It's All Gone To Shit
Team: Project completed with Holly Watts, Amelia Blantern and Danielle Julian
The Challenge
To interrogate our given object (Cow's Milk) in regards to the climate emergency and finite resources. Addressing the problems and challenges in order imagine a society with speculative concepts.
Post growth toolkit
As a group we played the PGT game, which displays the systems currently in place that hold society together. We debated the pillars of capitalism and where we think the 3 notion cards should go and the relationship between them. It helped us to think about the complexities of the agriculture industry. If we could balance politics, capitalism, animal welfare and land-use, that would create an ideal speculative future without fossil fuels.
Our imagined future was based around a methane collection dome, which was a closed system, an entire ecosystem where the cows live undisturbed and their well-being is considered. Their methane is collected and turned into energy stopping it entering the atmosphere. It left us with questions about using any waste products from cows and the amount of damage they do environmentally. We needed to make sure the farming of cows milk is organic and worthwhile. From research we found problems within the agriculture industry.
Ideation
In an ideation workshop we took the idea of regeneration, and imagined a system in our lives where the cow’s by-products could be enough to sustain us. One research insight was that the by-product of manure can be made into energy, vehicle gas, fabric, bioplastic and clay. We figured out a way in which nothing would go to waste.
We sketched a village which sources everything from its local village dairy farm. The manure is kept in domes to stop its emissions getting into the atmosphere and then transported to the factory to create fuel for cars and energy which can be used in houses and go back into the farming. The manure can also be used to make many of the villages resources ethically like clothes, building materials and tableware. The cows on the dairy farm will not be bred inhumanely but instead will naturally reproduce and feed their calves the milk they need leaving what’s left for us. And farmers would still have jobs when the demand for milk decreases.
Calculations
We researched all aspects of the village system to make sure it would work and people would actually want to use manure by-products. Looking into pre-existing products and systems in place similar to ours. We created a survey and found people would be willing to convert to more sustainable ways of living and calculated if the village could actually sustain itself on manure.
Our solution
From our research and ideas, we found that we could create a sustainable system that could rely on cow’s by-products. This system could be a closed loop system (circular economy), with the energy sourced from infinite and renewable sources. Danielle made this 3D depiction of the village.
Prototyping and planning
We made a mock up of the 4 main elements in our village system, each doing a part in order to visualise how it could work and what it might look like.
As a group we sat and planned out each aspect we wanted to include on the model system. We also thought about the way we wanted it to look sleek and almost futuristic.
Making the model
Using the digital model as a plan we decided on the size of the base and then built upon that making sure everything was scaled proportionately. We decided how many houses we wanted to include which was 27 and then scaled down the amount of cows we needed in relation to that amount which was 4. We all took different rolls in making the village, doing different aspects to get it completed more efficiently. The buildings we made out of foam board so everything looked seamless. Once we roughly laid out the pieces on the base we sketched and cut out the contours to give the village depth and put everything on a different level to the farm to show how it works around it. As we weren’t able to use actual manure materials to make our model we made sure we used recyclable or biodegradable materials.
QR codes
The system has 7 aspects, 5 of which make up a circular economy (which we linked with a red string on our model) and run off the farm in the centre. We created a way finding map to include on the QR codes so people can see where they are on the model and what it links to. We included quotes from the farmer and village people to show their view point of living in this future system and how it actually works. The QR codes were put next to the part of the village its describing.
Visualisation diagram
We decided for our visualisation diagram we wanted to display our 4 problems in some way so that people are aware of the problems that the dairy industry causes. By directly addressing people relating to their lives will make them see the impact they also may be having, hopefully encouraging people to adapt their lifestyle. To do this we would include everyday dairy products. We had to find the information for the diagram. So we each took one of our 4 problems and found statistics highlighting it, between us choosing which statistics to use. It went through many different ideas, concepts and iterations until we were happy.
Exhibition
For the exhibition we created a poster which included our imaginary and an overview which explained the idea behind the model system. The model was then displayed on a podium and people could can the QR codes to read about how the system worked.