The Decline of Pollinators in Pittsburgh: Designing System Interventions
Assignment #5: Designing System Interventions | Carnegie Mellon University, Transition Design Seminar 2023 | Team Complexity: Nikita Khanna, Matthew Huber, Joanne Chin, Ilona Altman
Creating Interventions based off of systemic thinking
Having understood the past and present of pollinators, their lifestyle, external factors affecting their livelihood, and the impact of human activities, we were able to identify core problems that led to the decline of the pollinator population. To define interventions we began with imagining the future visions for a healthy and growing to determine the ideal state. Finding the gaps between the ideal scenario and the present conditions, we propose multiple interventions at different levels from household to planet and across various sectors such as politics, economy, environment, etc. Connecting these interventions, we were able to create a cluster of specific projects that can be undertaken to improve pollinator health and wellbeing.
Future Vision and Ecology of Interventions
In the last exercise, we envisioned scenarios of how our ideal future would show itself through the levels of society. To recap, our main points were:
- There is solidarity with pollinators
- Land is cultivated to support ecosystem health through native plants & conservation
- Food is local & organic
- The economy is local, circular & regenerative
- Infrastructure supports circularity & policies restrict pollution
- Ecological thinking permeates culture
Using these facets, we backcasted to inform our ecology of interventions. Since the interventions create an ecology, one intervention typically plays into building several facets of the future vision.
For building solidarity with pollinators, we propose the legal route, such as granting ecosystems personhood, forming a union on multiple scales, and shifting crucial property lines for environmental governance. To make sure land is cultivated to support ecosystem health, we propose building new/renewed methods of agriculture. The old system should also be dismantled, beginning with banning harmful chemicals such as pesticides (neonicotinoids). On a more local scale, native landscaping is encouraged. To motivate local and organic food, support for local beekeepers and gardens, and even household gardens, is ensured. The updated farming practices should also be able to bring farms closer to the areas of food consumption. Making the economy local, circular & regenerative will include incentives and composting/recycling programs are implemented. To have infrastructure that supports circularity & policies that restrict pollution, projects like rain gardens and rewilding initiatives are implemented. We even push the vision to clean the three rivers to a swimmable level. To allow ecological thinking to permeate culture, there is a focus on local education, such as at the household and neighborhood level, both formal and hands-on. Native landscaping should also be integrated at all levels of society.
Here are some of the key interventions that we developed in our ecology of solutions map:
Intervention 1: Creating Riparian Systems
The environment in which the pollinators live can heavily impact their health hence, multiple interventions at different societal levels can be taken to improve bee health. It takes an aggregation of numerous neighborhood ecological improvements and other regional initiatives to transform an entity as interconnected as a riparian system. Some of these initiatives include creating neighborhood centers, rewilding, and swimming in the three rivers.
We can create neighborhood centers, like the Ecological Corps, where people can work together to improve the environment in their area. These centers will offer opportunities for people to get involved in efforts to rewild nature, work in the garden and develop new skills. There will be a team of ecological workers who can be hired to help the community invest their energy in improving the area. At the city level, we can replace large areas of asphalt such as zoo parking lots and former industrial sites with pollinator-friendly eco-parks. Wherever possible, we can also replace parking spaces with alternative transportation options or structured parking that takes up less space. To further connect people with nature, we can also implement a program to clean up the watershed in the area at the State/Region level. This will make it clean enough for people to swim in and enjoy, which will help people to feel more connected to the environment around them.
Intervention 2: Creating BUZS Union
At the moment, pollinators and bees don’t have a voice and there aren’t many people advocating for their interests when laws are being created. To address this issue, the Bees and Pollinators Union of Zoological Solidarity (BUZS) could be established as an international union for pollinator solidarity. BUZS would advocate for a transnational bill of rights for nonhuman entities. It would operate at various communal scales to achieve its goals effectively.
One approach could involve setting up neighborhood chapters of the BUZS union or Ecological Community groups to share knowledge, resources, and techniques for pollinator-friendly gardening. This would gradually shift worldviews towards a tipping point where ecological systems are recognized as having personhood. By doing so, they can be placed on equal footing in terms of power dynamics with individual property rights, allowing for a pursuit of what’s best for all, rather than just one.
Internationally, rivers, lakes, and other ecological wholes should also have the ability to advocate for promoting their own health. Collectives of people bound by solidarity for the more-than-human world can act as guardians for the ecosystem.
To promote best practices, laws should be passed limiting the agency of homeowners’ associations (HOAs) to restrict ecologically appropriate plantings and enforce an aesthetics of control. Instead, ecological community guidelines should be established to ensure that the environment is protected and sustained.
Intervention 3: Rebuilding Large Scale Food and Waste
The current food system is unsustainable on many levels, and those levels have direct impacts on the health of pollinators. Firstly, at the source, industrial agriculture uses a monoculture system that both deprives pollinators of food and habitat, and also requires food to be transported large distances, which increases air pollution. Practices such as hedgerows and multicropping need to be implemented to lessen these issues. There are also a number of practices from indigenous cultures all over the world that may be advantageous in certain areas. Another major aspect of agriculture that needs to be changed is the use of pesticides, specifically neonicotinoids. Laws need to be passed to ban the use of such chemicals, and research needs to be done to strengthen crops in a different manner. As for transit, keeping a large variety of crops should be able to keep the food source more local. Finally, entering urban areas, food waste (and all waste ideally) should have a place in a circular system that utilizes composting and recycling. Pollutants should be disposed of and treated properly, keeping them out of the environment and its larger consequences. Businesses should have incentives to contribute to this cycle, and be held accountable if not. This is one area where economic interests are most intensely entrenched. This is why leverage must be created to alter the system at multiple levels: consumers must exercise power to choose food from more circular sources, the union must advocate for regulatory support, and business incubators must help new circular farming collectives flourish.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, the vision for a sustainable and ecologically conscious future requires multifaceted interventions at different societal levels. The six facets of the vision, include solidarity with pollinators, cultivating land to support ecosystem health, promoting local and organic food, building a local, circular, and regenerative economy, developing infrastructure that supports circularity and policies that restrict pollution, and permeating ecological thinking throughout culture, all require coordinated efforts to achieve the desired outcomes. The three interventions proposed, creating riparian systems, establishing the Bees and Pollinators Union of Zoological Solidarity (BUZS), and rebuilding large scale food and waste are just a few examples of the many interventions that can be taken to achieve these facets of the vision. By working together at the local, regional, and international levels, we can create a future where ecosystems and nonhuman entities are recognized as having personhood and where the environment is protected and sustained for generations to come. In just the way that diversities of pollinators and pollinated plants makes for a richer and more resilient ecology, an ecology of solutions embraces a diversity of scales and actor types: DIY, Governmental, institutional, etc.
