dustin valen
In all probability, the ‘ability to repay’ invested in waste ideology is an inappropriate measure of both waste’s consequences and value, separated from a more complex set of socio-cultural questions and moral ambiguities, without considering the fundamental role wasting plays in an economic system that hangs on consumption. Which is not to say waste’s utility and re-use is a bad thing. The real potential for harm occurs when current practices are misrepresented as a rejoinder to the legacy of environmental criticism levelled at wasteful behaviours and the relentless proliferation of garbage in the first place. 8 If the history of waste practices can teach us one thing it is that time and time again that with each innovative turn as the modernity has drawn closer to eliminating the problem of waste once and for all, cultural and social transformations wrought by modern institutions themselves have in turn problematised the very same objective. Facing one such promise today, now is the time to nurture a little foresight. c
1 ‘Singapore 2010 power demand hits record high’, Asia One News , 13 Apr 2011, Web. http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/ Story/A1Story20110413-273423.html (Accessed 15 Nov 2012); National Environment Agency of Singapore, Envision 1 (Jan 2011): 21. 2 See, for example, Vance Packard’s seminal The Waste Makers. New York: D. McKay Co, 1960, and his scathing critique of planned obsolescence therein; Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1962; or even Theodore Roszak’s Where the Wasteland Ends: Politics and transcendence in postindustrial society. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1972; for an concise foray into contemporary debate, two recent issues of Harvard Design Magazine (both subtitled: Sustainability+Pleasure ) are useful: HDM 30 (Spring/Summer 2009) and HDM 31 (Fall/Winter 2009/10). 3 Marcus Ng Fu Chuan. Habitats in Harmony: The story of Semakau Landfill , 2nd edition. Singapore: National Environment Agency, 2012. p 8 4 Ibid., 11. 5 National Environment Agency of Singapore, Envision 1 (Jan 2011): 23. 6 Marcel Mauss, The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies , translated by Ian Cunnison. London: Cohen & West, 1966. Meaning literally ‘to nourish’ or ‘consume’, during the Haida and Kwakiutl potlatch, gifts are exchanged and even set fire to. Through their exchange and destruction, writes Mauss, gifting “implies giving something that is to be repaid,” or “the belief that one has to buy from the gods and that the gods know how to repay the price”. i By blurring the distinction between waste and gain, the incineration of gifts in anticipation of repayment during the potlatch provokes a reconsideration of the widely held belief that wasting produces waste by showing instead how wasting can (paradoxically) result in wealth. Mauss states: “Outside pure destruction the obligation to repay is the essence of potlatch”. ii 7 Ibid p40. Also see Georges Bataille, The accursed share: an essay on general economy , translated by Robert Hurley. New York: Zone Books, 1991 in which Bataille’s reading of French sociologist Marcel Mauss underlies his own general economic theory premised in part on the desire and need to eliminate excess capital and labour. 8 For their part, the NEA has initiated numerous publicity campaigns and educational programs designed to instil environmental awareness into Singaporeans. Since 1990, their “Clean and Green” initiative has grown into a year-long campaign with the stated objective (in 2013) of “[promoting] the right social values and [instilling] pride for our environment,” and includes a series of eco-workshops meant to promote recycling, resource conservation and energy efficiency. For an informative glance visit: http://app2.nea.gov.sg/clean_and_green_singapore.aspx.
37
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator