Consume Your Ethics / Slums

Living in a developed capitalist society, speaking about sustainability and swimming in the sweet mud of consumerism is uncomfortable. Here are some resources in this regard:

In Massive change, by Brice Mau, on page 191, William McDonough’s speaks about setting clear goals and distinguishes between eco efficiency and effectiveness. I would paraphrase this idea through a metaphorical cliché:

Not What to do with the plastic bag?

but

Why still producing the plastic bag in the first place?

Consequently, in order to avoid hypocrisy in our thinking and doing in regard to Ethics and Sustainability, we could either:

Embrace the current consumer capitalism status quo, which is spreading like a disease over the planet, imposing proven as unsustainable structures on communities, societies, and countries while wiping their existent, sustainable structures off, and hiding behind the notion of “development” (see the Chinese and Indian economic/industrial boom for example).

So we: Enjoy it while it lasts / Get it while we can.

or:

Take a radical stance, choosing holistic Prosperity instead of (industrial) Development. Do not design packaging but design facilities.

In the context of the Slums discussion, I found the work of the architect Alejandro Aravena very relevant, important and empowering in respect to the stated above. Presented with the task to build for the poor with little money, he designer only the basic and necessary structure of the houses:

“When you have money for half the house, the question is what half do we do?”, he says in an interview in the January issue of Icon magazine.

The project he refers to is called Elemental. Given the basic structures, the inhabitants made their own, unique furnishings, so the result was the best of both worlds: the compulsory for a healthy living standard infrastructure which is sanitation and weather shelter + indigenous, vernacular, personalized finish.

Aravena forever!