IN JAPAN, THERE'S A method of repairing shattered pottery called kintsugi, in which artisans rejoin shards with gold-laced epoxy. Once the repair is complete, the shimmering veins not only increase the value of the mended object, they also hold on to the beauty of its past life as it continues anew. Kintsugi builds on the philosophy of wabi-sabi, a belief that the aesthetic flaws of age-things like rust, breakage, and discoloration-enhance an object's overall splendor. Legend holds that the technique arose in the 15th century, when a shogun was displeased with a first attempt at fixing his favorite tea bowl. Conventional practices had clumsily joined the broken pieces with staples, so he instructed craftsmen to find a more elegant solution. Some- thing that elevated the piece rather than degraded it. In many ways, life in 2020 is not unlike that fractured pottery. A pandemic-induced global crisis has exposed every fault in our communities, from the impact dirty power has on the air quality of those living in the shadow of electric plants (page 80) to a seafood industry that greatly disadvantages the artisanal fishermen pulling the world's dinner out of the ocean (page 108). But each of these fissures is a reminder that we can do better-and an opportunity to do so.
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