This week I have been reading the book Cradle to Cradle, in this chapter, the auther mentioned people in preindustrialization time would pay more attention to reusing, exchanging, selling products instead of throwing them away like what modern people frequently do. Barely nobody would choose to repair their some objects like hair dryer, lamp etc. I cannot even find store that can repair them on the street. ‘Throwaway products have become the norm.’

That basicly due to the disproportionate development between industry and nature.  What we take is way beyond the natural capacity. ‘But as cheaper materials and new synthetics flooded the postwar market, it became less expensive for industries to make a new aluminum, plastic, or glass bottle or package at a central plant and ship it out than to build up local infrastructures for collecting, transporting, cleaning, and processing things for reuse.’

It’s understandable people lived in modernity couldn’t squeeze time or energy to try to repair something they bought at a cheap price. That means designers should design something based on the norm – The Hannover principles, for example, to make sure the products won’t post threat to nature. At the same time, we have to be careful with ‘Monstrous Hybrids’ – which from what I see, the fake recycled products.

Each product has origin. When I am looking at my books, my laptop, where they will be after I done using them? Will they be decomposed under the ground or will they be the materials for next batches? To find out how can we remake things, we need the detailed  information of the ciuculation. But that’s exactly what is missing right now. If we all care more about what they came from and what they will belong, can it stop our tossing behaviour to some extent?

Week3 – Products feed nature. / Chen Zhang / Environmental Design: Materials, Ecologies, Futures (2020-2021)[SEM1] by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0