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The Nature of Design THE NATURE of DESIGN Ecology, Culture, and Human Intention David W. Orr 1 2002 3 Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto and an associated company in Berlin Copyright © 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Orr, David W., 1944–. The nature of design : ecology, culture, and human intention / by David W. Orr. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ). ISBN 0-19-514855-X 1. Nature—Effect of human beings on. 2. Human ecology—Moral and ethical aspects. 3. Environmental responsibility. 4. Global environmental change. I. Title. GF75 .O77 2002 304.2'8—dc21 2001036413 We gratefully acknowledge permission from Blackwell Science, Ltd., to reprint in this book, in somewhat altered form, material from the following articles by David W. Orr that were originally published in Conservation Biology:“Technologi- cal Fundamentalism” (8:2, June 1994); “Twine in the Baler” (8:4, December 1994); “Conservatism and Conservation” (9:2, April 1995); “None So Blind” (9:5, October 1995); “Slow Knowledge” (10:3, June 1996); “Architecture as Pedagogy II” (11:3, June 1997); “Speed” (12:1, February 1998); “The Limits of Nature and the Nature of Limits” (12:4; August 1998); “The Architecture of Science” (13:2, April 1999); “Verbicide” (13:4, August 1999); “Education, Careers, Callings” (13:6, December 1999); “2020: A Proposal” (14:2, April 2000); “Ideasclerosis I” (14:4, August 2000); Ideasclerosis II” (14:6, December 2000). 987654321 Printed in the United States of America on recycled, acid-free paper For Wil Acknowledgments For the past six years, ecological design has been more than an ab- straction for me. The essays that follow originated in physical and intellectual proximity to an ecological design project on the campus of Oberlin College described in chapter 14. What began as a fairly straightforward design and construction project became a crash course in architecture, engineering, materials analysis, ecological engineering, landscape ecology, energy analysis, philosophy, institutional politics, and fund-raising. During that time it was my privilege to work with some of the most remarkable designers of our time. To all of the participants in that project I owe a large debt: Ray Anderson, David Austin, Bill Browning, Kevin Burke, Leo Evans, Carol Franklin, Chris Hays, Mark Hoberecht, Amory Lovins, John Lyle, Bill McDo- nough, Dave Nelson, Ron Perkins, Russell Perry, Mark Rusitsky, Bob Scheren, Michael Shaw, Stephen Strong, John Todd, Martin Trout- man, and Adrian Tuluca. They persevered on a tough project. I owe a large debt to friends and colleagues here and elsewhere particularly David Benzing, Peter Buckley, Fritjof Capra, Tony Cortese, Nancy Dye, Karen Florini, Dierdre Holmes, Jon Jensen, Adam Lewis, Peter Lewis, Al MacKay, Brad Masi, Gene Matthews, Carl McDaniel, John viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Petersen, John Powers, Michael Stranahan, Paige Wiegman, and Cheryl Wolfe. I thank David Ehrenfeld and Gary Meffe, both for their editorial skill that improved many of these essays and for their en- couragement. I am grateful to Island Press for permission to include “The Ecology of Giving and Consuming” from Consuming Desires, ed. Roger Rosenblatt (1999); to MIT Press for permission to include “Loving Children” from Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocul- tural, and Evolutionary Investigations, ed. Peter H. Kahn Jr. and Stephen R. Kellert (2002); to Wild Earth for permission to include “The Great Wilderness Debate, Again”; and to Blackwell Science for permission to reprint material from Conservation Biology included here in chapters 3–17. Finally, this book is dedicated to my brother Wilson, with gratitude and love. Contents I. The Problem of Ecological Design 1. Introduction: The Design of Culture and the Culture of Design 3 2. Human Ecology as a Problem of Ecological Design 13 II. Pathologies and Barriers 3. Slow Knowledge 35 4. Speed 43 5. Verbicide 53 6. Technological Fundamentalism 61 7. Ideasclerosis 68 8. Ideasclerosis, Continued 75 x CONTENTS III. The Politics of Design 19. None So Blind: The Problem of Ecological Denial (with David Ehrenfeld)85 10. Twine in the Baler 91 11. Conservation and Conservatism 97 12. A Politics Worthy of the Name 104 13. The Limits of Nature and the Educational Nature of Limits 118 IV. Design as Pedagogy 14. Architecture and Education 127 15. The Architecture of Science 135 16. 2020: A Proposal 143 17. Education, Careers, and Callings 152 18. A Higher Order of Heroism 160 V. Charity, Wildness, and Children 19. The Ecology of Giving and Consuming 171 20. The Great Wilderness Debate, Again 187 21. Loving Children: The Political Economy of Design 198 Bibliography 221 Index 233 § 1 THE PROBLEM OF ECOLOGICAL DESIGN 1 Introduction: The Design of Culture and the Culture of Design Environmentalists are often regarded as people wanting to stop one thing or another, and there are surely lots of things that ought to be stopped. The essays in this book, however, have to do with begin- nings. How, for example, do we advance a long-delayed solar revolu- tion? Or begin one in forest management? Or materials use? How do we reimagine and remake the human presence on earth in ways that work over the long haul? Such questions are the heart of what the- ologian Thomas Berry (1999) calls “the Great Work” of our age. This endeavor is nothing less than the effort to harmonize the human en- terprise with how the world works as a physical system and how it ought to work as a moral system. In the past two centuries the human footprint on earth has multiplied many times over. Our science and technology are powerful beyond anything imagined by the confident founders of the modern world. But our sense of proportion and depth of purpose have not kept pace with our merely technical abilities. 4 THE PROBLEM OF ECOLOGICAL DESIGN Our institutions and organizations still reflect their origins in another time and in very different conditions. Incoherence, disorder, and violence are the hallmarks of the modern world. If we are to build a better world—one that can be sustained ecologically and one that sustains us spiritually—we must transcend the disorder and fragmen- tation of the industrial age. We need a perspective that joins the hard- won victories of civilization, such as human rights and democracy, with a larger view of our place in the cosmos—what Berry calls “the universe story.” By whatever name, that philosophy must connect us to life, to each other, and to generations to come. It must help us to rise above sectarianism of all kinds and the puffery that puts human interests at a particular time at the center of all value and meaning. When we get it right, that larger, ecologically informed enlightenment will upset comfortable philosophies that underlie the modern world in the same way that the Enlightenment of the eighteenth cen- tury upset medieval hierarchies of church and monarchy. The foundation for ecological enlightenment is the 3.8 billion years of evolution. The story of evolution is a record of design strate- gies as life in all of its variety evolved in a vast efflorescence of biolog- ical creativity. The great conceit of the industrial world is the belief that we are exempt from the laws that govern the rest of the creation. Nature in that view is something to be overcome and subordinated. Designing with nature, on the other hand, disciplines human inten- tions with the growing knowledge of how the world works as a physical system. The goal is not total mastery but harmony that causes no ugliness, human or ecological, somewhere else or at some later time. And it is not just about making things, but rather remaking the human presence in the world in a way that honors life and protects human dignity. Ecological design is a large concept that joins science and the practical arts with ethics, politics, and economics. In one way or another all of the important questions of our age have to do with how we get on with the Great Work, transforming human activity on the earth from destruction to participation and human attitudes toward nature from a kind of autism to a competent reverence. It would be foolish to think that what has taken several centuries or longer can be undone quickly or even entirely. But it would also be the height of folly to continue on our present course or to conclude that we are doomed and give up hope. For most of us the Great Work must begin where we are, in the small acts of everyday INTRODUCTION 5 life, stitching together a pattern of loyalty and faithfulness to a higher order of being. The hallmarks of those engaged in Great Work every- where must be largeness of heart, breadth of perspective, practical competence, moral stamina, and the kind of intelligence that discerns ecological patterns. This is a tall order, but we have a heritage of ecological design intelligence available to us if we are willing to draw on it. The starting point for ecological design is not some mythical past, but the heritage of design intelligence evident in many places, times, and cultures prior to our own.

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