Productively Correct: An Article by Dr. Alik Pelman on Production Processes in the Modern Age

Productively Correct: An Article by Dr. Alik Pelman on Production Processes in the Modern Age

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Human actions have always affected our surroundings: the environment as well as other people. Some of these effects are positive and some are not.

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In the past, one could see these effects clearly and immediately: if you cut down a tree to build a chair, you could see exactly what changed in the world for you to have that chair. In general, the system within which a person operated was small, the causal interactions were clear, and the power that a person could exert was limited.

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Working conditions were visible too, and the economic infrastructure that facilitated all this activity was largely local, limited in scope and simple. When an action happened to cause some damage, it would immediately be spotted and the lesson learned.

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All this has long passed. Our present reality has almost nothing in common with that world. When you buy a chair nowadays, every part of it is produced in different countries around the globe: e.g., the raw material for the screws is mined in one country, the screws themselves are made in another, and the packaging in yet another country.

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Beyond that, each machine that is involved in the process was manufactured in dozens of different countries, and so on. And the same holds true for the other components of the chair – the adhesives, the various wood types, the chemicals used in the process.

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So, in the production process of this one chair, masses of people, from all over the world, actually collaborate, without even knowing that they are taking part in this world-wide project.

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Had we somehow managed to paint this entire chain of processes associated with the chair’s production, its use, and the end of its life as waste, we would have ended up with the image of a vast branching web, the ends of which could hardly be discerned.

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The space in which all this vast network operates is our present-day global economy – a reality that fosters maximizing profit at the expense of everything that the law permits exploiting. This results in numerous negative effects – whether on the environment or humans. For example, raw materials are used at a higher rate than they can regenerate, which leads to the gradual depletion of natural resources; the conversion of natural land to industrial areas and farmland damages natural habitats, sometimes to the extent of obliterating entire species, thus reducing biodiversity across the planet; the use of chemicals and pollutants in production only accelerates these processes.

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And of course, most production processes and related transportation run on fossil fuels, which directly contribute to the climate crisis that we are facing. If all these implications had occurred in front of the chairmaker and buyer, it is likely that they would refuse to take any part in it.

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But how can they have any idea of ​​these implications, when they result from countless different processes that take place in different parts of the world, and are therefore hidden from the eye and mind?

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Of course, the production of the chair has significant social implications too, which are also ramified and take place at vastly distant locations. For example, market pressures often lead to abusive employment conditions, with low wages, long, non-stop working hours, close contact with hazardous materials, and the risk of on-the-spot layoffs.

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Many factories hold discriminatory policies against transgender people, the elderly, the disabled, or minorities, and in white-collar companies – such as the ones marketing the chair or its parts – there is discrimination against those who are overweight or simply not attractive enough.

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Beyond all this, there are the aggressive marketing strategies that disregard whether buyers need the product at all, while putting a maximum price-tag regardless of the real cost of production. Again, if all these implications could be witnessed by the chairmaker or consumer, it is most probable that they would refuse to take part in any of this. But these events are too scattered around the globe, too far from the eye and the heart, and naturally also from consciousness.

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Finally, and no less importantly, there are the emotional implications of production, which are far more difficult to measure, but are no less critical. How does it feel to use this chair? Beyond raising one’s standard of living, does it also raise one’s quality of life? Or does availability and simplicity come at the expense of the joy felt by using the old chair that has been replaced? And what about the experience of the residents living near the various factories that are involved in producing the chair? What is the aesthetic and emotional price they have to pay as a result of living near these factories, without there being a legitimate option to protest? For which court would rule in favor of a plaintiff complaining about the depressing environment in which she is forced to live? And if these questions apply to low-tech objects like a chair, then they must apply tenfold to autonomous cars and smartphones.

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However, the growing awareness of all these issues has been rapidly accelerating in recent years, and more and more people now wish to regain responsibility for their personal impact on the world – a responsibility that has been almost completely lost in recent decades.

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By witnessing the ramifications of their choices and actions, many are now looking to stop contributing to this damage; to live, create and consume without exacting a heavy toll. Yet presently there are hardly the means to accomplish that desire.

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The system has not been structured to help us exercise this type of responsibility. There is great demand, but scarce supply. Those who are most qualified to provide for this need are designers and engineers. A designer who is well aware of the implications of production, will be able to supply the growing demand for products that extract minimal environmental and human cost, and that at the same time are of practical, emotional and aesthetic benefit.

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Like any mission that takes place in the forefront of change, it is no doubt unfamiliar and challenging, but it is equally exciting, joyful, and has the great potential to realize some of the most significant needs of our time.

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