individualization of labor and the gradual dismantling of the welfare state under the pressure of economic globalization means that the rise of global capitalism has been accompanied by rising social inequality and polarization.â&#x20AC;? (Capra, 2002) We now understand that environmental, economical and social issues are all one. And why it is futile to attempt to deal with environmental problems without a broader perspective that encompasses the factors underlying world poverty and international inequality (WCED, 1987).

Photograph X Jason Leem

remain constrained to the real world. Many workers wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fight for higher wages or working conditions for fear of being replaced. Smaller networks of laborers connected to suppliers and subcontractors are replacing the traditional working-class communities. As companies restructure, laborers lose their collective identity and any bargaining power. Companies want to make long term, secure relationships with their employees in an economy where information processing, innovation, and knowledge creation equate to productivity. Rather than employ unskilled replaceable laborers, companies would rather retain the loyalty of employees with tacit knowledge to pass within the organization. The new economy creates an incredible accumulation of wealth at the top. The three wealthiest people in the world - Bill Gates (Microsoft) at $75 billion, Amancia Ortega (Zara) at $67 billion, and Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathway) at $60.8 billion (Forbes, 2016) - exceed the combined gross national product of all 600

Photograph X Marc Tinio

The 4th World

Since the Information Technology Revolution, the increase of extreme poverty is a worldwide phenomenon. In the US, 14.5% of the population lives below the poverty line. This includes homelessness. The relationships between capital and labor are not the only thing increasing poverty and social inequality. The networks of interconnected information and capital exclude all the population that are of no value for financial gain. Certain areas of every country have become economically irrelevant. Not only are they irrelevant now, but have a low chance of gaining relevancy. By being overlooked by the flows of wealth and information, these areas donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the ability to communicate, innovate, produce, or consume within todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world. This level of society goes beyond the poverty of the third world. Considered the Fourth World, this segment of society consists of people who are off the grid, have no cell phone, no money, and often drift into the criminal activity. They are illiterate, move from place to place, are in and out of paid work, and sometimes drug addiction. Once someone finds themselves in a situation like this, it results such social exclusion that they rarely escape (Capra, 2002).

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Photograph X Alex Gindin

Climate Change

“When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money.” - Alanis Obomsawin

Stick Graph,” has become an iconic representation of the damage our behavior has done to the atmosphere (Skeptical Science, 2016).

Hockey Stick Graph

The shape of Earth’s orbit and the tilt and wobble of its axis all affect the long-term temperature. Called Milankovitch cycles, these variations in the position of Earth in space change where the sun’s energy is focused on the surface (Wagner, 2016). This naturally occurring fluctuation in the climate does not account for the drastic rise of surface level temperature over the past hundred years. The rise is linked to CO2 in the atmosphere, which is directly related to the human behavior introduced by the Industrial Revolution. Between developed nations keeping up with the consumer culture, and developing nations paying debts to stabilize their emerging economies, the 7 billion of us on earth rely on carbon-based fuel for about 80% of our energy. (Nye, 2013). Until the 1950s, the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere didn’t pass 310 parts per million (ppm). As of 2013, the level of CO2 has passed 400 ppm. If we continue to live in the globalized Information Technology Revolution economy, the levels of atmospheric CO2 will rise to 1500 ppm over the next few centuries (NASA, 2016). Climatologists have used proxy indicators, such as tree rings, coral, and ice cores to get estimates of temperature from history. A climate study by Michael E. Mann, Raymond S. Bradley, and Malcolm K. Hughes in 1999 shows a steady decline of global temperature over the last 1000 years, then a sharp upturn in the 20th century. Seen here, the “Hockey

Photograph X Srikanta H. U.

We also have to deal with decision makers disputing climate change. Political leaders who have openly claimed global warming to be a hoax. Proposed leaders of environmental groups, like Myron Ebell, President-elect Trump’s EPA advisor, who claim clean power plants are “designed to limit innovation, to suffocate innovation in the US economy” (Dennis, 2016). Whether they have campaigns funded by coal and oil industries or try to derail the American public’s attention with climate change denial, many Americans are persuaded by their politicians to disbelieve scientific facts. Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe has received over $2 million from coal and oil industries, including ExxonMobil (oil), Murray Energy (coal), and Koch Industries (oil) (Desmog, 2016). Not just our politicians, but our leaders in education also dispute climate change. Richard Lindzen, a professor of Meteorology at MIT believes the consensus of 97% of climate scientists to be propaganda. As a Senior Fellow in the conservative think-tank Cato Institute, which received $125,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998, Lindzen has praised Exxon as “the only principled oil and gas company I know in the US.” (Desmog, 2016) The leading companies funding the climate change controversy are companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, Southern Co., and Koch Industries. (Dirty Energy Money,

reduction. (UNFCCC Kyoto, 2016) The UNFCCC developed the Paris Agreements to work similarly to the Kyoto Protocol, but not as another amendment to the existing protocol. The Paris Agreementâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aim is to hold the increase of global temperatures under 2oC above pre-industrial levels however each country deems necessary and feasible. (UNFCCC Paris, 2016) This allows developing nations to take part in the fight against climate change within their own limits.

The Spaceship X Massimo Rumi

2016) These companies have the most to lose if the public takes responsibility for our actions and change the way we interact with oil and coal. Not only are politicians funded, but institutions, publications, and nonprofits are all under the thumb of the oil and coal industry. They create reputable and believable argument for the general public to absorb. They create doubt around sound science in order to incite tension between supporters and deniers to stall any policy making in regards to regulations that might lead to less capital for them. In January 1989, the Montreal Protocol went into effect. The international protocol aimed to reduce the production of chemicals that deplete the ozone layer. By phasing out production of chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, and hydrofluorocarbons by all signed parties, the protocol is considered one of the most successful international agreements to date (UNEP, 2016). Similarly, the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the Paris Agreement 2015-present were put into effect with the hopes of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Hoping to be as widely effective as the Montreal Protocol, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change implemented the international treaties to fight global warming. The Kyoto Protocol is broken down into commitment periods with specific targets of emission

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Photograph X Caleb Jones

System Reconstruction

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.â&#x20AC;? - Mary Shelley

quality. Rather than focusing on when physical resources will run out, it is more important to be concerned for the quality of those resources (Hawken et al, 1999).

Painting X Gabriela Velez

As we have learned, the current global capitalist economy is flawed. Pawl Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins book, Natural Capitalism says of the traditional capitalist system “It neglects to assign any value to the largest stocks of capital it employs - the natural resources and living systems, as well as the social and cultural systems that are the basis of human capital.” Only by recognizing the relationship between Earth’s valuable resources and the production of manmade capital can businesses continue to exist. They suggest the “Lean Approach” of manufacturing. Lean thinking has four linked elements; the continuous flow of value, defined by the customer, by the pull of the customer in search of perfection. This line of thinking leads to the elimination of muda (Japanese word for “waste” or “purposelessness”) defined by Taiichi Ohno, the father of Toyota, as any human activity which absorbs resources by creates no value. This elimination of waste is vital. As stated earlier, the earth is currently in a state of overshoot. The Laws of Conservation of Matter and Energy state clearly that matter and energy cannot be made or destroyed, only transferred. This makes the term “consumption” an idea constructed by capitalist society. Whatever resources we use from the earth are never really “used” only transferred into products and fuel. Unfortunately, what is consumed from Earth is not matter or energy, but

Advocates: International Organizations In response to the failures of the global capitalist economy, organizations are working toward creating better corporations, local economies, small businesses, and conglomerates. This shift to sustainable practices on a grand scale parallels the third stage of succession. The old growth trees that take years to find their way into an environment already under development by the pioneering grasses and more hearty shrubs.

Forum for the Future helps organizations across the globe create a sustainable future through food and energy systems, shipping, and finance and digital technology (Forum for the Future, 2016).

The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) partner with communities, entrepreneurs, investors, and funders to fill the gaps in the collapsing system and create a better economy that works for everybody while regenerating the natural environment. They focus on creating relationships in the local economy to build equity, health and well-being (https://bealocalist.org/about).

The Natural Step is a non profit organization that has regional offices across the globe to help corporations, municipalities, academic institutions and not-for-profit organizations. They empower the decision makers to seize opportunities for sustainable practices, reduce costs, and ecological and social impacts. They have developed a system and benchmarks that work across each organization they are assisting. They have developed the Four System Conditions of a Sustainable Society. By looking at the earth as a system, they can define four conditions it needs to keep running smoothly (The Natural Step, 2016). Fossil fuels, metals and other materials should not be extracted from the earth faster than they can be redeposited or regenerated. Substances must not be produced faster than they can be broken down and reintegrated into the cycles of nature. Productive land must not be diminished in quality or quantity and we must not use more than can be recreated or renewed. Human needs must be met efficiently worldwide, including equitable resource distribution. (Boylston, 2016)

Sustainable Development Goals We understand that environmental, economical and social issues are all one. The organization we just looked at work under the knowledge that it is futile to attempt to deal with environmental problems without also dealing with factors causing international poverty and inequality. (WCED, 1987). This balance of environment, economy, and society is called the Triple Bottom Line. The UN Department for Sustainable Development has produced 17 design goals for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Named Sustainable Development Goals, they embody the idea of the Triple Bottom Line. The goals range from no more poverty or hunger by 2030, to reduced inequalities in age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, religion or economic status, decent economic growth, as well as climate action (UN DSD, 2016). These design goals are to be a rubric for developed and developing nations to aspire to by 2030. However, they are just suggestions and there is no accountability from each nation to work toward these goals.

No Poverty Zero Hunger Good Health & Well-Being Quality Education Gender Equality Clean Water & Sanitation Affordable & Clean Energy Decent Work & Economic Growth Reduced Inequalities Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure Sustainable Cities & Communities Responsible Consumption & Production

Photograph X Federica Violin

Life Below Water Life on Land Peace & Justice Strong Institutions Partnerships for the Goals 56

Sustainable Design Goals

Climate Action

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Photograph X NASA

Biomimicry “For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much— the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.” - Douglas Adams

data storage facility. With the help of Blue Planet, they are mixing waste carbon dioxide released by the power plant with the calcium byproduct of water desalination. The combination of these two waste materials is calcium carbonate: limestone. They’ve looked at coral reefs and redwood forests to understand nature’s process for filtering carbon dioxide. Coral reefs not only filter and sequester carbon, but combine it with their own waste products to produce calcium carbonate, and release carbon dioxide to create a symbiotic relationship with the algae that feed on it (Watson, 2016). Systems like prairies, old growth forests, and coral reefs are mature ecosystems that do everything we want to do. They organize themselves into diverse and integrated community of organisms with a common purpose. They maintain their presence in one place, make the most of what they have, and are enduring over many thousands of years (Benyus, 1997).

Painting X Gabriela Velez

Nature has had billions of years to perfect itself. From the vesicles of molecules that maintained a metabolism through their lipid membranes to you, reading this right now, nature has adapted to function perfectly and overcome challenges in the environment. We know now that only by recognizing the relationship between Earth’s valuable resources and the production of manmade capital can businesses continue to exist. We also understand that attempting to solve environmental problems without considering both the economy and society is fruitless. We are aware of exceedingly advanced information technology and the subsequent raise of globalization. We have opened our eyes to the fact that our manmade world is not isolated from nature, but cradled and nourished by it. The natural world makes all of our activities possible. And all of our activities have made it inoperative. Companies are innovating by imitating nature to solve some of humanity’s most dire problems. Innovators have created more aerodynamic Japanese bullet trains based on the head of a kingfisher, efficient wind turbine fins based on the tubercle lined flipper of the humpback whale, and atmospheric water vapor collecting devises based on the exoskeletons of desert beetles. One of these companies, Blue Planet, has been working with Deep Water Desal in Moss Landing, CA. Deep Water Desal is a desalination plant, power plant, and

Movement Action Plan “No matter what he does, every person on Earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn’t know it.” - Paulo Coelho

to throw away anyway. Inequality based on race, sex, and religion that results in fear based violence. In the late 1970s, Bill Moyer laid out a framework to elicit nonviolent social change. The Movement Action Plan consists of eight stages through a social movement’s progress made by 4 different roles. The citizen, the reformer, the rebel, and the change agent all play key roles in any movement and the stages it goes through. (Sustaining Community, 2011). We need to keep pointing at the anomalies and failures in the current system. “You keep speaking and acting, loudly and with assurance, from the new one. You insert people with the new paradigm in places of public visibility and power. You don’t waste time with reactionaries; rather, you work with active change agents and with the vast middle ground of people who are open minded” (Meadows, 2008). Movement Action Plan 8 Stages X Bill Moyer

Fritjof Capra said, “The phenomenon of emergence takes place at critical points of instability that arise from fluctuations in the environment.” We are currently in a critical point of instability. We have seen all of the consequences of the current system. More people in the third and fourth world. Shorter winters, longer summers, and more extreme weather conditions all over the globe. Economic fluctuations that result in more extreme poverty. Excessive use of resources with no remorse to manufacture products we are just going

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Photograph X Aaron Burden

Paradigms

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our heads are round so that thought can change direction.â&#x20AC;? - Allen Ginsberg

A paradigm is the collective understanding of how the world works. The last two leverage points, shifting paradigms, and transcending paradigms, are the two most difficult to accomplish that bring about the most drastic results. Shifting Paradigms changes the shared ideas and deepest understandings about the way the world works in the minds of society out of which systems arise. Everyone has an idea of the world, based on everyone elseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s idea of the world. The paradigm remains unstated because everyone subconsciously knows it. The shift in paradigms totally transforms a system, and happens in one mind at a time in a millisecond. Humans have shifted paradigms before. Copernicus introduced a heliocentric model of our solar system in the 17th century that wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t accepted until after his death. Shifting from the expansion model of the world to the sustainable model would alleviate the amount of stress developed nations put on the earth. Developing nations wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be indebted and could focus on stabilizing their economies and improving the quality of life. We would see a narrowing of the wealth gap, and so more people with access to essentials for human life. More people below the poverty line would be connected into the information and communication networks, resulting in a rise in literacy, more creativity and innovation to benefit the human race.

The Deep Ecology movement views the inherent value in all living beings and uses is as a way of shaping environmental policies. The people who work for social change based on this idea are motivated by love of nature as well as for humans. We will destroy the diversity and beauty of the world without changes in basic values and practices of the industrial culture. Like the idea of the circular economy, the Deep Ecology movement views the earth as a metabolism rather than a stock of raw material to be used to satisfy our own consumption and production processes. There are 8 principles by which Deep Ecology movement commits to respecting the values of richness and diversity.

The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman life on Earth have inherent worth independent of the usefulness of the nonhuman world for human purposes. Richness and diversity of life form contribute to the realization of these values and are also values in themselves. Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital needs.

Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening. The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of the human population. The flourishing of nonhuman life requires such a decrease. The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of the human population. The flourishing of nonhuman life requires such a decrease. Policies must therefore be changed. The changes in policies affect basic economic, technological, and ideological structures. The resulting state of affairs will be deeply different from the present. The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in situations of inherent worth) rather than adhering to an increasingly higher standard of living. There will be a profound awareness of the difference between big and great. obligation directly or indirectly to participate in the attempt to implement the necessary changes (Dregson, 2012).

Photograph X Sandis Helvigs

Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an

“Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you’ve got a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies- “God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.” - Kurt Vonnegut

Transcending Paradigms is the most difficult leverage point to implement but would make the greatest impact. If a paradigm is every personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s view of the world, then transcending paradigms is the understanding that there are no true paradigms. By letting go of any limited human understanding of the vast, extraordinary, immense universe around us we let go any means of control and power. To truly live free of paradigmes is a delicate and tumultuous state of being.

Earth from Space X NASA

Now is the time for nothing but kindness. Be kind to each other, be kind to your friends, family, strangers, and people you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand. Designers, policy makers, advocates, teachers, men, women and everything in between, think about how your actions affect the people and the world around you. We have shifted paradigms before. We can do it again. The old adage says to live like there is no tomorrow. To make every day count. Tomorrow is a relative term. We are never getting there. We should start today taking action to fix the damage done in the past that could ruin the future. There really will be no tomorrow, if we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t start acting right now.

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