Material Innovations

If I were a native of Mali* and asked to address the issues of the aging population in the U.S., I might offer this strategy: treat your elders as we treat our beloved mud mosques, with great respect, continuous care and upkeep by the entire community. Consider how we care for our cultural heritage as a metaphor for how to approach your population challenges.

The Great Mosque in Djenné

Every spring we have a big festival to re-plaster the mud walls of our Great Mosque of Djenné, the largest mudbrick structure in the world, re-built in 1907 and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We must spread new banco (mud mixed with rice husks) on the outer walls to repair cracks and replace what was washed away during the rainy season. Our annual maintenance festival has music, food and much activity that involves the whole community, including elderly people who are given a place of honor to sit and watch the proceedings.

Annual mud plastering of the Great Mosque of Djenné

These annual re-plastering events take place all over our country, for both mosques and domestic architecture. Our adobe structures can last for centuries if properly maintained. Similarly, the U.S. could sustain an increasing elderly population by maintaining a proper support system. I admit this may be easy for me to suggest because only 3% of the Malian population is over age 64, whereas in the U.S. almost 13% of your population is older than 64, and that percentage will increase sharply as your Baby Boomers age.

Dogon elders in Mali

The U.S. will need to invest more in healthcare and learn to better integrate the elderly population the way we do in Mali. Because your caretaking costs will increase over the coming years, you can save resources by living together in multi-generational households. We do this in Mali and believe it benefits everyone to involve our elders in the community, instead of putting them in secluded retirement homes like you do in the U.S. In Mali, we still have councils of elders who help make decisions for the communities where they reside; we respect their wisdom, and suggest you listen to your own elders.

Malian elders attending a ceremony for new construction

The U.S. also should try to provide your aging population with some kind of meaningful work. Keep them involved and active to help them stay physically and mentally healthy. If they’re living with you, involve them in childcare and housekeeping; give them creative outlets and ways to contribute to society. Consider your elders your cultural heritage and give them a seat of honor at the renovation of your society.

*I am not qualified in any way to represent a native of Mali and I apologize for this poor attempt.

Hello Americans,

What a diverse country you have!  Your expansive landscape shows it.  You have many different  climates which show this.  And many cultures have settled your country, as have ours.  My name is Joseph and I am Filipino.  I have been interested in your culture for a long time.

It seems that your country is so big that you have had to deal with many different peoples influences.  Possibly because the Philippines is a country of islands, there is always a flux in our cultural identity.

It is also much older than your country. But we have embraced these differences through a common language.  Like you America, our main language is English, but Spanish, Arabic and Chinese are also common.  As these cultures have all had an influence on our earlier indigenous culture.  Many of these peoples still are here in the Philippines.  For instance, the Igorot and the Bukidnons peoples have a variety of different tribal groups which originate from them.  Due to these circumstances a common language we call Tagalog was developed over time, which embraces all of our Filipino heritage as well as immigrate influences.  Here is a definition from the Internet.

Tagalog and Filipino

In 1937, Tagalog was selected as the basis of the national language of the Philippines by the National Language Institute. In 1939, Manuel L. Quezon named the national language “Wikang Pambansâ” (“National Language”). Twenty years later, in 1959, it was renamed by then Secretary of Education, José Romero, as Pilipino to give it a national rather than ethnic label and connotation. The changing of the name did not, however, result in acceptance among non-Tagalogs, especially Cebuanos who had not accepted the selection.

In 1971, the language issue was revived once more, and a compromise solution was worked out—a “universalist” approach to the national language, to be called Filipino rather than Pilipino. When a new constitution was drawn up in 1987, it named Filipino as the national language. The constitution specified that as the Filipino language evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.

As you can see, this unifying language developed over time as more people have influenced our country.  Instead of denying change and influence through homogenization of one standard of which all peoples have to follow, we have embraced it through a mixed language.  This has lead to an acceptance of our mixed culture.  In a way, we are more universal than America is.  Stop living in denial of what your landscape offers.  Learn from the difference of your landscape.  As our waters provide flow of people, ideas, and culture (admittedly not all good) so can your different climates symbolize a shared unity connected through a common language.  Your geography is one mass, let it unify not segregate.  Yours is a country connected through roads, similar to our water ways.  As we have created a language of the water, allow a language to develop which connects people like your roads.  A road language through a diverse cultural landscape. Your future, as it is a formation of your history, may depend on it.

Dearest First World Inhabitants,
I was deeply disturbed to learn of the obesity epidemic in your country.  Here, in Indonesia, we struggle mostly with hunger and malnutrition, but are also experiencing our own bout with obesity as of late.

While doing some ethnographic research in your country I noticed that many people purchase and eat mostly foods that come in boxes.  Packaged foods seem to be compounding our struggles to maintain healthy weights in a small portion of our population as well.  I wonder if these foods have something to do with your obesity epidemic.

Further investigation into these packaged foods revealed some startling facts.  To be honest, I’d never heard of most of the ingredients found in your packaged foods.  Admittedly, I struggled to pronounce their names and few Americans could help me or tell me what they were either.  They also didn’t seem concerned with their lack of knowledge around food they were ingesting.  I made a note to look into this further when I returned to my office as it would require some secondary research.
It also seems that people avoid foods that come in their own natural packaging like fruit, vegetables, or fish, essential sources of nourishment in my country.  We have efficient and beautiful ways of presenting and transporting these foods to open-air markets.  See an example below of the visually striking circular presentation of our fish along with paper wrappers for sanitary selection at the market.

I did find some interesting facts about those ingredients I observed in your packaged foods.  According to your government’s Food and Drug Administration website many of them fall under the GRAS category.  GRAS stands for generally recognized as safe.   This is concerning to me.  You might want to inquire about the definition of ‘general’ as it is a term that is usually frowned upon in scientific study.  I also wonder how the FDA accounts for all the potential combinations of ingredients in various food products that can be ingested at the same time.

In order to lessen obesity I would suggest you stop eating these packaged food-like substances and instead purchase and consume foods that can decompose.  Might I also suggest more physical activity.  I saw many people circling a supermarket parking lot in their cars hoping to save a few steps before entering.  Many couldn’t even be bothered to return their carts to the designated cart corrals a few spots over in the parking lot.

Wishing You Improved Health,
Laura
Ethnographic Research Impostor- Indonesia

I am a Hindu woman living in the state of Assam, India and would like offer suggestions based on my life experience to reduce the consumption rate of mass produced goods in the United States.  Although my country is becoming an important global economy and modern ways are affecting our life style, I am aspiring to live primarily by hundreds of years of tradition, ritual, and cultural heritage.  Our lives are enriched by less stuff, less work, less stress, less debt and, thus, enriched by a life of more time, satisfaction, more balance and security.  You Tube:  The Quest for Eternal Bliss (from The Happiness Project) was filmed in India.

The concept of reducing material things in one’s life, espoused by Bruce Sterling, makes good sense and I try to live this way in India.  He suggests living with only beautiful things; things with sentimental value and meaning; important tools, such as appliances to assist with living; and get rid of everything else.  This is a good place to begin and you can become your authentic selves without unnecessary possessions.

With scarcity looming, Americans need to JUST SAY NO to random purchasing of goods and buy only what you really need.  Write down every single purchase for three months and study your purchasing patterns.  Become part of the JUST SAY NO movement, influencing a paradigm shift, ultimately altering policy changes in government and corporate behavior.  A materialistic lifestyle is a depth-less world of mass produced goods.  JUST SAY NO to unnecessary goods and live a sustainable lifestyle by reducing consumption and waste.

A Steady-State Economy is one of zero population growth and consumption within the limits of that which can be regenerated and assimilated by the environment.  Pollution and resource depletion are driven by consumption.  http://www.steadystate.org.

Look at what others are saying about consumption:   Harvard Business Review http://blogs.hbr.org/es/2010/02/more_for_less_for_more_how_to.html. This discusses more value for less cost for more people.  You Tube: “The Most Important Video You Will Ever See” is Herman E. Daly educating about the growth factor and its exponential effect.

Dance, fairs, festivals, arts and crafts, agriculture and cuisine are some of the traditions and rituals we experience as a community in Assam.   Being engaged with these practices with my family and friends leads to a satisfying life.

Hey everyone, guess what? America is FAT! Ok, so this isn’t breaking news, but facts are facts. Over 72 million people in the United States and 16% of U.S. children are obese.  And it’s crazy to think that $117 billion was spent on obesity-related health care costs in 2009.  More specifically, the most over-weight region in the United States is in the South, with Mississippi leading the way as the fattest state.

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that I traveled to Morocco while I was studying abroad in Spain for my last semester in college. Geographically, I went to college in North Carolina, which is located right in the heart of the fat-land. Where I was in Morocco, I never saw anything that resembled a McDonald’s, Long John Silvers, or Golden Corral. Instead, Moroccan’s approach their food that is not so dissimilar to that of early America. Families eating home-cooked meals together!

Today, many parents in the United States are busier than ever and are making fewer home-cooked meals with their kids. Because of this, snacking is now a normalcy in between meals and on average we are now eating 31% more calories than we did 40 years ago. When I think back to my short time in Morocco, I imagine what a native Moroccan might think of me (as an American). They would probably assume that I eat McDonald’s everyday and would hardly understand the value of a home-cooked meal. This is because in Morocco, time is much slower. Meals are prepared with care and with family. Since most native Moroccan’s live with extended family members, there is a heritage to teaching the younger generations how to prepare savory meals. Many Moroccan’s consider it to be poor hospitality to take a guest to a restaurant. Instead they prefer home-cooked meal gatherings. Great cuisine is reserved for the home.

Most of the meals I encountered over in Morocco were various soups and multiple salads with a lot of couscous. What I learned when I was there was that many of the salad “dressings” were just the leftover juices from roasted veggies with some added spices. No Ranch, no Cesar, no Italian dressings in sight. Spices are used extensively to add flavor to main meals of beef, chicken, lamb or fish. Anytime I had meat in Morocco it was mixed in with a soup. Desserts were small and mainly local fruits and were generally served with small cups of sweet mint tea. This was in sharp contrast to the amount of sweet tea that is served to people in the United States, namely the south. Also the children in Morocco ate the same thing as the adults. Forget Happy Meals, fish sticks, and hot dogs, those kids ate the same thing as everyone else.

Overall I feel as though that we American’s spend too much time in the fast lane, which has made us lose touch with centering ourselves around the dinner table and preparing meals together. Unlike the earlier days in America, kids and teenagers today are generally less interested in cooking and making their own food.  Health and culinary education is lacking in the younger population and what I propose, as a possible solution, is not earth shattering. In fact, this is being done in other places. These are culinary walks/food trails. The basic premise is to understand food culture through walking (yay exercise!) tours of where food is being sourced and prepared. I think this would be more conducive in city areas, but who’s to say you can’t put your own spin on it and make it a neighborhood event. The goal is for people to become more educated about where (possibly) food is coming from and how it’s being prepared in the hopes that they can make better decisions about how to eat.

***note. this is completely fictional.

It is seems redundant to say that in the USA mass produced goods are everywhere. It is a mass produced culture.

I recently left my home in Coimbatore, India for a brief trip to a souther part of North Carolina, where EVERYTHING, including the communities is mass produced.

And so, I come with at least one solution to this brutally habit. Throwing a sticker or label on something will not stop someone from buying it. This is evident with cigarette consumption, where money drives the pay of the label makers, and big bank corporations control the labeling, and branding of their product. So outsider labels are not affective because there is a gross convenience to large scale consumption that a small, practically un readable label does not expel.

My solution is a simple one of downsizing, starting with advertisement standards. In India, things are crowded, and fast. In the USA, things are fast, but vast. I propose that North Americans make billboards (a popular widespread form of advertisement) that are a smaller, simpler, and geared towards handmade or heirloom products. They could portray the maker with the product, or the processes and story that go into each product. They could decompose, or react with the environment or its potential user groups. This uncommon format will allude to diversity and an idiosyncratic individualism in the represented product that Americans crave. Billboards can shift the standards of mass advertisement and perhaps, overtime, this philosophy could trickle down into the greater purchasing patters of the US culture.

After viewing the Design for the First World competition guidelines I am immediately struck by the relevancy of their concerns for sustainability and over-consumption to the concerns that we address in our own program. To put myself in the shoes of the qualifying designers, I would look at this as an examination of my own and my fellow first worlder’s use and exploitation of developing economies to be their production work horses. Connected to one of my earlier posts, I feel that the U.S. (to use my locale) has over the past 50 years developed a relationship with China, specifically on having them produce (as we are all well aware) astonishing quantities of products and goods for our always growing practices of consumerism and consumption of goods.

Yeah, so, we all get that. WE USE TOO MUCH SHIT. But what do we do about it?

Well, this week has been a surprising series of revelations and connections made for myself, after conceiving my own thesis statement to revolve around some of these exact issues. Not so much addressing that we use too much, but that we as makers are losing our own connection to the things we own and in turn make for others. We’re on a poor cycle of designing and making our goods based on the examples set by a larger industry, and are catering to an audience that is craving and demanding objects in the manner that their consumption habits have shaped them into craving. We need to step back for a minute and take a breath. A stunning outline of how to do this came in the form of our class based video by Bruce Sterling and his addressing of our objects and services and their structure in our lives. Sterling’s view is essentially a call to purge. Which as much as I feel is possibly the only solution to reset, is not the only answer. Looking at the site http://www.kk.org/streetuse/, we see stunning examples of ingenuity and practicality in design making, even though the end results are less than beautiful as an aesthetic value, there is something about their simplicity and intuitive nature that presents beauty to us in a new way. Objects can be fun, and superfluous, but we’ve got to make them count as well.

My thoughts stemming from these sources and my (as of this week brand new) thinking about the products in our lives leads me to my design for the first world proposal. I propose that you make your own stuff. Plain and simple. Before you buy it, you try and make it. If you REALLY can’t succeed in making something to fill the functional role of what you were about to buy, then go ahead and buy a nice one. But give making a try. Let me make it for you. Let my fellow makers make it for you. Give up on the box store, and examine the skills of your community and fellow non-factory working human beings to be downright ingenious about how to solve your product problems. Also, don’t throw away every damn thing that breaks (here is where I begin to disagree with Mr. Sterling). I feel that this would result in a much greater appreciation of our stuff, and our natural relationship to it. By increasing these connections and raising this awareness, I feel that the trend towards reducing consumptive habits will begin to change, at least on a small scale.