VISUALIZING ECOSYSTEM INFRASTRUCTURE
THE AGE OF EXTERNALITIES HAS COME TO A CLOSE. WE
POSIT THAT THE ECOSYSTEMS OF THE UNITED STATES ARE
ITS PRIMARY INFRASTRUCTURE; PRECEDING NETWORKS
OF ROADS, PIPELINES, AND RAILWAYS. WE PROPOSE NEW ECONOMIC
AND INFORMATIONAL INTERFACES FOR THE ECOSYSTEMS OF THE UNITED STATES
THAT PROVIDE FEEDBACK FOR ONE ANOTHER TO PROPAGATE CHANGE IN OUR BUILT
ENVIRONMENT. A NEW ECONOMIC INTERFACE IS PREDICATED ON RE-CONCEPTUALIZING
THE REAL WEALTH OF OUR NATION’S ECOSYSTEMS. A new economic model internalizes the value and
cost borne by “the commons” to incentivize ecosystem reinvestment and more efficient uses of embodied energy and embodied
water. Valuing and accounting for ecosystem services requires a new informational interface—both physical and virtual—to
acquire, evaluate and monitor data. Tactics for visualizing the true costs borne—and services provided by—our terrestrial,
aquatic, and atmospheric ecosystems will precipitate continental-scale reorganization of transportation and agriculture
networks, urbanization patterns, and water and energy exchange systems.
A SHIFT IN THINKING
1.
A new ECONOMIC interface based on ecological accounting
incentivizes reinvestment in ecosystem infrastructure
2.
A new INFORMATION interface incorporates strategies for
visualization
EMPTY WORLD
THESE 2 SYSTEMS PROVIDE DYNAMIC FEEDBACK:
•
•
•
NATURAL CAPITAL
SOLAR ENERGY
MAN-MADE CAPITAL
RECYCLE
Informational interface provides data needed to account for
true costs
Economic interface provides incentives for investing in new
projects
Information visualization empowers choice & cultivates new
visual design intelligence
MATTER
MATTER
SOURCES
SINKS
ENERGY
ENERGY
HEAT
ECOSYSTEM
ECONOMIC SERVICES
WELFARE
RECYCLE
FULL WORLD
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
SOLAR ENERGY
In the global context of shrinking sources (of materials and fossil fuels) and
shrinking sinks (sites to absorb wastes), we propose a fundamental shift in thinking to recognize ecosystems as the primary infrastructure supporting and protecting human habitation. We propose new interfaces for the ecosystems of the United
States – both economic and informational.
In economics, we recognize that the true cost of contemporary global trade in
goods and services are externalized. We must provide alternative valuations that
account for contributions from ecosystem services in order to move to a more sustainable economy,
Information is considered both in terms of ubiquity and increased accessibility.
Products and their sub-assemblies are linked in global supply chain systems that
contain information of suppliers and locations. New tools for visualizing this “DNA,”
along with the ecosystem services a product embodies, can enable citizens to evaluate their choices and incentivize more efficient patterns of production and trade.
MATTER
MATTER
SOURCES
SINKS
ENERGY
ENERGY
HEAT
ECOSYSTEM
ECONOMIC SERVICES
WELFARE
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
EMPTY WORLD AND FULL WORLD: RE-DRAWN FROM HERMAN E. DALY, 1999
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20TH CENTURY ENGINEERING...
“During World War II, we had an entire country working around the clock to produce
enough planes and tanks to beat the Axis powers. In the middle of the Cold War, we
built a national highway system so we had a quick way to transport military equipment across the country. When we wanted to pull ahead of the Russians into space,
we poured millions into a national education initiative that graduated thousands of
new scientists and engineers.
America now finds itself at a similar crossroads. As gas prices keep rising, the Middle
East grows ever more unstable, and the ice caps continue to melt, we face a now-ornever, once-in-a-generation opportunity to set this country on a different course.”
BARACK OBAMA, APRIL 3, 2006
“ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND THE SAFETY OF OUR PLANET”
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION (WPA) POSTER 1940
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In the 20th century, our nation’s infrastructures were developed to increase access to natural resources, stimulate trade, expand transportation networks, and
improve public health. Competing systems were distilled into standard formats for
compatibility and exchange. These systems considered the role of ecological systems in terms of their use value, their potential as hazards to humans, as impediments or nuisances to be mitigated, or their potential for power generation. Wetlands were drained to “reclaim land” and rivers were channelized and dammed for
flood control and generate hydroelectricity.
We now find ourselves in the 21st century with a 2-mile long coal train in constant motion between the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Atlanta, and the proposed NASCO Supercorridor, or “NAFTA Superhighway”, a 10-lane, multi-modal
corridor facilitating the transportation of goods through Mexican seaports, to a new
inland “Smartport” in Kansas City. Projects such as the NASCO Supercorridor privilege the unsustainable exploitation of international wage and price gradients at the
expense of sustainable, regional development.
...VS... RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE
PRIMARY INFRASTRUCTURE
Food and medicine
Water and air
Materials
Energy
Transportation
REGENERATIVE INFRASTRUCTURES
Carbon sequestration
Climate regulation
Waste decomposition and detoxification
Soils fertility renewal
Water and air purification
Crop and vegetation pollination
Nutrient dispersal and cycling
Seed dispersal
Invasive species and disease control
Drought and floods mitigation
UV radiation protection
Erosion prevention
Biodiversity maintenance
LOSS OF SUSPENDED SEDIMENT DISCHARGE DUE TO CHANNELIZATION AND
DAMMING, IN MILLIONS OF METRIC TONS PER YEAR. SOURCE: USGS, 1999
As we developed the pumps, dams and levees “hard” infrastructures that support urbanization and our modern way of life we simultaneously degraded the “soft”
ecological infrastructures, such as buffer islands and coastal wetlands, that once
provided equivalent protections.
We propose a major reinvestment in our nation’s ecosystems using the techniques of the emerging discipline of ecological engineering. Like our roads and
bridges, unless major improvements and investments are made, the ecological infrastructures of the United States are on the brink of catastrophic failure. Impacts of
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 were exacerbated by both a loss of coastal buffer wetland
and the funneling of the storm surge by the Army Corps’s Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO). These wetlands must be restored protect gulf cities from subsequent
storms.
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2007
2008
2009
LOSS OF ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE: VILLAGE OF CHATAM, CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS, BARRIER ISLAND BREAKTHROUGH. THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEAWALLS AND COASTAL ARMORING IN URBAN
AREAS LEADS TO INCREASES IN WAVE VELOCITIES THAT DEGRADE BARRIER ISLANDS IN LESS-DEVELOPED REGIONS..
A NEW ECONOMIC MODEL
EMERGY & EMDOLLARS
EMERGY
Emergy, or embodied energy, is defined as the available energy that was used in the work of making a
product. Embodied energy is an accounting methodology which aims to find the sum total of the energy
necessary for an entire product life cycle. This life
cycle includes raw material extraction, transport,[1]
manufacture, assembly, installation, disassembly,
deconstruction and/or decomposition.
Different methodologies produce different understandings of the scale and scope of application and
the type of energy embodied. Some methodologies
are interested in accounting for the energy embodied
in terms of oil that support economic processes.
HOWARD T. ODUM
SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA
The true costs of our American standard of living are
obscured. Current metrics such as GDP measure production based on infinite resources and exclusion of externalities. To make informed decisions about stainability, access to life-cycle accounting must be expanded.
A new, holistic method of accounting is required, using “emergy” and “emdollars” as a basis. These metrics
were developed by Howard T. Odum (and his brother Eugene P. Odum). Emergy and emdollars provide a means
to account for energetic and economic flows within ecosystems and society. The Odum brothers developed a
visual language, commonly called “Energese,” to diagram these flows.
H.T. Odum’s theories are currently used in the development of models for valuing and accounting for ecosystem services. This research is led by Robert Costanza, at
the University of Vermont’s Gund Institute. He defines
“ecosystem services” as “goods and services provided
by the natural environment that are fundamental to human well-being.” When these systems are damaged,
they have real-dollar cost implications in loss of human
lives, property, and quality of life. Ecosystem services
can be provided by existing and constructed systems.
Constructed systems are designed using principles of
ecological engineering.
EMDOLLARS
Use of emdollars allows contribution of nature to be
expressed in terms of the regional currency. In the
realm of peopled systems where markets and money
are used to exchange goods and services, emdollars are a convenient way to express system-value
in terms familiar to people. Emergy is translated
to emdollars by dividing emergy flow by the average emergy-to-money ratio of an economic system.
The emergy-to-money ratio is found by dividing total
emergy use of an economic system by its gross domestic product.
SOURCE: D.R. Tilley, W.T... Swank / Journal of Environmental Management 69 (2003) 213–227
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ENERGETIC FLOW DIAGRAM OF TREATMENT WETLAND, MAURICIO E. ARIAS 2006
INVESTING IN RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE
“Like jujitsu, ecological engineering uses small energy to large effects by going with, rather than
against, the self organizing tendencies of nature.” HOWARD T. ODUM, 2002
ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING DEFINED
A) the restoration of ecosystems that have been
substantially disturbed by human activities such as
environmental pollution or land disturbance
B) the development of new sustainable ecosystems that
have both human and ecological values.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Using the techniques and tactics of ecological engineering, we advocate for a large-scale investment in the
development and expansion of resilient “interface” ecosystems, such as barrier island renewal for storm protection, wetland creation to improve water quality, and
re-planting urban forest buffers to improve air quality.
Interface ecosystems are both designed intentionally
and arise spontaneously in response to human development and impact. Primary ecosystems are large, undeveloped reserves of land used for watershed protection,
tourism and recreation Interface ecosystems coexist
and exchange matter and energy with the primary ecosystems.
We consider both primary and interface ecosystems
from Odum and Jørgensen’s thermodynamic perspective. They posit that ecosystems are open, far-fromequilibrium systems that self-organize to capture, and
dissipate solar energy. This energy is transformed into
matter that becomes food (energy) for other elements
in the system. Embodied energy is used to measure the
flow of embedded solar energy within ecosystems.
The emerging field of ecological engineering integrates thermodynamic ecological models and engineer-
ing principles to design systems to support both nature
and society.
As defined by Odum, ecological engineering matches
technology with the self design of connected ecosystems, both to increase ecological function, protect resources, and improve remaining sinks. Though design
and energy flow concepts are common to projects in
different regions and climates, ecological engineering
allows for self-organization of systems based on sitespecific energy budgets. Unlike traditional “hard” civil
engineering practices there are no generic solutions.
Ecological engineering practices are “soft”: contextual,
resilient, and responsive to local conditions. Performance is measured using emergy and emdollar accounting.
A handful of America’s public universities currently
have programs in ecological engineering. These programs must be expanded both internally and externally
to provide collaborative opportunities with colleges of
architecture, agriculture, information technology, landscape architecture and planning, materials science,
business, and civil engineering.
It is based on the self-designing capacity of ecosystems,
It can be a field test of ecological theory,
It relies on integrated system approaches,
It conserves non-renewable energy, and it supports biological conservation.
William Mitsch and Sven Jørgensen, 2004
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FOOD WEB VISUALIZATION INTERFACES, HALODULE SEAGRASS BED, ST. MARKS, FLORIDA. DR. JOE LUCZKOVICH, EAST CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY. 2001
NEW INTERFACES FOR VISUALIZATION
Current systems for monitoring ecosystem health and productivity are dispersed in academic journals and scattered web sites, each
with a focus on a specific issue or environmental asset, such as
a particular watershed. A nationwide, real-time information gateway is needed to inform decision makers and consumers about the
health of both local and national ecological systems.
Consolidation of this information allows for aggregation, comparison, and visualization of changes in data over time. It also provides data for markets and for trading opportunities in novel financial instruments such as sustainability indexes, emdollar valuations,
ecosystems options and futures contracts. Established exchanges
like the Chicago Climate Exchange can be expanded to accomodate
these new opportunities.
CHICAGO CLIMATE EXCHANGE MARKET REPORT, 2209
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PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE VISUALIZATION
LIFE CYCLE EMISSIONS OF A COMPUTER. (2009). IN UNEP/GRID-ARENDAL MAPS AND GRAPHICS LIBRARY. RETRIEVED 22:13, JUNE
30, 2009 FROM HTTP://MAPS.GRIDA.NO/GO/GRAPHIC/LIFE-CYCLE-EMISSIONS-OF-A-COMPUTER1.
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“Food in the U.S. travels long distances to reach its destination cities. As
the average supermarket offers a wide variety of produce and imported
food products from countries as far as South Africa and New Zealand, the
average trip food makes from farm to plate now averages 1, 553 to 2, 485
miles. The free trade of food and agricultural products has added hidden
costs of air pollution to our food...estimated at $9 per gallon, the indirect
costs of burning gasoline include health care costs for treating respiratory diseases.”
FERNANDO ROMERO
HYPERBORDER: THE CONTEMPORARY U.S.MEXICO BORDER AND ITS FUTURE 20007
VISUALIZING LIFE-CYCLE COSTS
ALONG TRANSPORTATION ROUTES
In the current marketplace, it is difficult to visualize the effects of
our standard of living on both global scale and local. Information desired by consumers—food miles, carbon footprint, labor standards
and practices—is considered proprietary and obscured to protect
current production systems. In order to implement a truly sustainable society and economy, we advocate for the development of new
technologies that empower citizens in making choices that affect
the health of the planet. We propose developing visual information
networks—both physical and virtual—that accounts for ecosystem
services.
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EMPOWERING CHOICES
MATERIAL LIFE CYCLE VISUALIZATION IN
THE PALM OF YOUR HAND. ‘MATERIAL
TRACKER’ IS AN IPHONE APPLICATION IN
WHICH A SCANNED BARCODE REVEALS
AN ITEM’S TOTAL EMBODIED ENERGY AND
EMBODIED WATER THROUGH VISUALIZED
LIFE CYCLE STAGES.
silica
plastics
iron
aluminum
copper
MAT
ATE
A
AT
TE
TE
ERIAL
RIAL
TR KER
TRACKER
03
53
zinc
nickel
em water
em energy
tin
TRUE COST INFO-SCREEN. A SCREEN IN
THE CHECKOUT LANE TALLIES A ‘TRUE
COST’ RECIEPT FOR YOUR PURCHASES,
HELPING CONSUMERS MAKE INFORMED
DECISIONS BY VISUALIZING A PRODUCT’S
ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTABILITY.
mercury
source
recycling
gold
retail + use
manufacture
transport
source
silver
cobalt
selenium
manganese
arsenic
cadmium
At the pump, at IKEA, on the web, we can only compare prices,
balancing our perceived value of the product against the asking
price of comparable items. We propose an application for mobile
device that scans a bar-code and fetches a true accounting of the
product’s embodied energy: mapping the supply chain and revealing resources consumed, labor conditions, embodied energy and
water. Participation in such a program by manufacturers must be
voluntary and incentivized by the US government.
When evaluating residential locations, buyers currently provided
only with cost comparisons based on price per square foot. We propose Indexes or ratings to help buyers weigh the true costs when
choosing to live in urban, suburban or rural communities. Just as
buyers are judged on credit scores, sellers and agents would be required to provide standardized ratings of annual home energy and
transportation costs.
SUPERCORRIDOR SECTION: A RICH SITE OF INVESTIGATION FOR NEW INFRASTRUCTURE
CARBON SEQUESTRATION FIELD
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ELECTRIC
STATION
AUTO
AUTO
TRUCK
TRUCK
REFUEL
LANE
CELLULOSIC
ETHANOL
PUMPS
REFUEL
LANE
TRUCK
TRUCK
AUTO
AUTO
AUTO
ELECTRIC
STATION
PLA
ATFORM
FROM INFORMATION INTERFACE TO DESIGN
We propose cultivating a new visual design intelligence will enable a
participatory, self-organizing design process, leading to the development
diverse and resilient infrastructure.
1. NEW WAYS OF SEEING
New Visual Design Intelligence
• Visualizing material life cycles and trade patterns.
• Quantifying the true costs of patterns of production and urbanization.
2. NEW WAYS OF DATA INTERACTION
Capturing, Organizing, and Sharing
• Information interfaces provide citizens with the true costs of goods, services and ecologic
infrastructure.
• This new level of data accessibility and interactivity fosters increased visual intelligence and
enables a self-organizing design process.
3. NEW WAYS OF DESIGNING
Self-Organizing Design Process
• Comprehension of production and trade patterns (and their associated costs) reveals opportunities for efficient reorganization of the built environment.
• Participating in a design process with dynamic feedback generates resilient physical infrastructure and smarter regional landscapes.
HIGH
SPEED
RAIL
FREIGHT
FREIGHT
HIGH
SPEED
RAIL
PLATFORM
BIKE PARKING
BIKE
BIKE
ENGINEERED WETLAND
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