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Posted by Xanthe Matychak | 29 Jun 2008
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Comments (3)
Yale 360 has a great interview with locavore Michael Pollan on the importance of shifting from environmentalism, which focuses on preservation, to sustainability, which focuses on a healthy relationship between industrial and biological systems. His argument for localizing food production also works for an argument to localize many other types of production:
One source of our sense of powerlessness and frustration around climate change is that we are so accustomed to outsourcing so much of our lives to specialists of one kind or another, that the idea that we could reinvent the way we live, change our lifestyles, is absolutely daunting to people. We don't know how to do it. We've lost the skills to do it . . . I think where climate change is taking us is to a point where many of us will need to take care of ourselves a little better than we do now. We will be less able to depend on distant experts and distant markets. We will need to re-localize economies all over the world because we won't be able to waste fossil fuel . . . These long supply chains are going to have to get shorter.
What do you think, designers? Is localized production possible? Comments please.
Pollan's garden-talk might not provide all the answers but it's sure got some good clues. Go ahead and read the full interview here
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Comments
Well, first of all it depends on what is meant by localized. Chances are that economies of scale mean it will never be viable to have manufacturing plants in every town supplying everything that town needs. But there is a good chance that manufacturings decline in the west might be slowed.
This could happen for two reasons. Firstly economic: if fuel prices stay high and if industries feel the bite of carbon taxes, the value of off-shoring to a cheap labor country is reduced. And labor costs in those countries won't stay low for ever, as workers become more skilled their wage demands will rise. Secondly there are social/political reasons: people are increasingly aware of the hidden costs of off-shoring. Not only the environmental costs, but also the fact that cheap goods aren't so cheap if you've lost your own job when your company went off-shore. It's also worth considering that in future 'factories' might be quite different to what we think of today - they are likely to be smaller, cleaner and producing more customized goods, which might reduce opposition from those who don't want large industries moving into their neighborhood. I've written a bit about this on my blog: http://no-retro.com/home/2008/05/22/some-environmental-considerations-of-rapid-manufacturing/
Good post by the way, would probably have missed this if I didn't see it here.
I did a concept project on this a while back - making packaging for local food.. locally, thereby eliminating the need to transport the packaging for local food thousands of miles. It involved thinking creatively about locally source-able materials and i think thats the key. Simple really. Of course as you pointed out localized production is one of the major hurdle to be overcome...
it all depends on energy price.
if that is high enough, then localization WILL happen no matter what environmentalists or industrialists think. if it is not high enough, then it will not happen, no matter how much greens wish for it.
of course - border between these two scenarios is not clearly visible and of course - nobody knows where is that critical price limit.