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If war and disease were vanquished for all time, would our survival
problems finally be over - or only just beginning? Decades ago,
R. Buckminster Fuller, the "Leonardo of the 20th century,"
recognized that at current levels of consumption modern technology,
operating at optimal efficiency, would soon be able to sustain less
than half of the world's population. Without a dramatic swift in
values -- and some radical redesign solutions - the planet would
become inhospitable to most of the people on it.
Fuller's ideas and inventions spawned a design revolution whose
impact continues to grow along with popular awareness of the need
for sustainable living systems. Now an important new film/video
documents the history of ecological design to introduce the general
public to the unusual concepts the unique creations of some of its
most outstanding exponents. Among the many trail-blazers featured
are Fuller, Paul MacCready, Paolo Soleri, Peter Calthorpe, James
Wines, William McDonough, Ian McHarg, Andropogon, Edmund Bacon,
Jay Baldwin, Ted Nelson, Amory and Hunter Lovins, John Todd, and
Steward Brand.
The opening sequences of Ecological Design: Inventing the Future
contrast the ecologically-conscious value system - and living shelters
- of nature-based peoples with the materialistic basis of industrial
society and its resultant urban sprawl. Systems theorist and futuristic
Hazel Henderson points out that the planet is now teaching us directly
- through positive and negative feedback - that we have to change
how we think and live. Futurist Mary Catherine Bateson explains
that while we cannot solve our problems with solutions that worked
for small communities with limited technologies, we can learn from
them. Landscape architect Leslie Sauer offers assurances that our
cities are actually far more recoverable than we've generally believed.
The remarkable design innovations represented in the video offer
ample testimony to that view.
To facilitate urban recovery, the "design outlaws" featured
in Ecological Design approach design problems not as isolated
situations but as integral parts of interactive systems that can
be designed to function harmoniously together. Using unconventional
strategies that simultaneously satisfy both human and environmental
needs, they seek to create self-sustaining eco-communities that
operate like "living machines," thereby improving the
quality of life for current inhabitants, and assuring the same quality
for future generations.
This remarkable documentary by Knossus, Inc. is beautifully filmed
in 16mm and includes historic and contemporary footage covering
some of the greatest moments in the history of ecological design.
Educational and inspirational, it demonstrates that large populations
of people can prosper together, without undermining the environment,
through city planning and technologies designed in partnership with
nature. Themes explored in the video include the industrial age;
the design revolution and the "outlaw" perspective; designing
with nature by learning from the earth; designing for prosperity
by giving back more than we take; regenerative design through partnerships
with other life forms; and designing our future - the new collective
dream.
The film/video's award-winning creators include film-makers Chris
Zelov and Brian Danitz, writer Phil Cousineau, and composer David
Darling. Just released this fall, Ecological Design has already
garnered top prizes at three film festivals. A companion volume
and teacher's guide will be available in the spring of 1995. -Laurel
Airica
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