whyroots

The coming economic and ecological down cycle is going to be a wild ride for our generation -- hopefully one that forces us to re-examine our ideas of wealth. In this context our generation's test is to prevent the collapse of these systems and doing so requires a significant sacrifice or a change in our lifestyles in terms of our consumption and production.

From my perspective, as an architect, the dual problem of the free-falling bourgeoisie's for architecture as a luxury service coupled with the foreseeable depletion or exhaustion of material resources on the planet sounds apocalyptic for my chosen profession. In developed nations, the built environment accounts for 70% of resource consumption (by weight), 60% of non industrial waste, and 40% of total energy consumption. I have to hope that the serious constraints that architecture will see in the near future regarding economies of material, energy and demand will be understood as an opportunity for us to do better.

In Natural Capitalism, Paul Hawken plainly states that capitalism is lazy, and that the success of a product economically rarely corresponds to to its quality or integrity. It's no surprise to him that the U.S. auto industry is seeking a $34 billion bailout when the most innovative development in automobile technology in the past 10 years has been to add more cup holders.

The success of our generation will be defined by our ability to innovate and perceive economic pressures as a catalyst for doing so. In addition, what will make us great is our ability to redefine wealth as something other than monetary accumulation.

-- Robin Willis

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