Part C
Climate change events will probably dramatically alter how human beings view and occupy their world. Sustainment implies a new economic paradigm that enfolds redistributive justice to meet this situation but its initiation requires major directional political and economic change. This change is neither just an option nor utopian but an absolute necessity. Within it, equity, justice and conflict reduction are no less a priority than establishing the care of natural resources and halting the destabilization of the planet's atmosphere. (Fry, 2011, p. 31)
Through this work echo the efforts of many, but many more are those this work is for. It has become clear that it is not possible to proceed in continuity with our ways of living, with the same value systems and reproducing abusive narratives of Nature, since there will be no life in a perished Earth. We are not the masters of the land, we are part of it.
This work examined and distilled alternative socioeconomic models and design approaches, since both would be essential in the movement towards sustainment. Taking up Tony Fry's vision for remodeling our systems, we have undressed the relation between Nature, economy, and politics in the first part of this work, examining its main touch-points and frameworks of interaction. We then explored a few alternative socioeconomic systems that could be more beneficial to a politics of Nature. In the second part, we started by unveiling design’s participation on the unsustainable and reclothed it with interesting, varied insights that can positively impact the nexus that themes this book.
After this analysis, if we search for positive design approaches that organize “the decisions that concern if and how humans will collectively interact with Nature”, it is possible to infer that design practices and theories that are positive to politics of Nature is not only the good design of environmental politics (which are absolutely necessary and we have gathered inputs for that) but also the design of everyday objects or processes in a way that is political and oriented towards an ecocentric and pluriversal reality. It would take, however, an effort to look critically into design frameworks and myths and really discuss how it's done, what it's done with (in terms of materials and processes), what is its impact in governance and what visions it feeds.
Some ideas on roles of the designer in the transition to alternative politics of Nature are outlined in the map of this book, which suggest that design can be a connector of symbiotic individuals/groups; supporter of autonomous communities; conscious implementer of materiality and production techniques; contributor to political justice; and nurturer of collective sustainable visions. These roles of the designer can be performed through shaping ways of doing or ways of living; supporting couples processes; enhancing communication; materializing narratives and visions. To this process, this author offers some suggestions, based on the research presented in this book, on what can be the purpose in a larger scale, such as building a culture of care; enabling locally sourcing of materials and thoughts; enticing comprehensive wealth accountings or a new concept of value; or democratizing politics of Nature. All these processes should seek to restructure, revision or reinterpret what we understand as human, Nature, and the Earth; recognize or recreate local narratives of Nature; reestablish respect for what is not inside the spheres of the “I”; and finally, truly understand the life-giving and essential role Nature plays in our society with the awareness that she is not endless.
These are ideas based on the text we are concluding now, but that can be surely further refined and explored. In fact, the map becomes a tool that can be hopefully helpful for supplementary explorations of the theories discussed, since it allows the creation of scenarios. We can see some examples.