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
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Papanek,V (1995) The Green Imperative, Ecology and
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Orr,D (2002) The Nature of Design, Ecology, Culture
and Human Intention: Oxford
McDonough,W & Barungart,M (2002) Cradle to Cradle:
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Rodgers,H (2010) Green Gone Wrong: Verso
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