INICIATIVA CON PROYECTO DE DECRETO POR EL QUE SE REFORMAN LOS ARTÍCULOS 3°

nectedness of our world is partly a matter of a false per- ception. The western academic tradition has “fractured

knowledge into manageable bits and pieces” (Orr, 1992)

and separated it into two major groups: the humanities and the sciences (Snow, 1993). Thomas Kuhn concurs,

“Normal science is a strenuous and determined attempt to force nature into the conceptual boxes supplied by profes- sional education” (Goldsmith, 1996). These ‘boxes’ such

as physics, chemistry and biology and their ‘sub-box- es’ have created in the western academic tradition the fundamental difficulty of recognizing the deeper con- nections which transcend disciplines and are the links which harmonize our world. Buckminster Fuller (2013) also warned us of the danger of overspecialization be- cause it leads to an inability to adapt.

The western system of education requires a sub- stantially more integrated curriculum (Orr, 1992; Eh- rlich & Ehrlich, 2010) to develop the skills for antici- pating the consequences resulting from decisions. A prime example of a fiasco created by this inability was made, no less, by the European government. It did not anticipate the consequences of replacing 10% of pet- rol with bio-ethanol with the purpose of reducing CO₂ emissions. However, when it emerged that the measure would increase emissions then the European govern- ment, at least partially, reversed its strategy replacing only 7% of petrol with bio-ethanol! Meanwhile, the USA’s adoption of this strategy contributed to food price increases around the world due to land, that was previously used for growing food crops, changing to growing crops for bio-ethanol.

What does Commoner’s first law mean for design? It means that our existence and the gamut of our activ- ities, both work and play, what we consume and what we do throughout our lives impacts on the biosphere

– our environment, somehow, somewhere, sometime. This is because, as the first law states, “Everything is con-

nected to everything else.” This principle was succinctly

visualized in a diagram published in the journal Science (Ayensu, E., et al., 1999) which shows the linkages and interdependencies between the ecosystems providing food, freshwater, forest products, biodiversity, and cli- mate change. The linkages between these major eco- system goods and services which are coupled with other driving forces such as climate change means that significant change in one area will impact on another.

For example, if a lot of freshwater is used for frack- ing then it will not be available for irrigation and food production due to either it being polluted with fracking chemicals, if it returns to the surface, or unavailable if it remains deep underground. And again if land is used to grow crops for bio-ethanol production then it cannot be used for producing food. If forests are cleared for food production then they cannot sequester CO₂ nor perform ecosystem services such as stopping soil run- off, etc. This is the challenge of our finite ecosystem re- sources, how best to use them when the demand is for more of all of them.

So what does this have to do with design? Every- thing. The products which designers create are another demand for resources (wood, water, minerals, energy, etc.) contributing to the burden on ecosystem goods and services. Therefore, we must automatically ques- tion design decisions with “but what then?” (see ‘schesi- ology’ in the Glossary) leading us to identify the eco- logical costs and impacts of our decisions: How much energy is required whilst researching and working on computers? How much water is used in the production process? Where will the wood come from for the de- sign? What are the ecological costs of transporting ma- terials and product distribution? etc. The new design paradigm includes many procedures, for example: life cycle assessment (LCA), the “material intensity per unit

of service” or MIPS (Schmidt-Bleek, 1993) and the ‘eco-

logical rucksack’ etc. which help designers to consider the ecological costs of their designs. If we recognize our dependence on the environment we can modify our behaviour, and help mitigate environmental problems. Understanding this is the foundation of ecological- or environmental-literacy (see Glossary). It is unfortunate that we ourselves seldom witness the impacts or exter- nalities resulting from many of our decisions. Conse- quently, the good news is that the new design paradigm

3.3 Everything is connected to everything else

makes us aware in ways never previously considered by the old design paradigm. Strategies including lean thinking, dematerialization of design, replacing prod- ucts with services and so on … are all aspects of the new design paradigm. We must not only design innovatively but innovate new ways of thinking into designing.

We are an integral part of the ecology of the bio- sphere, the envelope surrounding the world that con- tains and sustains life. Ecology includes the study of the relationships of living organisms with one another, and with their environment. Ecology is concerned with three levels of enquiry: the individual organism, the popu- lation (of the same species) and the community con- sisting of populations of different species. We are con- nected to the biosphere in several ways: by the flows of materials through us (water, nitrogen etc.), by webs of dependence and dynamic and oscillating balances.

3.3.1 Flows and cycles

We are interconnected to the biosphere by the flows and cycles occurring in – and supported by the bio- sphere. We should understand:

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› how materials cycle and energy flows through

the systems of organisms.

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› the interdependence of organisms through

food-chains and behavioural interactions.

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› how those systems or ecosystems provide us

with the essentials which sustain our lives. If we understand enough about how the Earth functions then we can know enough to not only avoid damaging or breaking these flows but also learn how to care for the Earth’s systems so that we do not threaten our own existence. Consequently, you will perhaps find more here about ecology and biology than is usual in a design book.

Solar power drives the cycles on which life depends with all organisms themselves participating in various ways in the bio-geochemical cycles. The most import- ant cycles include the hydrological cycle, the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle and the phosphorus cycle.

Solar energy drives the process of photosynthesis enabling algae and plants to grow and create the bio- mass (net primary product or NPP) which is the starting point for all food chains. “Net primary production – the

net amount of solar energy converted to plant organ- ic matter through photosynthesis” (Imhoff, et al, 2004).

(There are a few exceptions of organisms living inde- pendently of solar energy such as the communities of

marine organisms living around hydrothermal vents on the dark and deep ocean floor). Therefore, nearly all or- ganic existence depends on the simple recipe in which:

carbon

dioxide + water + photosynthesis light enables to create

> glucose + oxygen

6CO2 + 12H2O + sunlight acting on chlo- rophyll

> C6 H12

O6 + 6H2O + 6O2

The simple formula confirms that photosynthe- sis crucially depends on water. Water is an essential resource which is in increasingly short supply, none- theless, since it cycles we potentially have an eternal cycling supply but of a finite quantity. Water evaporat- ing from the sea’s surface forms clouds which falls as rain on both land and sea. On land water is taken up by plants from which it evapotranspires or runs off into streams and rivers to once again reach the sea. Alterna- tively, it may seep into the ground where it may collect in aquifers.

Hydrologists believe water supply has already reached “peak ecological water” (Palaniappan & Gleick, 2009). Nature, i.e. organisms and ecosystems also need water to exist and provide us with ecological services. Consequently, we must ensure that besides whatever water we need that there is enough water for Nature too. Consequently, the term “peak ecological water” refers to the maximum amount of water which can be used by humans without limiting Nature’s needs. Pa- laniappan and Gleick (2009) explain that “As human

appropriation of water increases, the ecological services that water provides decrease. Once we begin appropriat- ing more than “peak ecological water,” ecological disrup- tions exceed the human benefit obtained. Defined this way, many regions of the world have already surpassed “peak ecological water” – humans use more water than the eco- system can sustain without significant deterioration and degradation” and disruption to the ecosystem services

on which we depend. Currently, Brazil is “experiencing

a third consecutive year with soaring temperatures and rainfall patterns well below historic records” (Whately &

Lerer, 2015). Worse still, California is also (Feb. 2015) ex- periencing “the most severe drought in the last 1200 years,

with single year (2014) and accumulated moisture deficits worse than any previous continuous span of dry years … In terms of cumulative severity, it is the worst drought on record (-14.55 cumulative PDSI), more extreme than longer (4- to 9-year) droughts” (Griffin & Anchukaitis, (2014).

3.3 Everything is connected to everything else

Carbon is also continually cycling in the biosphere and organisms play a key role in the flows of carbon, not only physiologically through respiration and pho- tosynthesis but also in their composition. Similarly, or- ganisms are participants in the circulation of nitrogen and phosphorus. The maintenance of all these cycles and flows through the biosphere not only links organ- ic life with the Earth’s inanimate geo-physico-chemical systems but are essential for life’s continuation.

Food chains are flows of energy and nutrients commencing with the capture of the sun’s energy by photosynthesis to create biomass (plants), the ener- gy ascends a ladder of organisms through what biol- ogists call trophic (connected by nutrition) layers. For example, the primary producers are algae and grasses capturing the sun’s energy to create biomass. The next trophic layer are the herbivores feeding on the primary producers and the herbivores are preyed upon by car- nivores. A food chain, illustrating 4 trophic layers can be exemplified as follows:

sun’s > grass > grass-

hopper > shrew > owl

energy producer primary

consumer secondary consumer consumertertiary

Our responsibility is to understand and care for the maintenance of the myriad interactive ecological net- works, and the trophic layers nested within each other (Bastolla, 2009) and operating on different time scales and which constitute ecosystems.

3.3.2 Keystone species & webs of dependence

We are connected to the biosphere by the webs of rela- tionships which exist between us and other organisms. We must be attentive to care for these webs of relation- ships which permeate and form ecosystems. Some spe- cies in an ecosystem are of critical significance to its maintenance and are the ecosystem’s ‘Achilles’ heal.’ These are known as ‘keystone’ species because they hold an ecosystem together and it is not always possi- ble to know which species these are until, for some rea- son, they disappear causing the ecosystem’s collapse.

The oak is a familiar tree in many countries and also a keystone species. Certainly hundreds even thou- sands of different species depend on oaks for a small, or essential role in their lives. Many species of lichens, mosses, and other epiphytes live on oaks and at least 5,000 species of insects depend on oaks for at least a part of their life cycle laying their eggs, pupating and

feeding on the oak. In turn these insects are parasitized or eaten by many other animals. The numbers of oth- er species which oaks support varies regionally but a study in Santa Monica, USA, lists:

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› 58 species of amphibians and reptiles ›

› 105 species of mammals ›

› 150 species of birds (see Sources: Oaks).

The acorns of the European oaks are spread by jays and an individual jay may bury between 4,500-11,000 in a year! The acorns, forgotten by the bird, have a greater chance of germinating since the jay buries the acorns at a depth perfect for their germination which helps to extend forest cover. Jays play a key ecosystem service which if performed by humans has been esti- mated to cost between $200,000-950,000 per pair of jays (Hougner et al, 2006). Meanwhile, the acorns that remain on the ground where they fall provide food for many mammals such as voles and squirrels. Ivy grows up the oak’s trunk providing nesting opportunities for small birds and lichens and mosses grow on the bark, providing nesting opportunities and materials. Larger birds, such as woodpeckers and owls may nest in the oak, especially when cavities develop in old and rotten trees. The holes, weakening the trunk, enable fungi to grow, causing the tree to rot and eventually to collapse. On the ground fungi begin to break down the wood and it becomes covered in mosses. Under the trunk’s bark beetle larvae develop and the dead oak becomes a host to a new community of organisms as it rots down.

This incomplete vignette of life supported by an oak tree in a temperate wood or copse illustrates some of the things we might observe. However, what we can- not see is the oak turning the sun’s energy into biomass by photosynthesis. Water is drawn up by transpiration from the roots and evaporates (evapotranspiration) from the leaves adding water to the hydro-cycle. The oak also contributes to other cycles essential for our functioning biosphere; the oxygen, carbon and nitro- gen cycles.

The question arises as to how is the oak tree con- nected to us? This is by the provision of ecosystem ser- vices, these may include:

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› forest soils created by rotting leaves and wood

purify water,

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› deep forest soils also store water and help to

recharge aquifers,

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› help maintain the water cycle and stabilizing