Dunstan Clackson
I am a designer who is passionate about the natural world. I use design to create products and services that, through sound research and development help to bring to light and solve problems. My work covers a variety of disciplines such as reimagining current institutions and conservation.
Wolf Authority
Wolves should be reintroduced to Scotland because they are a keystone species that can help restore ecological balance by controlling populations of grazers, such as deer, and promoting the growth of vegetation. This will help rewild Scotland’s landscapes and provide opportunities for ecotourism, while also serving as a symbol of Scotland’s wilderness and natural heritage.
The Wolf Authority is a government body that has been set up to oversee the reintroduction of wolves to Scotland. The Wolf Authority has four key priorities which were laid out to ensure that the reintroduction goes smoothly. These are:
– To protect the wolves and make sure that they have the opportunity to flourish.
– To mitigate the potential damage that wolves may cause to agricultural and personal livestock.
– To educate the public on how to share the landscape with wolves.
– To reduce the fears that people have of wolves.
The Wolf Authority has released a wolf forecasting system that gets delivered in different ways. These are an At Home Beacon which shows the current chance of wolf in the area that it is and also allows the user to look at the forecasts that are coming up. The Way Marker Beacon is for those who are following a trail. It shows the trail that the person is following and also shows the current chance of wolf. This is also shown on signage which shows the chance of wolf along the trail. There is also an app that offers more detailed information regarding the wolf forecast.
The wolf authority also engages the public by releasing a booklet that gives updates on the wolf packs. It also gets schools that are local to the packs to give names to the wolf cubs as a form of engagement and education.
By speaking to people who live in the Highlands and to people who live in areas where interactions with large predators are not uncommon, I was able to gain valuable insight which I used to inform my outcomes.
New Pangaea Bank & Vaalbara
This project focussed on how New Pangaeans would live their everyday lives and live within the guidelines of the New Pangaea Manifesto. These have been shown through a bank and a shop, two of the main institutions of everyday life.
New Pangaea Bank is the bank of New Pangaea. It creates and distributes the New Pangaean currency the NP. The NP is earned through how environmentally friendly you are rather than how productive you are. New Pangaea Bank gives account holders peripheries that get set up around the home and communicate with each other to work out environmentally irresponsible behaviour such as leaving the window open with the radiator on. New Pangaea Bank also invests in local businesses with an emphasis on those who prioritise regenerative and environmentally friendly practices.
Vaalbara is the New Pangaean market. Vaalbara sells produce from the local area and where possible from regenerative or organic producers. Vaalbara prices its products in two prices, in the local currency, and in NP. The local price increases with the CO2e. The NP price is the same at all Vaalbara around the world for equivalent products.
