Ninety nine percent of life is microbial - and thus invisible. So, asks Suzanne Ishaq and John Thackara, how do we design for that?

John Thackara’s path to align the design community to the deep green imperatives of climate crisis is one we always value, and keep a close track of. Above is a January 2022 video of his discussion with an expert in microbiomes - and the challenge of designing in a world where 99% of life is invisible.

Here’s John’s blurb:

The more we learn about life on earth, the clearer it becomes that the well-being of humans, and of non-humans, is inter-connected. They are a single story. Sustainable design, in this context, means designing for all of life - not just human life.

That’s a big step! Not so long ago, human-centered design was considered progressive in itself - and now we have to design for all of life? All of life is not just large, visible lifeforms - like trees, or bears. It also includes microbes that are all around us, and inside us - but invisibly.

Ninety nine percent of life, it turns out, is invisible - so how do we design for that? To begin that conversation, my guest in this conversation is Dr. Suzanne Ishaq - a microbiome researcher and founder of the Microbes and Social Equity working group.

Video chapters (numbers are a hotlink to that stage of the interview)

00:00 - Designing for all-of-life - John Thackara intro

01:04 - Dr. Suzanne Ishaq introduced

03:44 - Microbes are everywhere

07:13 - The multiple microbiomes in a cow

09:54 - Human biome

13:02 - What is a holobiont?

18:18 - Design and holobionts

20:21 - Microbes and Social Equity working group: access to (microbial) resources

25:43 - Food deserts

34:54 - Microbiome Inspired Green Infrastructure (MIGI)

40:31 - What enables microbiomes to thrive?

43:17 - Wrap up

For more resources - on slides in the video, and Suzanne’s lab and academic work - please go to the information page on the YouTube video itself.

More from A/UK’s archives, on the politics and power of the microbial