Cyan D’Anjou

Ecology over Economy

The world of 2045 is heavily influenced by the principles which governed our society in 2022. Optics are everything, and acknowledging the collective focus on the climate crisis, governing bodies have used the prominence of social media platforms and influencers to redirect what status “looks like” culturally as a form of soft power. Much like how material objects such as luxury fashion, real estate, ambitious careers titles, and travel have previously been regarded as markers of high-success, in order to gain visibility and notoriety in the 2045 world, one should invest in and the expand their knowledge about maintaining a flourishing environment. Noting how we currently invest in education, property, careers, etc. in an incredibly all-consuming manner, this built society exists paralleling the pursuit of social capital–but in this world, nature is the most valuable asset we own.

Relinquishment

We relinquish the need for humans to roam the world forever. Human reproduction is deemed an unviable endeavor considering (lack of) access to wealth, health, resources, and love.

OSC (Organic Social Capital)

Our society exists due to the pursuit of social capital and nature is the most valuable asset we own. The more it flourishes, the higher one’s OSC.

Soil to Soil (Dust to Dust)

We have accepted eventual extinction as a collective species as we no longer believe in death. We look forward to returning to the earth once our bodies have been expunged.

"It is expected of every individual to give themselves fully to the prosperity of nature. Even the CO2 we exhale with each breath, the nails which grow on our hands and toes, and the nutrients present in our sweat are key to the environment’s growth and survival. We should do what we can to provide, so we collect every aspect of ourselves to be given. After all, the nature we own is a symbol of our personal ability to sacrifice, the most distinguished and enviable human quality. We make this sacrifice out of the knowledge that it will eventually be reciprocated. Once we have given all that our bodies can give, we will return to soil ourselves and expect our natural bodies to grow given the same dedication we have given to those before us."

OSC: For a flourishing life.

Organic Social Capital is an experiential narrative within this world questioning the valuation of the production-centric “blood, sweat, and tears” hustle. Similar to GDP, OSC quantifies and compares human output, but now the paradigm shifts to value ecology over economy.

Growing one’s OSC–which audiences are guided to do through an interactive web-app –mirrors the “blood, sweat, and tears” mindset by quantifying the input of human byproducts and attention as a tangible currency. By redefining the highest-valued acts as nurture-based stewardship, OSC uses existing structures of capitalism to compensate the previously invisible labors of care, yielding both benefits for the sustainability of our communities and for our surrounding nature.

Living in the Urban Temperates

The whole time you’re hoping that one day, your region too can flourish. It’s a shame that growth in humans and the synthetic industry still outnumbers the growth in the natural environment of your area. The birth rate is still higher than the environmental decline. Unfortunately, you’ve been born into a Capital city–you exist to produce organic capital in support of flourishing. The infrastructure to contribute directly to nature hasn’t yet been developed in your area, as nature is still so far away. You live in what has been known as a concrete jungle.

You know from what you’ve heard that the monotonous heights of the skyscrapers have nothing on the vastness of a redwood forest. You know those wise trees in fact are the sky, collaboratively canopying, covering further than eyes can see, are touching more than we ever will. The trees create the air we breathe, so of course, they are the sky. Therefore, we can only hope to scrape, while the redwoods become.

You’ve never seen a redwood. But you know nothing man-made could ever come close.

Jinhua Group: The gift of our sacrifice

In this future society, the dedication towards nature manifests even into an incredibly bodily donation towards nature, taking into account that our blood, hair, and breath can all be collected and used to feed the growth of our plants, much like the act of giving performed by mothers–a sacrifice made to the success growth of another being. In lieu of raising a family, the incredibly bodily act of childrearing is instead invested into sustaining an individual’s plants and gardens. The more one is willing to give, the more favorably they are viewed in this society.

Fruits represent a gift from nature as a result of its sustained health, and they have come to be highly valued as symbols of respect within the future scenario. Jinhua Group* is a fictional company that specializes in the exchange of tropical fruits to regions where these are especially rare and thus garner a lot of social capital. These fruits, like the lychee, are preserved in a cube of human nutrients that were used to cultivate it and are rarely eaten.

*In my family, there is a name that is passed down through the daughters of each generation– Kiem hwa (or Jīn Hūa, 金花), a Chinese-Indonesian name meaning “golden flower.”

The Alter

The Alter is a speculative design object situated within the “Sacrifice of Motherhood” climate fiction. Inspired by an antique altar table from the Qing Dynasty, The Alter is a representation of many beloved heritage objects that are left behind during the continued displacement of families from their motherlands due to colonial occupation and war. The table is made of laser-cut acrylic sheets and fits into a portfolio-sized flat pack, remedying any future need for quick deconstruction and transportation– a function mirroring the lasting effects of migration that materializes as subtle expressions of generational trauma. The design is an abstraction of the original traditional design representing an alternate form of cultural heritage that remains with the passing of subsequent generations while details of of lineage have blurred–or been altered.

I will only last one lifetime, but I can feed generations.

I heard about the Enlightenment–when humans thought we had the reason and knowledge to pursue happiness.

Our reason led us to believe that: to be seen is to be happy. So, now we live in this world.

As long as I pour myself into this being who will last longer than my body can, I will be seen– known –forever.

This is what it means to be loved, isn't it?

All I really need to sustain me is the knowledge that I was loved while I was here.

I am feeding generations.

And who is more known than mother?