The Visionaries We Ignored

quotThe earth provides enough to satisfy everyone39s need but not everyone39s greedquot amp8211 Mohandas Gandhi1quotSo nature does indeed need protection from man but man too needs protection from his own acts for he is part of the living world His war against nature is inevitably a war against himself His heedless and destructive acts enter into the vast cycles of the earth and in time return to himquot amp8211 Rachel Carson 19622quotThe modern economist is used to measuring the standard of living by the amount of annual consumption assuming all the time that a man who consumes more is better off than a man who consumes less A Buddhist economist would consider this approach excessively irrational since consumption is merely a means to human wellbeing The aim should be to obtain the maximum of wellbeing with a minimum of consumptionquot amp8211 EF Schumacher 19683quotWhen 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 can39t eat moneyquot amp8211 Alanis Obomsawin 19724quotWhat you people call your natural resources our people call our relativesquot amp8211 Oren Lyons5quotThere are professions more harmful than Industrial Design but only a very few of them And possibly only one profession phonier Advertising Design in persuading people to buy things they don39t need with money they don39t have in order to impress others who don39t carequot amp8211 Victor Papanek 19736Oh the Voices We Could Have Listened ToThe more we have researched this book the more we have discovered and rediscovered 39voices39 from the past whose messages are perhaps more relevant today than they ever wereMaybe this is because the situation today is more urgent than it ever has been and maybe because there was a moment of clarity or even sanity in the mid1960s and early 70s when many people looked ahead and saw the dire implications of our headlong pursuit of growth everincreasing consumption and progress at all costs They spoke up and people listened for a short while but then they were swayed by the rhetoric of politicians like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan who claimed that progress and technology were the saviors of all So the majority put on their blinders to the obvious signs of concern and got back to the neoliberal grindstoneIn a book about design it is important to note that the majority of these voices weren39t from within the design profession and in many ways that39s the point Designers ever since they emerged as a profession at the start of the industrial revolution have aligned themselves with the forces of economic development The few design voices that cautioned against this were largely vilified and discreditedR Buckminster FullerOne of the key voices in this period was R Buckminster Bucky Fuller In 1968 he proclaimed that society had reached 39a fork in the road397 Back then he was convinced that 39oblivion39 was around the corner Fifty three years later we are still discussing the same issues and society has blithely continued on its path to oblivion In fact many believe we have passed the 39fork39 and the only sane action see the image below would be to try to forge a path back to the road to 39Utopia39In 1965 Fuller declared that the next decade should be dubbed the decade of design and be committed through 39world design39 to bringing our way of living and consuming back to operating within the resources of our single planet8 As we in this book call for a similar focus on the role of design over the next ten years we take note of the strength of his original call and the resounding apathy that he was met withquotOne hundred years from now historians will note that in the period of 1927 to 1967 man was so preoccupied and so relatively illiterate that he thought it all right to leave the problems of the world to the politicians This idea will look preposterous in the perspective of historyquot amp8211 Buckminster Fuller 19629It is clear that over fifty years later the issues he identified are largely still at play and in some cases markedly worse For the sake of the planet and the survival of our species this time we have to do betterBuckminster Fuller39s voice was not alone in calling for a radical shift in the way we live our lives and what our priorities areRachel CarsonIn 1962 Rachel Carson a Marine Biologist and Conservationist published 39Silent Spring3910 decrying the indiscriminate use of pesticides and their impact on all life forms 39Silent Spring39 is widely acknowledged as one of the key influences in birthing the Global Environmental Movement and in 2006 the book was named one of the 25 greatest science books of all time11It is also interesting to note that in her book she prefigures Fuller39s 39Fork in the Road39 metaphor with a similar one of her own written in 1962 and inspired by Robert Frost39s poem 39The Road Not Taken39quotWe stand now where two roads diverge But unlike the roads in Robert Frost39s familiar poem they are not equally fair The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed but at its end lies disaster The other fork of the road amp8211 the one less traveled by amp8211 offers our last our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earthquot amp8211 Rachel Carson 196212Robert KennedyCarson39s work was supported and endorsed by President John Kennedy This seminal work that sparked the environmental movement for one bright moment in 1968 also inspired the presidential candidate Robert Kennedy In a campaign speech at the University of Kansas inspired by Carson39s urgent call for change he made the case that the use of GDP as the primary measure of economic success was fundamentally flawed His delivery was both inspirational and relatable In a passage that is even more relevant today he told the crowd that GDP tallied the wrong metrics It quotmeasures neither our wit nor our courage neither our wisdom nor our learning neither our compassion nor our devotion to our countryquot He went on to note that it left out the unpaid work of mothers and care givers it ignored inequality in society it ignored the health and education of our children the intelligence of public debate and the integrity of public officials13 Today we see all of these measures in stark contrast as key indicators of a healthy society Sadly his voice was snuffed out all too soonEF SchumacherEF Schumacher an economist and statistician made a call in the same period for a reconsideration of capitalism and consumption and the way that Westernstyle progress and development was being 39prescribed39 as the solution to all issues across the globe In 1964 he wrote an article called 39Buddhist Economics3914 which was influenced by his travels to India and across South Asia and in particular the Gandhian principles Swaraj lived out by the people he met and collaborated withHe put forward a manifesto for 39optimal39 consumption driven by needs as opposed to one of 39maximal39 consumption driven by desires His proposals and the challenges they lay down are even more relevant today and are seen in the trends of minimalism thrifting and decluttering In the same way the title of his most famous book quotSmall is Beautiful Economics as if People Matteredquot15 published in 1973 resonates even more today when wellbeing of people and planet are thrust aside on the rationale of safeguarding profits and the bottom line In 1995 over twenty years since it was first published The Times Literary Supplement ranked this book as one of the 100 most influential books published since the Second World War16Another aspect of Schumacher39s work the Intermediate Technology movement is not as well known in the developed West but has had significant impact in those countries deemed 39less developed39 He defined and championed the deployment of 39Appropriate or Intermediate Technology39 as opposed to 39High Technology39 approaches in developing economies His commitment to these ideas resulted in the founding in 1970 of the Intermediate Technology Development Group ITDG an international organization now called Practical Action which works across the 39developing world39 applying the types of technologies that can be sustained and fully utilized at the local level quotputting ingenious ideas to work so people in poverty can change their worldquot17One of the key drivers for this work were failed experiments that involved installing high tech solutions to local problems that once the Western 39experts39 had left could neither be fully utilized nor repaired when they broke downVictor PapanekThis theme of matching the technology to context is one the key factors at play in the project illustrated below Victor Papanek was commissioned in 1962 by the US Army to design a radio that could be produced cheaply so that people in remote parts of the world could receive health and educational information via radioThis radio is perhaps the most famousinfamous project that Papanek worked on and the one he was most vilified for Why Because in 1962 it went against every principle of so called progress This was the age of the transistor radio Everyone aspired to own a portable radio that blasted out the music of the 60s In contrast despite fulfilling the brief in the most efficient and accessible manner his radio was not sleek or stylish It cost only 6 cents was made from an old food can and could be powered by paraffin wax or even dung18Since the Industrial Revolution the Western world had committed itself to the pursuit of progress and profit driven by consumption of the latest products To suggest as Schumacher and Papanek did that technological progress was not the panacea to all ills was heretical and had to be squashedIn 1996 the Freeplay Radio company19 addressed this same need of providing access to health and educational information to remote locations via radio They developed a range of 39windup39 products based on the invention of a 39clockwork radio39 by Trevor Baylis The first models developed were ironically more successful in Western markets but later the company developed the 39Lifeline Radio39 as a specific response to the originally identified need The radio by Papanek was cancelled by the military because they feared supplying a microphone for communist propaganda20 the second over thirty years later was lauded as a huge step forward in healthcare and was promoted and funded by governments and celebritiesAnother example of this is the One Laptop Per Child initiative led by Nicholas Negroponte Over 15 years after this initiative it is unclear what impact it had in the world Three million laptops were produced and distributed primarily in Latin America and for a number of years the initiative gained a great deal of attention but the reality of the project fell prey to its hype In 2019 Morgan Ames wrote quotThe Charisma Machine the life death and legacy of one laptop per childquot21 In this book he lays out some of the triumphs and challenges of this impressive initiative One of the key challenges with any initiative like this is that technology is moving so fast especially in the IT and communications sector it39s almost guaranteed to be out of date before it39s deliveredRadio technology is more established but even in this space smart phones are taking over Bringing it home and to the present the issues that Negroponte was citing in 2005 in less developed economies were right in our backyards when the pandemic hit Children were sitting in fast food drivethroughs to get WiFi access and submitting homework on smart phones because they had no other technologyPapanek died in 1998 and his legacy lives on as one of the brashest design voices calling for a radical shift in how the profession operated He worked for the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO and the World Health Organization WHO He called designers 39dangerous39 and criticized designs that he saw as tawdry unsafe and frivolous As a result he was shunned by design academics in some of the world39s most prestigious institutionsHis book 39Design for the Real World39 was translated into twenty three languages and is one of the widestread books about design Bucky Fuller was a friend of Papanek and wrote an enthusiastic forward to the first edition of the book Papanek was ahead of his time in calling for a sharing economy in his book quotHow Things Don39t Workquot22 and for designers to be radically humancentered in their work In quotDesign for Human Scalequot23 he stated thatquotMass production has turned many manufacturers into latterday sorcerer39s apprentices amp8211 unaware of the way a small misjudgment multiplied a million times can tatter social coherencequotIn his last major work quotThe Green Imperativequot24 he revisited many of the themes he began to address in quotDesign for the Real Worldquot Perhaps his most impactful statement in the book is the hopeful and possibly naamp239ve reflection thatquotPerhaps there should be no special category called 39sustainable design39 It might be simpler to assume that all designers will try to reshape their values and their work so that all design is based on humilityquotHe went on to sayquotEcology and environmental equilibrium are the basic underpinnings of all human life on earth there can be neither life nor human culture without it Design is concerned with the development of products tools machines artefacts and other devices and this activity has profound and direct influence on ecology The design response must be positive and unifying Design must be the bridge between human needs culture and ecologyquotBoth Fuller and Papanek though advocates for design were also strident critics of its often unthinking service of capitalist economics and rampant consumerism Their voices however were far from aloneVance Packard and Ralph NaderVance Packard a journalist author and social critic attacked excessive consumption in quotThe Hidden Persuadersquot and how it was driven by psychology in marketing25 He then went on in quotThe Waste Makersquot26 to attack planned obsolescence and its impact on societyPackard39s hard hitting books were followed in a similar vein by Ralph Nader39s exposamp233 of deficiencies in American automobile design Nader is a lawyer consumer advocate and environmentalist who played a key role in the formation of safety legislation in the automobile industry His book quotUnsafe at Any Speedquot27 highlighted the 39designedin39 dangers of some cars and his title for Chapter Six 39It39s the Curve that Counts39 encapsulates his view that the sole concerns of car designers at that time were stylistic changes and the 39sales curve39 Nader went on to push for safety legislation in many areas including clean water and consumer products as well as championing whistleblower legislation and the formation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act As part of his activism he made four presidential bids between 1996 and 2008The Whole Earth CatalogueIn 1968 Stewart Brand published quotThe Whole Earth Cataloguequot28 It was a fascinating if shortlived attempt 50 issues to place resources in the hands of people who wanted to live a more independent selfsustaining lifeamp8230 one that was less about consumption and had a lighter ecosystem footprint and supported a regenerative lifestyle Certain elements of quotThe Whole Earth Cataloguequot include pioneer rhetoric a celebration of individualism and a disdain for government and social institutionsLimits to GrowthIn 1970 a group of scientists met to discuss the multiple crises facing humanity and the planet As a result of that meeting a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT began a study of the implications of continued worldwide growth The results were published by the newly formed 39Club of Rome39 under the title quotThe Limits to Growth Reportquot29 50 years later the club39s website statesquotWhile Limits had many messages it fundamentally confronted the unchallenged paradigm of continuous material growth and the pursuit of endless economic expansion Fifty years later there is no doubt that the ecological footprint of humanity substantially exceeds its natural limits every yearquot30The concerns of the Club of Rome have not lost their relevance This work has been continued since then and a new publication quotPost Growth Life after Capitalismquot31 by Professor Tim Jackson is a wonderfully hopeful and inspiring work It mines history for the fuel to face headon challenges that must be addressed as a society as we evolve because we must to a postgrowth economy Jackson begins his book with two quotesquotHistory despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlived but if faced with courage need not be lived againquot amp8211 Maya Angelou 1993quotWhereof what39s past is prologue what39s to come in yours and my dischargequot amp8211 William Shakespeare 1610It is indeed in our discharge As we write this chapter the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC has released another report on the irreversible damage that we as a species have done to our home planet32 The report received a great deal of news coverage and the hope is that we will all begin to listen before it is too late to carve out a livable existence for all of usThis cartogram produced in 2003 18 years out of date at the time of this writing shows the impact of consumption and economic growth and the places where it is at its most rampant and most impactful to global ecologyPlaced in this context Fuller39s cautions and publications in particular quotThe Operating Manual for Space Ship Earthquot sit as key narratives in a moment in history which loudly calls for a shift in priorities and practices Instead the Western economies have at best wrung their hands and at worst been complicit as the neoliberal machine has rumbled on crushing people and ecosystems in its wakeKen GarlandWe will end this chapter with another designer Ken Garland who in 1963 expressed his concern at the role of designers supporting increasing consumerism He proposed the 39First Things First Manifesto39 at a meeting of the Society of Industrial Artists ampamp Designers He along with the other signatories challenged the graphic design profession to work on projects quotworth their skillquot as opposed to contributing to the quothigh pitched scream of consumer sellingquotquotIn common with an increasing number of the general public we have reached the saturation point in which the highpitched scream of consumer selling is no more than sheer noise We think there are other things more worth using our skill and experience onquot amp8211 Ken Garland 196333In 2000 the design activist organization 39Adbusters39 paid tribute to Garland and revised the manifesto for the new millennium In 2014 the manifesto was again revised and framed by the statementquotMany of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with how the profession39s time and energy is used up manufacturing demands for things that are inessential at bestquot34Building on this they launched the First Things First Project In their explanatory statement they writequotOver a halfcentury since Garland39s original First Things First Manifesto and the state of the world remains entrenched in vapid consumerist design Society has forgotten design39s political and emancipatory historyquot35If you are a designer and you haven39t already signed up to the 2020 Adbusters Manifesto the link is here httpswwwfirstthingsfirst2020orgThe following image is an example of their challenge to the professionClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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The Visionaries We Ignored

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David Houle

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