Monday, 23 January 2012

Essay


Can an ecologically reformed capitalist society be achieved or is society too stuck in its pre-ecological ways?

Our current capitalist society has lead us to a Kleenex culture way of life, where ‘all systems…are built on the assumption that we must buy more, consume more, waste more, throw away more.’ (Papanek, 1971, p252)
Agreeing with Papaneks view, Orr states ‘we lack the gene for enough’ (Orr, 2002, p25), which has lead our current society into a state of constant wants and needs that are unnecessary, leading people to have ‘no ethical obligation to our planetary home.’ (Roszak, 1993, p14) Brands and companies are gaining from our consumerist society, when the issue of the environment was brought into their attention they responded by green washing their campaigns. This has conducted an artificial market; it has become hard to tell which companies are actually trying to make an ecological difference to how they run their business and which are using green washing as a front in their campaigns and products. Capitalism has let consumer culture take over and ignore the question of social responsibility. In this current state is it possible to achieve a reformed capitalism or does society need to re-design the way it works and create a new kind of politics. Orr claims, ‘A reformed capitalism is still capitalism’ (Orr, 2002, p108), so the latter choice may be our only option.

‘Recycling is an aspirin, alleviating a rather large collective hangover…over consumption’ (McDonough & Braungart, 2002, p50), which has become a very imminent problem.  Product culture and commodity fetishism has been ‘allowed to run wild’ (Panaek, 1995, p47) it has left our planet in a state which it can no longer handle, the landfills cannot cope with the quantities of materials that are being thrown away. The materials that are being used for products and packaging have become too throw away and need to be used less, currently ‘plastic bottles will be around for between two and four hundred years’ (Papnek, 1995, p39) which is having detrimental effects on the planet. A lot of the plastic being disposed off is ending up in Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Ocean, it is estimated there is between 700,000 square kilometres to more than 15,000,000 square kilometres particles of plastic floating around this area of the ocean. The design of products needs to be changed and designers need to ‘consider the whole’ (McDonough & Braungart, 2002, p60), when products are designed they need to not just become useless waste when their main function has expired, they need to be designed with ‘cultural, commercial and ecological’ (McDonough & Braungart, 2002, p60) aspects in mind. However Orr argues 

   ‘the problem is not how to produce ecologically benign products for
    the consumer economy, but how to make decent communities in which
    people grow to be responsible citizens and whole people.’
   (Orr, 2002, p12)

Which leads back to the question of if an ecologically reformed capitalism could work or like Orr states new communities need to develop which allow people to grow and learn to be responsible citizens and live ecologically conscientious lives.  However would this lead to a dystopian society, like in Aldous Huxleys ‘Brave New World’, sold as a utopian society but really under an oppressive dictatorship. An ecologically sound lifestyle should not be born out of oppression and dictatorship; it should be ‘built into the structure of daily life’ (Orr, 2002, p31)

‘6% of the worlds population consumes more than 35% of its resources’ (Papnek, 1995, p47), this statistic is concerning, cutting back is something that must be taken seriously. A lot of what goes to waste in a product is the packaging, a lot of money is spent on the packaging of a product and a lot of these packages are un-recyclable due to the material they are made from and the inks used to colour and decorate them. Orr states ‘we waste more than one million pounds of materials per person per year’, (Orr, 2002, p15) as well as wasting a lot of money on materials a lot of the money doesn’t even make its way back to the source of the product,

   ‘Only about 1 % of the costs of a large box of cornflakes in the USA goes
    to the farmer-the remaining 99% accounts for packaging, distribution
    and  profit  for an army of middlemen.’ (Papnek, 1995, p170’)   

Even though these facts and statistics are known, the idea of reducing and using less within packaging does not seem to be slowing down at any rate that would make a significant difference. ‘Doing more with less’ (McDonough & Braungart, 2002, p51) would make for a more eco efficient society and protect our planet and environment. However, society has an urge, which seems to be engrained into it, ‘To own to buy to consume’ (Papnek, 1995, p184) which creates a competitive consumer market, products fight for a place on the shelves and to stand out, their packaging is how they grab the consumers attention, why would they want to tone down their packaging and possibly become un-noticed next to their brightly coloured, fancy competitors. As Orr comments ‘the sources of remote tyranny in our time prefer to keep us in a state of consumer besotted ignorance’, brands and companies want you to continue to buy their products in all their highly visual packaging and what seems to be the companies issue is they seem to have ‘a problem with ecological design.’ (Orr, 2002, p12)

Capitalisms answer for the waste of materials is recycling, however capitalism ‘is not famous for protecting environments’ (Orr, 2002, p107), and as McDonough and Braungart state ‘just because a material is recycled does not make it ecologically benign’ (McDonough & Braungart, 2002, p59). ‘The emphasis should be on reducing consumption rather than recycling that which has already been consumed.’ (Dobson, 1990, p85)  This is the point that needs to be focused on in society, humanity needs to start fixing its mind into an ecological state, and incorporate itself into a more ecologically sound way of life.  Van Der Ryn and Cowan definition of ecological design is as follows ‘any form of design that minimizes environmental destructive impacts by integrating itself with living process.’ (Van Der Ryn & Cowan, 1996, p18) Society needs to not just be recycling, but minimizing the amount of materials it uses. Recycling is becoming a tactic that companies use to green wash their products and packaging. Products that claim to be recycled should be questioned, as Papnek suggests, ‘the ‘environmentally friendly’ recycling imitative started by the plastics industry should be welcomed with great caution.’ (Papnek, 1995, p39) Recycling products is the beginning to becoming a more ecological society, but it is by no means a solution.

The amount of products claiming to be green doubled between 2007 and 2008 and green advertising of products tripled between 2006 and 2008.  These companies claiming to be green need ‘a deeper understanding of nature’ (Papnek, 1995, p48) before they can label their products as being environmentally friendly. The products themselves may have been designed with the environment in mind to some extent, but still a lot of packaging is not recyclable. ‘Landfills can no longer absorb such enormous quantities’ (Papnek, 1995, p39) and as Porritt argues ‘it’s time for the economics of enough’ (Porritt, 1984, p125) as the rate that society is consuming is become increasingly hard for the planet to handle. Goldsmith argues that the satisfactions people gain from consumption should be replaced by ‘satisfactions of a non-material kind…social ones’ (Goldsmith, 1988, p197), this is something ecological politics aims to achieve. If companies stopped green washing their products and just cut down on the materials they use it will produce better implications on communities and society as a whole. When designing the whole needs to be in mind, Papnek questions the role of design and ecology as a social issue,

   ‘The question of ecology as a socially based priority asks that design
    and planning consider sustainability and social justice as reciprocal
    conditions- that saving the planet and saving the community become
    one- inseparable.’

Trying to improve the ecological state of society can only be achieved if the people designing the products consider sustainability and the consumers buy responsibly. This all leads back to the main question of if this can be achieved in our current capitalist society. At the moment ‘our public priorities…are upside down’ (Orr, 2002, p105) and need to be reformed.

‘Design must be the bridge between human needs, cultural and ecology’ (Papnek, 1995, p29), as Papnek states, he also claims that ‘no design stands alone’ (Papnek, 1995, p48), every choice made has a knock on consequence. When new products are being designed and considered to be introduced to the consumer market the consequences of that product need to be thought out, the ecology benefits as well as practical and social benefits must now be considered. As Orr comments,

   ‘Ecological design, then, requires not just a set of generic design skills
    but rather the collective intelligence of a community of people applied
    to particular problems in a particular place over a long period of time’
   (Orr, 2002, p9)


We need to abolish these ‘objectification of needs’ (Papnek, 1995, p186) as Marx wrote in Letters in Ricardo, ‘consumerism is not deeply ingrained in the worlds cultures’ (Papnek, 1995, p186) it is a superficial phenomenon. If the designers set out to make their products in mind of an ecological society it could have a knock on effect on product consumption, if every new product that is designed has been thought out, if it is necessary, if it will benefit society, then there would be less of a ‘production-consumption-discard cycle.’ (Papnek, 1995, p186) This is a cycle that can’t continue, so if designers can control it from the source, it will benefit the whole, a ‘natural capitalism’ (McDonough & Braungart, 2002, p150) needs to come into action and soon.
The ideology of doing more with less is a mindset that needs to be applied to society, alongside ideas of sharing not buying and co-operatives.  A reformed state is not something that can happen over night, it will take time for communities and society to change the way it runs, but if the ideals of ecology are applied it could be achieved. ‘Objects alone can never fulfil real human needs and longings’ (Papnek, 1995, p185) a society needs to be created that is sustainable but also enriches peoples lives, and fulfils needs and longings in a way that can’t be bought, that is inherently ingrained into life.

The real issue surrounding an ecological society is our current state of capitalism, ‘denial is in the air’ (Orr, 2002, p86) and the question ‘can it (capitalism) be reformed along ecological lines?’ (Orr, 2002, p107) Designers can change they way they think about materials they use and the necessity of new products, but in the capitalist society there lingers the question ‘what about the economy.’ (Papnek, 1995, p182) Capitalism and ecology work on very different values systems and they both aspire to achieve different things so their compatibility seems to be a far-fetched ideal. ‘Even a reformed capitalism would still be that works best when people confuse who they are with what they own’ (Orr, 2002, p108), commodity fetishism seems to be engrained into the current capitalist state and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere fast, which doesn’t bode well for ecology. The only real choice seems to be that a new politics is introduced, one with values better matched to ecological ideals. As it currently stands ‘Capitalism…Is no more likely to transform itself into an ecotopia than lions are to become vegetarians.’ (Orr, 2002, p108) However Jefferson quoted ‘the earth belongs to the living and not to the dead’, (Jefferson, 1816, p244) we should live simply so future generations can simply live.

(Words-2,064)                                                 

Bibliography

Roszak, T (1993) The Voice of the Earth: An Exploration of Ecopsychology: Phanes Press,

Papnek,V (1971) Design for the Real World, Human Ecology and Social Change: Thames and Hudson

Papanek,V (1995) The Green Imperative, Ecology and Ethics in Design and Architecture: Thames and Hudson

Orr,D (2002) The Nature of Design, Ecology, Culture and Human Intention: Oxford

McDonough,W & Barungart,M (2002) Cradle to Cradle: North Point Press

Rodgers,H (2010) Green Gone Wrong:  Verso

Dobson,A (1990) Green Political Thought: Routledge

Van der Ryn S, Cowan S (1996) Ecological Design: Island Press

Porrit, J (1984) Seeing Green: Oxford,Blackwell

Goldsmith, E & Hillard, N (1986) Green Britian or Industrial Wasteland?: Oxford, Polity Press

Jefferson,T, (1816) Letter to Charles Yancey, January 6: Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, 14th Edition

Greenpeace, 2012, Green Washing, (Online), Available at http://stopgreenwash.org/






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