306 Ecological Restoration and Design
systems. The origins of the practice of ecological design can be traced far back in
time, but there are deeper origins found in the recesses of the human heart.
Towards Design Education
The basic principles of ecological design are these (van der Ryn and Cowan, 1996;
McDonough and Braungart, 2002):
- use sunshine and wind;
- preserve diversity;
- account for all costs;
- eliminate waste;
- solve for pattern;
- protect human dignity;
- leave wide margins for error, malfeasance and ignorance.
The basic principles of modern education appear to be these:
- the purpose of education is to extend human mastery of nature;
- learning is intellectual, not emotional;
- curriculum is organized by disciplines and divisions;
- analytical reasoning (reductionism) and quantification are superior to other
modes of knowing; - schools are best organized like factories to maximize efficiency;
- success is measured first by tests, later by careers in the industrial world;
- academic architecture is a function of cost and efficiency.
The recalibration of education with ecology, and specifically one aimed to inform
our role as designers, has large implications for the substance and process of educa-
tion and the expectations that we bring to it. But what follows is perhaps best
regarded as notes for a seminar on design education, a scouting expedition, toward
that end rather than a set of firm conclusions or a blueprint.
First, in contrast to assumptions of human mastery of nature, the starting
point for ecological design education is a more humble and serious consideration
of the 3.8 billion years of evolutionary history. Nature, for ecological designers, is
not something just to be mastered, but a tutor and mentor for human actions.
Janine Benyus author of Biomimicry points out, for example, that spiders make
biodegradable materials stronger than steel and tougher than Kevlar without fossil
fuels, toxic chemicals and the product is biodegradable (Benyus, 1998). From
nothing more than substances in seawater, molluscs make ceramic-like materials
that are stronger and more durable than anything we know how to make. These
and thousands of other examples are models for manufacturing, the design of