February 28, 2021

Keep it slow and simple…image it gone

Many have proposed this thought experiment. Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, asks us to consider how we would feel seeing a forest or river for the first time. How would we respond if we knew they wouldn’t be around tomorrow? To image it gone is to ask whether or not we valued or needed it. 

David Graeber asks the same question about jobs. Consider a profession and imagine it gone. What effect would it have? You’ll likely come to very different conclusions when considering a world without teachers or nurses or builders than a world with no account specialists or fund managers. 

Author Alan Weisman wrote a whole book about what would happen to the human-built world if humans disappeared. And Michael Pollan suggests a variation on the theme, asking if our great grandparents would recognize certain food products as food. 

To imagine things gone can do more than underline our values. The experiment can also rewire us around the manmade items in our lives that seem inevitable, but aren’t. It works with the small and the large—from tin cans to homes. 

But let’s start small. Below, we ask you to consider the humble milk carton. They’re everywhere. But what if they weren’t?