Green Consumerism: A Meeting with RE/nato Labs

RE/nato lab: lamps made from waste-acetate

When speculating on the future of urban wildlife; a huge factor depends on the global and local management of waste and natural material resources. The many ways we manage our sewers, line our landfills, and recycle our plastics today; will affect the behaviours of other species within the wider urban ecology tomorrow. All wildlife depends - at least to some degree - on territorial stability to develop natural habitats, form hunting and breeding grounds, and build personal security. Whether that means creating a sizeable floating island of rotting waste to sustain a healthy seagul population; or regularly litter-picking a coastline to protect turtle-nesting sites...both approaches actively sculpt the world around us.

The move towards more 'sustainable' and 'circular-economic' solutions to waste management are largely born out of a desire for cultural preservation, rather than a deep love for the environment in its current form. Efforts to cultivate an efficient society of recyclers are, by their very nature, efforts to improve the resilience of a particular facet of our culture (i.e our consumer culture). But the 'circular-economic' approach is flawed insofar as it fails to acknowledge the very fact that facets of our culture must to be sustainably sculpted...much in the same way as a healthy ecology. Take our mobile technology industries for example. Of the 62 metals extracted and used in modern technologies (phones, laptops, solar panels, wind turbines), only a handful of elements such as osmium and tin have chemically sustainable substitutes when natural resources inevitably run out. Elements such as lead, europium, thallium, and dysprosium, have no possible substitute at all (see table below). The hunt for these precious metals will only exacerbate current geopolitical divides and inequalities as demand grows, and recycling these metals will only slow this process down. Minerals sourced in the Congo may be exported to London via China, recycled in Copenhagen, before eventually being buried and burned in Agbogbloshie.

The point here is that unlike the sustainable cultivation healthy ecosystems, the new catch-all solution of 'circular economy' is not truly sustainable, as it only serves to sustain a culture of consumption. We have a lot to learn from existing ecologies about multilateralism if we are to build truly sustainable societies. And 'green consumerism', as appealing as it may be to commodity-led businesses, is not the answer.

I meet with Aining Ouyang, Chief Operating Officer at REnato Lab, to discuss her work and why promoting a 'circular economy (CE)' is important to her business model. Aining supports CE as a selling tool, but agrees that much more must be done to cultivate a society that reduces, reuses, and replaces material goods.

The meeting begins with a presentation of the products that REnato Lab are currently working on. Their company tag-line is “Relive Everything”, as their primary business model is to buy material-waste, and turn it into furniture. The products on display are wonderfully crafted, and Aining asserts that the company is trying to compete with high-end design brands without having to rely on their obvious USP as a 'sustainable' brand.

I question Aining on the so-called natural aesthetics of her products, and she explains:

"customers like the natural look. They think if it is made from raw material like wood or stone then it is good for the environment when actually it's not". I agree with her reasoning, but argue that by creating a faux-style, this only exacerbates the misconception as it actively promotes the original aesthetic. Aining agrees, but says she's just giving the people what they want: the comforting aesthetic of rusticity.

A workshop by REnato - challenging children to reinvent their waste.

We talk more about the benefits and drawbacks of CE, before turning onto the topic of the built environment. Aining says she is keen to explore the idea of creating a building material from waste - so I show her the recent work of Tetronic International Ltd. The company is creating a building material called 'Plasmarok', which has recently been approved by British Standards as an aggregate that can be used in concrete mixtures. The rock is actually a by-product from their WTE gasification process that extracts fuel from e-waste, but they have tested and marketed the by-product so that the plant is now technically 'circular'. I explain that while this is a perfect example of 'circular economics' at play - the conglomerate metals that are being gasified to generate fuel could arguably be put to better use. CE does not account for this, which is why it gives a false indicator of sustainable practice.

Aining likes the model, but again agrees that recycling would be more appropriate. She tells me that Taipei is an excellent role model for recycling, because the garbage trucks play music to let residents know that it's recycling time. This nudge-theory-style invention was introduced in 1987, and a culture of recyclers have been cultivated to the sound of Beethoven's “Für Elise” ever since. Apparently the trucks are being renovated with new tracks, so don't be alarmed if you hear a Bieber cover accompanied with flashing lights the next time you visit Taipei. It's just garbage.

To read more on the subjects mentioned, visit:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/circular-implementation-gap-douwe-jan-joustra

https://medium.com/@relive.everything/the-story-behind-the-musical-garbage-trucks-4a3ce2e14476

Art-eology

If you go to one place whilst visiting Taiwan: make it Ju Ming's Museum. This place is exceptionally well designed, curated, and informed - and the surrounding landscape has been sculpted to near perfection.

Chen Yi-Chang 'The Hippos Flying in the Sky', 2017

From the moment you enter Ming's latest art collection, entitled 'Art-eology Zoo', you are met with two wonderfully unassuming sculptures by the great Salvador Dali. A glittering metallic horse dances in the distance, and from here on in you will begin to recalibrate your relationship with animals and the natural world. The exhibition guides visitors through fables, local stories, and artists' hallucinations - and is refreshingly rich in art theory. Each section is clearly marked, with detailed literature to support the many sculptures, paintings, and installations on show.

"The word "zoo" does not refer to a confined space in which animals are kept to satisfy human audience"

Overview

"Though human beings often consider themselves as being superior to other animals, humans are actually one of them, sharing similar traits, instincts, and close relationships. Animals are essential to human lives, satisfying daily needs and providing emotion comfort. Such connection became inspirations shared by artists around the words. They try to express concern for the environment, relate personal sentiment, and use their artworks as metaphors for the living word or their fantasies." - Juming Museum, 2018

"The 2018 Exhibition of Juming Museum Collection is titled "Art-ecology Zoo", which traces the motives behind the use of animals in art, and gains insight into th ideology behind the stories in order to shed light on their unique meanings and diverse presentations. The word "zoo" does not refer to a confined space in which animals are kept to satisfy human audience. Instead, it refers to the kaleidoscopic field where artists tell their stories with animals." - Juming Museum, 2018

As an artist himself, Ju Ming also exhibits his own work at various scales. A sculptor and woodcarver by nature; Ming has masterfully curated the entire landscape that surrounds the formal museum. Visitors are invited to hop, shimmy, and scale his curated spaces - immersing themselves in a philosophy that strives for beauty in the sublime. Unlike many of the public parks and gardens located in Taipei - Ju Ming's landscapes boldly offer up micro-spaces that are uninhabitable to humans. You get moments of hostility and disconnection which strangely provide a sense of letting go.

In a world that is now rigorously connected, the concept of the inexplorable becomes ever more alluring and relevant as a design tool. Forced to become a mere observer of a wilderness that is just out of reach - you begin to realise that Ming's spaces are not for you, and that not all spatial conditions must be ergonomically tested and optimised for human experience. As a result, these curated spaces are best viewed as a collaborative effort with the species that inhabit them. A collaborative effort that sustains itself, for itself.

Surrounding gardens: curating a wilderness

Da'an District : Micro Parks

Nestled deep in the heart of Taipei’s central Da’an district, Jinhua Park provides a tiny oasis of greenery in amongst the sea of grey concrete residential blocks. The residents here are very proud of their greening efforts, and almost every street is filled with potted exotic plants and flowers. Jinhua is one of the many micro-parks that are scattered across Taipei’s patchwork landscape - and no matter where you find yourself, you will always be just a short walk away from the next miniature oasis.

To prove this, I set off on foot to photograph the many micro-parks in the central District of Da’an (and a few just outside for good measure). After a long day of taking notes on the many shapes and sizes, layouts, noise pollution, and aesthetic / atmospheric qualities - I found myself looking at an inconvenient pattern emerging. Not convinced with the scope of my case studies I decided to go out again; but this time to the neighbouring district of Zhongzheng. There are fewer micro-parks here, but the pattern emerged once again...

They are all so stubbornly flat!

As an avid naturalist I find myself slightly uncomfortable writing negatively about these parks — but for all of the beautiful reserves, forests, and hiking trails that surround central Taipei — the micro-parks are disappointingly uninspiring. This is not simply due to their size, as there are some incredible (and tiny) eco-parks located slightly further from the centre (see Fuyang Eco Park). The issue is that they have no identity. The designs are defiantly monotonous and sanitised -- saturated with unnecessary concrete planters that sharply divide ‘nature’ from gratuitously wavy pathways. The wildlife is largely limited to a few local bird species, butterflies, and squirrels — and the furniture is almost identical across the parks (save for a few bespoke pavilions). There is a plethora of larger parks that stage richly diverse ecosystems, require minimal maintenance, and support local activities (see Da’an Forest Park) — so why do the micro-parks fall so far short of their larger counterparts?

One answer could be that too much onus has been placed on the fictional lifestyles of immediately local residents. These residents need formal benches to sit on, perfectly smooth terrains to run around, and distinguished strips of grass to mark their passage. But perhaps these residents would be equally responsive to more rugged terrains, inaccessible peaks, rocky seating, and indirect pathways? Another reason may be down to safety in repetition. Why experiment with new environments that could fail or cause local disapproval when the gains are so minimal? This argument again places too much emphasis on local engagement.

Perhaps the onus should not be placed on human experience at all — but instead, on cultivating environments for other species to thrive. Many of the staged environments at Taipei Zoo are now completely without formal barriers. A natural moat stops the Formosan Rock Macaque’s from escaping, and a simple lack of neighbouring foliage keeps the Zoo’s ‘Insect Valley’ in good working order. So why not translate these design techniques into micro-parks to educate the local community; rather than continuing to prop up a fictional culture of purism?

Fortunately, a new wave of designers are beginning to shift the balance in favour of urban wildlife — and are turning away from the two-dimensional park typology to experiment with multi-tiered landforms. To find out more about these projects, read my next article on Taiwan’s future green infrastructure [Article Coming Soon].