objects and empathy

"Ask a developed world human to stop consuming and you might as well ask a vampire not to suck blood."

I've begun reading this book, Emotionally Durable Design: Objects, Experiences & Empathy by Jonathan Chapman, from which the above quote was taken. Chapman approaches sustainable design in a manner that we're not so accustomed to hearing. Though it does contain a good number of astonishing facts and statistics, it doesn't focus solely on the materials we should use, the methods we shouldn't employ or the ways in which we can attempt to reverse the damage already wrecked on our planet in order to have "green design." Rather, Chapman likens it to the difference between Western and Eastern medicine. The former is often concerned with alleviating symptoms; The latter holistically seeks to identify the root of the problem and attempts to eradicate the cause of discomfort. And according to Chapman, a root cause of the rampant, and wasteful consumerism that has developed in this past century is the lack of emotional connection between user and product. Chapman summarizes his own book:

"This book proposes a radical design about-face in order to reduce the impact of modern consumption without compromising commercial or creative edge...This book does not propose sweeping overhaul of the entire designed world. Instead, it espouses the emergence of a specialist design genre that caters for deeper, more profound and poetic human needs, taking users beyond the ephemeral world of technocentric design and toward a rich, interactive domain of emotionally durable objects and experiences. 'It is time for a new generation of products that can age slowly and in a dignified way...[to] become our partners in life and support our memories.'" (24)

At the Better World by Design conference last weekend, I attended a panel titled Appropriate Technology for the Developing World. One of the speakers present was a representative from KickStart, a company that develops products to help the poor out of poverty. This discussion of a more intimate relationship between user and object in Chapman's book reminds me of the way in which KickStart approaches its business. KickStart states: "Our mission is to get millions of people out of poverty quickly, cost-effectively and sustainably. And, in doing so, change the way the world fights poverty."


a local with a MoneyMaker water pump

Founders Nick Moon and Martin Fisher found that free aid and giveaways are essentially ineffective in the long term because it creates dependency on an organization that can only provide temporary alleviation. Instead, KickStart has developed irrigation pumps to sell to locals in Kenya, Tanzania and Mali to stimulate a sustainable local economy that eventually provides income to the poor. And by pulling the impoverished out of poverty, a better quality of life can be attained. By selling the pumps, instead of giving them, there is a stronger relationship between the user and the object. KickStart emphasizes, "Those who buy the tools are more likely to use them than those who are given them. This is true regardless of where you live or how wealthy you are." I remember the KickStart representative expressing that KickStart doesn't really make a profit selling these pumps to poor farmers. In fact, they might even be losing money. But the point is that those individuals who have worked hard to invest in their equipment will take care of it, make it last longer and in turn improve their lives with the income they generate. The increasing success stories inspire others in the community to do the same, and slowly, but steadily, this marks one company's approach to the beginning of the end of poverty.

Given Chapman's design approach and KickStart's innovative business model, it gives me hope that there is the possibility for change. And even though this change will encompass the complicated realms of economics, business, technology, anthropology, and many other discplines that I don't fully understand, I know that at the bottom of it all, it still links to the thing we all share and comprehend: the human heart and its compassion.