The Cooper Hewitt’s curatorial team of Caitlin Condell, Andrea Lipps and Matilda McQuaid, working with Cube’s Gene Bertrand and Hans Gubbels, argues that we can’t afford to think of nature as the implacable foe that must be civilized, as Western culture has long done. The difference is underlined by examples drawn from the Cooper Hewitt’s historic collection, in a section called “Nature by Design.” In fabrics and objects, nature is deployed as exquisitely cultivated flowers and trees useful in ornamenting lives. (The entire exhibition was designed by Studio Joseph with graphic design by Neil Donnelly Studio.)

But environmental challenges can seem overwhelming, paralyzing action. In such times a talented designer can compel society to respond by succinctly capturing the urgency of a problem. A lovely waters-eye view of a magnificent iceberg is revealed, in a longer glance, to be a depressingly ubiquitous plastic bag. Jorge Gamboa, a graphic designer based in Puebla, Mexico, photo-manipulated “Plasticeberg” to promote awareness of the need to reduce waste — and the harsh reality that 18 billion pounds of plastic ends up in the ocean each year. It has worked, becoming an internet sensation, a poster and cover of National Geographic.

Images of matted masses of plastic covering square miles of ocean have drawn attention and resources to the problem, which is the subject of several displays in the show. Babylegs (2017-19), designed by CLEAR (Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research) and Max Liboiron, is a monitoring device to catch microplastics — the tiny, harmful particles that result as plastics deteriorate over years. It can be dragged behind a boat, “trawling” a filter made from recycled infant leggings, on pontoons of used plastic bottles. It is a rather elegant way to address the problem — by recycling the harmful leggings and bottles.

Beast by yeast