The World/Issues of Extinction
A Critical Contextualisation
Extinction; an issue that haunts our environment on the side, being a topic that doesn’t cross the minds of our thoughtless society all too often. I’m going to tell you a bit about how deforestation plays a major part in the upheaval of ever-expanding extinction and how it has been doing so throughout history for many years. I will shed light on the strong and passionate uses of design, particularly that of Design Activism, and how effective this movement has become in terms of social change and evolution.
Design activism has become an ubiquitous movement over time, all because of its own content’s progression and impact on the public. You’ll find many companies and organisations strive to change the environment, minds of society and the world as a whole to make it an ultimately better and more sustainable place to live in. This is because of their uses of design, that create vast social impact. Design activism is generally a positive movement with good intentions, as it involves designers who use their skills and knowledge to ultimately create a constructive affect and impact in the world. We may ask ourselves how exactly this could relate to issues such as Extinction. Well, Extinction is a massively dominating factor that has crossed the headlines many times over the years and unfortunately not a large percentage of mankind take the issue as an issue into account. We may also ask ourselves, what does extinction even mean? And why should we, superior human beings, even begin to care? Because we are the dominant race and we are the most evolved and we can communicate with each other better than any other species that ever touched our earth? If you find yourself thinking those questions, especially the last, then I’m afraid that you my friend are quite a narrow-minded soul.
Let me give you some analysis as to why Extinction is such an important issue that we, as a team, should work to help resolve. Extinction wouldn’t exist without lifeforms regrettably gaining the title of ‘Endangered Species’. Why should we be concerned about these certain species? Extinction is a process that has been occurring long before mankind existed and it is only natural. Over time, new species develop where old species die out and become extinct — this is known to be a process called speciation. But because of all the modern issues mankind have caused — such as water/air pollution, loss of water, deforestation and other environmental mistakes, extinction now occurs at a much more fast pace than it should be in its natural essence. When each species becomes extinct, it causes the diversity and complexity of life on earth to deteriorate and diminish with each extinction that occurs. Although it may not seem great in effect, losing just one species can have damaging repercussions within our environment.
Caring about Extinction is much more than just feeling sad about losing a variety of cute animals here and there. We have to care because if we reach a certain amount of living connections on earth that are broken, our whole ecosystem is very likely and susceptible to fall apart. It could change the balance of nature around us forever, crucially jeopardising our very own race and our means of survival. The diversity of living elements around us, such as animals and plants, provide us with the food, vitamins, and ultimately life-savings medicines we need to survive. So why on earth would we want to risk losing those second-nature advantages, all because we took the other species around us, and the benefits they provided, for granted and acted thoughtlessly when they were endangered.
Linking back to Design activism, it’s played an essential part in society’s progression throughout history. During the 1930–40s, the Bauhaus for example changed the social potential of design through their innovative creations of patterns, colours, architecture and much more. This had an affect throughout most countries and has become a significant movement we are profoundly familiar with today. Another brief example can be found in the movement of Counterculture during the 60s. Design groups such as the Situationists International, Superstudio etc. along with the likes of Guy Debord fought hard to change the way we as a society viewed modern art and our urban society as a whole, with their theories and strategies revolving around the way we live our lives.
All these movements throughout Design history, came to create a concept we know to be Design Activism. We can use Design activism to make change in our society to combat issues such as Extinction. We can make the public aware of the damaging effects we have as a thoughtless race that lead to topics such as deforestation, climate change etc. that ultimately rocket the endangerment of animals. We can do this through the use of Design, to effectively make people aware of the danger we’re putting ourselves in.
Modern society and urban living has not only taken the habitats from many wild animals, but it has stripped humankind of its sense of space and integration with these animals. We could not survive without them, as they provide so much within our ecosystem. These animal’s habitats have been destroyed due to deforestation, leaving them vulnerable to poachers and with nowhere to shelter. The Black Spider Monkey for example happens to be an endangered species, due to the deforestation in the Amazon. It is near impossible for these animals to adapt to new habitats, resulting in their endangerment as a species.
During our Design Studies project that focused on using Design activism in a way to portray the dangers of extinction, we learned a lot about the process of what has been done already to actually help these mentioned endangered species, and what could be done to further the aid of helping them survive.
We visited our local zoo in the middle of February. We were given a tour of the zoo, observing all of its different enclosures for the different species they preserved. We were also given a talk by some of the zoo’s staff and listened to them as they told us about the thoughts and ideas behind the zoo and what it tries to convey to the public through its displays. They helped us to view zoos from a new and different perspective. We realised that in most parts of the world, zoos are actually a very positive element to nature’s well being, if they are run well. An example that made this evident was through their mentions of partnering organisations they work with and support. These included charities such as BAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums), EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria), WAZA (World Association of Zoos and Aquariums). These organisations work hard in their mission, which is to provide leadership and support for the zoos, aquariums, as well as partner organisations of the world within animal health and well-being, conservation of biodiversity, environmental education and sustainability within our environment. It taught us the value of conservation of endangered species and how it is important for mankind as well. Having a well-balanced ecosystem purifies the environment, giving us clean air to breathe, a healthy water system to support diverse marine life, and arable land for agriculture production, as well as providing us with unique plants that contain medicinal properties, that serve as the foundation for many of our medicines. By protecting endangered species, we are protecting ourselves.
We used the method of design activism intelligently by designing a sculpture for a zoo that portrayed the contrast between forestation and industrialisation (to spread awareness about how we need to look after the animals around us that are dying out) — how deforestation has taken huge effect over the years due to humanity moving forward within design, and although expanding means of survival, getting rid of it at the same time.
This is just another example of design activism, that abruptly addresses current issues in society that are causing detrimental affects on earth and how we can work to help make it better, by being more aware and more careful in our movements.
