Post-Nature: Sustenance is a speculative design project exploring a dystopian scenario in which environmental collapse forces humans into an inverted relationship with nature. Due to severe ecological degradation, plants mutate and rely on humans for nutrients, compelling people to sacrifice parts of their own bodies to sustain synthetic ecosystems.
The project uses virtual reality to allow users to experience an inverted ecological relationship, provoking reflection on sustainability, technology and human behavior under extreme environmental conditions.
Proposal
Today, our natural environment is deteriorating. Humans have become accustomed to exploiting nature without being able to consider all the consequences. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2022 report, some 3.3 to 3.6 billion people already live in areas highly vulnerable to climate change. In addition, some 24% of the world's land is experiencing degradation, with agricultural land being particularly affected. If humankind continues to pursue unsustainable exploitation without reflection, a serious ecological backlash will inevitably follow, affecting our very existence.
At the same time, technology often separates us from nature. Many people spend more time looking at screens than enjoying the world around them. Cities are full of concrete and glass, forgetting about trees, rivers, and fresh air. But humans need nature to feel happy and healthy.
I want to design a technology that emphasizes the interdependence of people and ecosystems, rather than unilateral exploitation, so that people realize that the relationship between nature and humans has fundamentally changed.
I also want to challenge people's preconceived notions of unsustainable practices and consider whether in extreme environments the definition of “sustainable” might be different? Does environmental change affect human attitudes towards nature, or even change the way we behave?
In addition, I would like to explore how human beings would act in this worldview. Are these behaviors ethical and universal values? Or will the class gap and the monopolization of resources for survival be further magnified, making the ways of survival of different groups even more extreme?
Design Concept
In the future because of pollution plants mutate and start getting nutrients from living things because they cannot get nutrients from the soil.
Therefore humans could not get to see the plants up close as they did in the past. But then humans start to miss the plants, so they create huge glass enclosures to keep the plants in for viewing, and set up channels to provide nutrients - anything from living things, like hair, nails to keep them alive.
Artificial Nourishment
Plants are artificial creations, relying entirely on human biological contributions—hair, nails, even blood—to survive. Humanity sacrifices fragments of itself, becoming living nutrients that sustain synthetic life.
Glass Enclosure
Plants are too dangerous; they have mutated and can draw nutrients directly from living organisms. Humans have trapped these aggressive yet seductive species behind giant glass enclosures, safe to enjoy nature's deadly beauty from afar.
Privilege
Plants are now a scarce luxury. Only the privileged can afford personalized ecosystems, where they can customize bionic plants by choosing their colors, shapes and even scents - turning nature into a one-of-a-kind status symbol.
Manifesto
Technical Tools Used
Design Concept
Research Objective
This study examines the extreme shift in the relationship between humans and nature as a result of environmental degradation and technological advances. It seeks to identify possibilities for human action and symbiosis after extreme environmental transformations have occurred.What I Believe In
I believe that as the environment continues to deteriorate, mankind and its relationship with nature will eventually be reversed, from beneficiary to victim. At the same time, I believe that technology's should not limit humans, but rather connect them to the ecosystems to which we belong.
Why I believe in this
Today, our natural environment is deteriorating. Humans have become accustomed to exploiting nature without being able to consider all the consequences. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2022 report, some 3.3 to 3.6 billion people already live in areas highly vulnerable to climate change. In addition, some 24% of the world's land is experiencing degradation, with agricultural land being particularly affected. If humankind continues to pursue unsustainable exploitation without reflection, a serious ecological backlash will inevitably follow, affecting our very existence.At the same time, technology often separates us from nature. Many people spend more time looking at screens than enjoying the world around them. Cities are full of concrete and glass, forgetting about trees, rivers, and fresh air. But humans need nature to feel happy and healthy.
From Consumer to Contributor of Nature
I want to design a technology that emphasizes the interdependence of people and ecosystems, rather than unilateral exploitation, so that people realize that the relationship between nature and humans has fundamentally changed.
I also want to challenge people's preconceived notions of unsustainable practices and consider whether in extreme environments the definition of “sustainable” might be different? Does environmental change affect human attitudes towards nature, or even change the way we behave?
In addition, I would like to explore how human beings would act in this worldview. Are these behaviors ethical and universal values? Or will the class gap and the monopolization of resources for survival be further magnified, making the ways of survival of different groups even more extreme?
Design Concept
In the future because of pollution plants mutate and start getting nutrients from living things because they cannot get nutrients from the soil.
Therefore humans could not get to see the plants up close as they did in the past. But then humans start to miss the plants, so they create huge glass enclosures to keep the plants in for viewing, and set up channels to provide nutrients - anything from living things, like hair, nails to keep them alive.
Artificial Nourishment
Plants are artificial creations, relying entirely on human biological contributions—hair, nails, even blood—to survive. Humanity sacrifices fragments of itself, becoming living nutrients that sustain synthetic life.
Glass Enclosure
Plants are too dangerous; they have mutated and can draw nutrients directly from living organisms. Humans have trapped these aggressive yet seductive species behind giant glass enclosures, safe to enjoy nature's deadly beauty from afar.
Privilege
Plants are now a scarce luxury. Only the privileged can afford personalized ecosystems, where they can customize bionic plants by choosing their colors, shapes and even scents - turning nature into a one-of-a-kind status symbol.
Manifesto
“Nature is no longer humanity’s mother;
humans have become nature’s sacrifice.”
Technical Tools Used
Design Concept
In the future because of pollution plants mutate and start getting nutrients from living things because they cannot get nutrients from the soil.
Therefore humans could not get to see the plants up close as they did in the past. But then humans start to miss the plants, so they create huge glass enclosures to keep the plants in for viewing, and set up channels to provide nutrients - anything from living things, like hair, nails to keep them alive.
Artificial Nourishment
Plants are artificial creations, relying entirely on human biological contributions—hair, nails, even blood—to survive. Humanity sacrifices fragments of itself, becoming living nutrients that sustain synthetic life.
Glass Enclosure
Plants are too dangerous; they have mutated and can draw nutrients directly from living organisms. Humans have trapped these aggressive yet seductive species behind giant glass enclosures, safe to enjoy nature's deadly beauty from afar.
Privilege
Plants are now a scarce luxury. Only the privileged can afford personalized ecosystems, where they can customize bionic plants by choosing their colors, shapes and even scents - turning nature into a one-of-a-kind status symbol.
Manifesto
“Nature is no longer humanity’s mother;
humans have become nature’s sacrifice.”
Technical Tools Used
References & Assets
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Tree model by [Artist Name] on Sketchfab, licensed under CC BY 4.0
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Sofa 3D model from Free3D.com, for non-commercial use
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Background texture by Unsplash user [Name]