New materials offer astonishing prospects. Not only are laboratories working on their composition and assembly, but also on the structures their creations can take, each with specific, often surprising properties. Plastics, alloys, concretes, composites, nanostructures and biomaterials are shaped in a multitude of ways: 3D printing, crystal growth, extrusion, molding, lithography, lamination, cutting, projection and more.
Their production is probably the best-developed aspect, but their maintenance/repair and, above all, recycling are generally left to others. If all the costs generated by the use of these products were accounted for, we would probably come to believe that natural materials and biological processes are just as competitive, without having to manage ever-larger dumps or cause social disruption.
On a global scale, waste production continues to rise and there is no sign of it slowing down. On the contrary, with the development of AIs, the production of materials with unknown properties is accelerating, as is their distribution. We obviously don't know how to dispose of them, or their accumulated effects.
The quantities of these complex materials are becoming large enough to alter the environment at every stage of their life cycle. Hectares of solar panels, millions of buildings, billions of batteries, mountains of plastic, cargo ships of electronic components, etc. symbolize the world's materialistic frenzy. Even if the environmental and economic consequences are beginning to be taken into account, the uncertainty that this type of development imposes on our future collectively affects our relationships and our psyche.
The school is no exception, and is at the forefront of measuring the consequences for young people's minds and their environment. Working with students to find the right levers for action is one of the best answers we can provide.
Denys Lamontagne - [email protected]
Illustration - Shutterstock - 2599621639
