Architecture in the Plasticene - Milliken and the AIA
Join the fight to take down the carpet plastocracy!
The significant innovations to reduce emission developed by scientists and technicians at Milliken and other companies, which if expropriated and placed under rational democratic control, could be an essential component of future industry. While the political will to achieve this shows, at present, little sign of coalescing, such a movement will hopefully build strength. In the meantime . . . ,
The AIA can no longer claim to be both non-partisan and credible on climate. Its incoming young leadership has the opportunity to finally say goodbye to the days of genteel patronage. It must stop uncritically amplifying the marketing copy of corporate polluters if its climate goals are to be taken seriously, or risk being written off as an antiquarian relic.
Designers and procurement professionals must refuse to be enlisted as agents of the fossil fuel industry. The burgeoning unionization movement within architecture may eventually provide design workers the organizational power to do so. A worker-based set of standards, established independently of editorial control by firm management, could be incorporated into collective bargaining agreements, providing the leverage to supersede building codes, accrediting bodies, industry norms, and break decisively from a system of coerced complicity.
Background:
Plastics Unwrapped Podcast - Dow Chemical Tackling the Plastic Waste Challenge Through Design #plasticsUnwrapped
https://podcastaddict.com/plastics-unwrapped/episode/142119251 via @PodcastAddictAlliance to End Plastic Waste website: https://endplasticwaste.org/en
Milliken 2022 Sustainability Report: https://www.milliken.com/en-us/sustainability/reporting
The Recycling Partnership website: https://recyclingpartnership.org/
"Milliken on Tackling Material Health and Embodied Carbon" By Sarah Robinson Enaharo AIA KnowledgeNet, Committee on the Environment: https://network.aia.org/blogs/eana-bacchiocchi/2022/02/16/milliken-on-tackling-material-health-and-embodied
"Swept Under the Carpet - Exposing the Greenwash in the U.S. Carpet Industry": https://www.no-burn.org/swept-under-the-carpet-exposing-the-greenwash-of-the-u-s-carpet-industry/
Talkingtrash.com interactive globe: https://talking-trash.com/globe/
"Talking Trash - The Corporate Playbook of False Solutions to the Plastics Crisis," Changing Markets Foundation, English Executive Summary: https://talking-trash.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/TalkingTrash_ExecutiveSummary.pdf
Bio: Martin Weiner is an architectural worker with nearly 30 years’ experience, primarily in the commercial interiors sector. His current interests center around climate action and architectural labor. He is a longtime member of The Architecture Lobby and founding member of The Alternative Building Industry Collective. He tweets under the handle @m_hotmessgandhi.
