Man... & nature

Man...& Nature documents the design process of Haz Roth as she completes her final project at Copenhagen's Institute of Interaction Design.

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Exploration#1 - Extracting Micro-plastics out of consumer goods 

This exploration took a day in total, but was worth it to realise I could get them out and also hear people's reactions when they could see it with their own eyes. 

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Brainstorming

A few weeks ago now I had a brainstorming session with a few fine classmates. A day before the brainstorm, I asked everybody to think about where, and how, plastic occurs in their routines. These are the outcomes. 

What I found from this exercise is that when people think of plastic, they predominantly think of plastic packaging and therefore, may be unaware of all the other places one may find plastic in their lives. 

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Slavoj Zizek in Examined Life

[haz-roth-finalproject]

TEDxCanberra - Will Steffen - The Anthropocene

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Micro-plastics

What are micro-plastics?

Micro-plastics are any piece of plastic under 5mm long.

Where do they come from?

Unlike the Great Pacific Garbage Patch where the problem is far away, 70% of micro-plastics originate on land. They accumulate along coasts near big towns and cities and eventually move with the ocean to the large plastic gyres around the world. 

They come in two main forms:

1. Original microplastics (plastics made under 5mm)

Industrial pellets (used to make plastic bags,etc)

Beads in exfoliants 

Jewellery beads

Clothing fibre from washing machines

2. Transformed micro-plastics (larger plastic items broken down into smaller pieces) 

any consumer packaging thrown or blown into the sea. 

How do they affect us?

Micro-plastics can be so small that they are invisible to the human eye. Marine life often eat these small pieces of plastic, which then eventually eaten by us. 

Although there are few scientific studies which document the affects on humans, it is widely acknowledged that these particles can move up the food chain and affect humans.

"I guess because micro-plastics are everywhere in quite high concentration, especially along the coast particularly close to cities and big towns it can easily affect the entire ecosystem by affecting all the compartments and at the end it will, it must,  effect humans.”

- Scientist at LEMAR institute Paris

Micro-plastics attract harmful pollutants in the sea, such DDCs, POPs, and metals and absorb them onto their surface. When they are ingested, stomach conditions help the toxins exude from the plastic and into the body. 

These toxins can easily multiply and increase the further one travels up the food chain. Effectively, the animal at the highest level of the food chain becomes most vulnerable (i.e. us). 

To me, this is the most scary impact of micro-plastics. These toxins can impact mental and physical behaviours of animals generations after the original ingestion. 

Where to go from here?

Much of this information has been surprising and worrying for me. I think that people can make behavioural changes to reduce the amount of plastic that comes into our lives and ends up in the ocean, but at present it demands a complication in daily life. 

- How can people easily change their plastic buying habits?

- Can choosing non-plastic over plastic be the easy/ sexy/ aspirational choice?

- What affordances do bio-plastics have? 

[haz-roth-finalproject]

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Large scale version of Global Marine Issues table. Click to enlarge.

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Global Marine Issues

This is a table of all the desk research I conducted into Global Marine issues. The top layer lists the ways in which these problems affect the environment. The bottom layer lists how these environmental problems may affect humans. 

While these issues are all extremely interesting to me, I wanted to taper the focus by understanding how a global problem may effect western, well -off countries such as Denmark. Below is a list of the three I chose. 

1. Micro - plastics - this is already a global problem, which is not known about on the scale as the plastic gyres or global warming. How do Micro-plastics affect life in Copenhagen? What affects may they have on our futures? 

2. Industrial Sea Scape - As a result of climate change Copenhagen will become a warmer, more humid, country. There have been discussions about how Copenhageners may get a different source of protein in the form of seaweed. Imagine, a seascape which includes farms of seaweed, fish farms, and more. How would the relationship people have to the sea change? What kind of tools may one need to farm seaweed? 

3. Sea Level Rise - Sea level rise will have a drastic impact on climate in Copenhagen. Systematic changes are being handled by the Danish Government in a 20 year official plan with predictions into 2100. However, what will change for the city dweller? How may people adapt to living in a city with severe rainfall on a regular basis? How may people's relationship to rain change in the future? 

Out of these I further narrowed once more to focus on primarily on Micro-plastics. I chose this direction because it doesn't involve as much fantasy as the other two - although that was part of the appeal - it will be interesting to design a process around a global problem that exists here and now. 

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Last week I narrowed down from global issues to concentrate on one element - water. As the Danish Commune describes the country as a "land enriched by water" I wanted to explore the special relationship Danish people have with water. 

[haz-roth-finalproject]

This week I am tracking how much water I am using. 

This is how much water I used for my shower where I washed my hair. I would normally have shaved my legs too, but seeing how much water I was already using I decided against it. 

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Biodiversity

A couple of days ago I buried my head in articles on the internet to understand more about the term "biodiversity" and what this means for humans.

Biodiversity is a term used to describe the variety of living things on earth. 

"Biological diversity encompasses microorganism, plants, animals and ecosystems such as coral reefs, forests, rainforests, deserts etc."

                       As we expand our cities and grow as a global population we need to create methods of fuelling all those houses, and feeding all those grumbly bellies. The methods of doing so have been extremely beneficial for us, but has had draw-backs for the plant and animal kingdom. 

These draw-backs have been:

Habitat destruction

Introduction of new plant and animal species to different areas 

Excessive hunting

Climate change

Over Population. 

What surprised me was that as a result of this it is estimated that 140,000 species a year are becoming extinct. At present, 1/3 of all known species are threatened with extinction and by 2050 30% of all species are predicted to be extinct. 

What is the impact for us?

A lot of human food comes from a very small amount of plant and animal species so these will probably always be cared for. The problem of continuing to destroy habitats and expand cities boarders in the way we are doing now is that we could be making extinct something that could help us solve a problem in the future. 

Diversification of crops makes them stronger and makes recreational activities more enjoyable for us. I think everyone can remember a time when they saw an animal they never knew existed on the discovery channel and felt a mix of excitement and astonishment. Humans too find pleasure in some things being unknown. 

Questions:

- What will the role of nature be in the future?

- will the plants and animals exist be only for human use?

- will all nature have to be profitable?

- Will man try to re-construct eco-systems? 

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Environmental Impacts on Marine Life

...

Sea level rise

Sea temperature increase of ~2 -4˚C

Marine waste

Micro Plastics

Escaped farmed fish

Marine Waste

"663 different types of animal species (predominantly bird and fish) have been impacted by marine litter"

Managing marine waste is one of the biggest challenge we face today. Being a global problem it requires all countries to come together to create a management strategy.  

Data from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) calls for a systemic change to manage poorly designed overflow systems, which leak material in the sea. Also mentioned, is the need to better educate people about the impacts small actions like littering have on the environment. 

The big issues:

Ghost-Fishing:

Injury, death and entanglement of animals in the ocean are largely caused by marine litter. Lost fishing nets are a huge problem as they entangle animals or reefs while aimlessly drifting through the ocean. 

Plastic:

"60-80% of all marine litter is plastic."

Much like a naval officer, time at sea changes plastic - it can be broken down into micro-plastic, which appears at many different levels in the ocean: sea surface; water columns; floating atop the surface, and is easy to ingest.

"There is now more micro-plastic in the ocean that micro-plankton."

Plastic can create habitats for 'invasive species' to travel to new locations. It's ability to attach itself to other chemicals and liquids means that it can also absorb and accumulate toxins and pollutants. When ingested by animals there is a risk of the animal internally accumulating these harmful substances. 

"The ingestion of micro-plastics by species at the base of the food chain causes concern as little is known about it's effect and transfer across trophic levels" 

Origins of micro- plastic:

fishing lines and nets

industrial materials

consumer products e.g. toothpaste, face wash 

synthetic fibre from washing clothes. 

(Information gathered from ICES insight documents)

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Research Respondents

Today I have spent a lot of the day researching people who would be beneficial to talk to and potentially co-create with. 

I have sent emails to a variety of different sections of the European Environment Agency (EEA) just around the corner from school. The topics I have followed up are:

biodiversity and ecosystems

Strategic Futures

Sustainable consumption, production and waste

Climate change impacts, vulnerability, and adaption

Natural resources and quality of life

Should I get no responses, I will head down there in person. 

I have sent an email requesting further information to a conference held in January about the impacts of microplastics in the ocean. Additionally, I have contacted the Danish Minister for the Environment to see if they can spare anyone to talk to me more specifically about the trends effecting Denmark and what they are doing about it. 

Also contacted:

- Red Associates strategy and innovation consultancy. In order to understand more about trends in the market place. 

- Phd physics professor - to obtain a wider network of scientists.

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Jørgen Randers: Part 7 - The challenges of Globalisation and Decarbonisation. 

In this video Randers discusses the challenges we nationally; as each country has their own aspirations for development; and globally needing to come together to try to solve this problem. 

Amongst other theories he talks about the 50year lag of climate change - even if we stop now there will be increase climate damage for the next 50 years.

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Jørgen Randers on The Role of Technology 

We have the technology, we know the solution. The problem is how to implement the technology and get costs down again. 

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Initial Research - 2052 by Jørgen Randers

Jørgen Randers is the former president of the Norwegian Business School and currently the professor of climate strategy in the same institution. In 1972 he wrote “Limits to Growth”  outlining policy changes that could be put in place to slow down our impacts on the environment. Recently, he has written another book called 2052 outlining what the world may look like in less than 40 years time. 

The “Extreme Weather in 2050” essay explains the expected impacts if the 194 member countries of the Earth Summit do not reach their carbon emission targets. Unfortunately, the predictions are not very positive. 

A1FI, the worst case scenario, predicts:

High economic growth

Continued globalisation

Increase in the global surface temperature by 2.4ºC in 2050

Substantial increase in temperature over the arctic between 2ºC - 4ºC

Slight oceanic temperature increase. 

“Water is likely to be a serious challenge particularly for developing countries with both availability and quality at risk”

What is interesting, is that although we are headed towards this worst case, during 2010 we were deviated due, most likely, to the financial crisis. During the last financial crisis many reported that crashes were part of running the capitalist economy, if this is true, we could see more set backs in the future. I will look into this further and see how it may effect the model above. 

If we reach the A1FI, the predicted impacts will be severe; including mass exodus from low lying areas, depletion of large scale ecosystems and increased melting rates of glaciers. There are a couple of pieces of good news. I had thought that the population would be growing as it has been over recent years, but population is projected to stabilise at 2030. Also, crop yields are predicted to increase for highland areas like Scandinavia. 

“Many large scale terrestrial and marine ecosystems will be unable to adapt to the rate of climate change” 

From this research I see that there are some interesting trends which come up time and time again:

Sea level rise - people may be living in more dense areas at high above sea level.

Temperature rise.

Increase in extreme weather - more floods for wetter areas, more droughts for drier ones.

Biodiversity.

Food production.

Fresh water.

Air quality.

A move to 100% solar power in the next 50 - 100 years.

[haz-roth-finalproject]

Brief:

We humans seek to know, understand and control our environment. We believe in science to solve the problems we make. We believe we can design a way out and can continue to enjoy the same standard of living or higher. However, the resources we are using are finite. What could the world look like with no coal? No oil? No clean water? What tools would we need to navigate this environment?