William Christenberry - various websites and books - He has been photographing Hale County, Alabama for most of his career, and his work is an interesting way to see how an area evolves. He would revisit the site of old photos and photograph them often years later.
Shelby Roback
ReplyDeleteADP III
World Changing
I love to travel and I recently came back from a hiking trip in Shenandoah National Park in Virgina, so I chose to read up about traveling and ecotourism. I never really gave much thought to who got the money I spent while on vacation. Most of the trips I take are to national parks and I rarely stay in hotels, but a few years ago I took a trip to Mexico with my mother and we stayed at a resort. This resort was run by an American company, and provided everything from lodging, to food, to entertainment. There was really little reason to leave the resort though the duration of the trip, and we only did so once or twice. After reading about tourism in World Changing I thought back to the trip and realized that little if any of the money we spent actually made it’s way to the local community. It’s amazing how much the tourism industry has created these manufactured vacations that don’t allow you to really experience the place you are in. The solution that the book suggests, which is one I’m very interested in, is “voluntourism”. Instead of simply going somewhere and viewing it like it is some kind of exhibit, you actually get involved with the community and learn about their culture though hands on work with the locals. This seems like a great idea, but I’m willing to bet that most people would still rather stay in their fancy resorts and let the local community serve them imported food while they shop for souvenirs that were made in china. What it comes down to is people’s comfort levels. Connecting with a different culture is something that is scary and new, and a lot of people would rather stick with the familiar than risk going outside of their comfort zone, even if it would mean having an eye opening, once in a lifetime experience.
World Changing Response #4
ReplyDeleteTrisha Previte
ADP III: James Rotz
Producer Responsibility p. 118
Sometimes we talk so much about how we, as consumers, need to change the state of our global environment that I think we forget that we, as manufacturers and producers, need to be much more conscious about what we create. I love how this article addresses this issue; it sheds light on new ways to think about recycling and the stuff we consume as a society. Germany and the European Union’s mandates for easier car disposal make so much sense that it is a little scary it had not been pushed for earlier. Once we make something, I do believe we should be the ones responsible for properly disposing of it. If companies want to make a buck destroying the planet, well for Pete’s sake they better have the means to clean it back up when they are done. I know I mentioned this in discussion already but really, if the entire world could revert back to the rules we learn in kindergarten, like cleaning up after ourselves, sharing, treating others as we want to be treated, the world would be a simpler, happier place. The fact that the European Union made this law for the auto-industry is not only thrilling but revolutionary. Changes in design before we create can and will make a huge impact on the waste remaining after we consume. Now the trouble is getting the entire world to think on this sort of level, especially when the United States has yet to implement such sanctions.
Response #3
ReplyDeletePermeable Pavement
I thought this was a great solution to a problem that could have easily stumped us for years. I looked up what the permeable pavement was and pictures of it made it look almost spongey. Which makes sense since it temporarily stores the rain water before allowing it to reach the plants that need it. The only thing that I thought was confusing was the Biopaver. It sounds like grass and plants would grow over the pavement, which makes me think that the designers didn't totally understand that people walk on pavement so they don't have to walk on grass. But maybe there's something that I'm just not connecting. I never really thought about it, but it makes sense that introducing concrete into the environment would affect the direction of water. I mean think of the watersheds in metropolitan areas, it's probably a total mess! Water becomes a much bigger issue when you have a lot of it in a city but no way to direct it to a stream, and the result is flooding.
Why do we have so much concrete anyway? It's not really attractive, and the only thing it does is give us stability. It's probably just the cheapest and fastest material to use, but I hope with the introduction of Permeable pavement that people will start to reconsider what they slap down on the ground. In Europe, there are cobblestone streets everywhere, and while they aren't the smoothest, they're beautiful and add positively to the environment. I understand Michigan couldn't really afford to redo cobblestone roads every year due to the harsher climate, but maybe in some towns, and pedestrian areas, we could find an alternate solution to paving the ground, than using concrete. We even learned in lecture that concrete is the number one material we use in the states. We should start questioning why.
Response #4
ReplyDeleteTeaching Kids in Refugee Situations
Awesome idea. I think a lot of times, we focus on children to avoid confronting hard issues, but this is a case where it works. To make myself clearer, when we talk about the environment or ending war, oftentimes we'll say it won't be ended in MY lifetime, but maybe our children's, so let's give them the tools to deal with it. I'm not saying I agree with that practice, I don't, but it's something I think we've all heard our parents say and we sometimes say ourselves.
When thrown into chaos, stabilizing the routines of the children, is therefore the most logical and efficient way to refocus the group mentality. We instinctively protect children from any danger, including instability, and if they are happy in their routine going to school, then our main priority has been taken care of, and everything else can fall into place.
Plus, in time of turmoil, when people scramble for the best way to get life back to normal, I can guarantee that everyone would support focusing their energies on their children... Unless they don't have children then they might not be very sympathetic.
Response #5
ReplyDeleteCommunity Spaces: The Hub
Its interesting, how the European understanding of land, that you can occupy and own it, pervaded our way of living. Native Americans had no concept of this and they were still able to have their own space and territory from other groups. This is probably because in our european inspired culture the individual is more important than the group, and we like to separate ourselves from others by owning plots of land and building fences around them. The Hub ignores this, and allows everyone to share a space (granted you do have to be a member) and the result is an influx of shared ideas between groups. If people are not concerned about stealing ideas, copywriting or things like that, they can collaborate and make something wonderful. I understand that it is not reasonable to expect everyone to be able to work like this, but its nice to see a part of society that isn't cutthroat.
I like this system, its like a library but instead of checking out books you check out meeting rooms, and instead of having to be silent you can talk to others and work on projects together, without the structure of a corporate business.
Response #6
ReplyDeleteBeauty Salons as Tools for Change
This idea seemed really well considered and logical. Beauty salons are places where women go to pamper themselves, and I'm sure all of us who have been to one can agree that you end up telling your life story to your stylist. So it only makes sense, that a place where women go to take care of themselves, appearance wise, would also take care of them emotionally and physically. Offering chances for women to open up about possible abuse and seek help creates a safe environment for them, since the stylists are not directly involved in their life, yet still concerned.
I think that's probably one of the biggest problems in trying to help victims, getting them to feel safe enough to ask for help. If only they could do something like that for children. But where would they put it, children don't always feel safe in schools.... so maybe a Mcdonalds play set? The problem with child abuse, is sometimes they don't even know what is happening to them so they don't know how to talk about it with someone.
Brijit Spencer
ReplyDeleteADP III
World Changing response #4
12.05.09
The hidden vitality of slums. I thought that the idea of slums being “new urbanism, global style” was a very interesting take on squatters. First of all, I had no idea the number of squatters in the world was so high. There are more than one billion today, and by the mid twenty-first century it may be over one-third of the global population. With so many people living like this it makes me really consider what life would be like if I was forced to establish my home in a permanent settlement with no running water, electricity, or sewage system. One thing that really stood out in my mind was that “alone, squatters have little power. Together they can create great things”. The urban poor are essentially realistic, innovative designers-they take their poverty, misfortunes, and strength in numbers and create from them a habitable, thriving neighborhood. These squatter settlements are only necessary, because we simply cannot keep up with the growing population and demand for homes.
Brijit Spencer
ReplyDeleteAdp III
World Changing response #5
12.5.09
Thinking differently about water. This is something that I have actually thought about before, just casually pondering the way we live and function. In the section “beyond living machines” it is addressed that in order for our cities to function as nature does, we need to create a system that handles and cleans waste in a natural way. I thought John Todd’s living machines were an excellent idea-a way to harness nature’s ability to purify. I feel like we often forget that we are simply animals, a natural part of the world simply functioning to survive, albeit that survival includes much more manipulation, consumption, and waste than our other earth dwellers. Nevertheless, you would think nature should be able to handle our bodily wastes just as it does for every other creature-we do not have to wade through deer poop in the woods or swim through fish excrement…the ecosystem takes care of it for them. However, we have grown so immensely in numbers, that it is nearly impossible to allow our earth to have full responsibility over the breakdown of our wastes. So, although Todd’s living machines were a revolutionary idea, they simply cannot be made on a scale to support entire cities. In addition to this, we have mixed so many toxins with our sewage that it proves difficult to invent some way to convert organic mater from inorganic matter, or to even separate the two.
Brijit Spencer
ReplyDeleteADP III
World Changing Response #6
12.05.09
Producer Responsibility. I think that the idea of designing for eventual disassembly and breakdown is a wise one. Obviously none of our products will last forever. The question is, what do we do with our stuff once it is no longer usable? It sits in a landfill and becomes literally useless. OR we can decide to take advantage of what we have left and redesign, reuse, and recycle. However, taking this responsibility is rarely the choice we are inclined to make. The products we use are usually very expensive to repair and cheap to throw away. The solution; design our products so that we are more inclined to take advantage of their parts after it is no longer adequate. And making things that are easy to take apart only makes them that much easier to repair. So rather than struggling for some time to take apart that broken cabinet and then simply tossing it after all that work, we should be able to easily disassemble, and then conveniently recycle the remaining parts. I feel like if the was more often the case, our products would be usable for longer and most importantly, more likely to be useable after death. I think that Hewlett-Packard’s approach is a very wise one, both economically and environmentally. Not only do they make easily disassembled hardware, but they are working to take back old and used materials from their products through convenient pick-up and send-in systems.
World Changing Response #5
ReplyDeleteTrisha Previte
ADP III: James Rotz
“Educating Girls and Empowering Women” p. 316
As corny as it is, I have to say I really do believe knowledge is power, but especially so for women. As one myself, particularly one educated in an all-girls high school, focus on women’s rights, equality and education has been a large theme in my life. I know that attending a school where the rights and power of girls is highly emphasized really did influence my determination and will to succeed. Because of constant encouragement, I felt that I had the power to be independent, take risks, and make my own decisions. I was involved in clubs, ran for Student Council, participated in art competitions. Today I attribute much of my independence and self-confidence to my high school experience. For any girl to be denied such an experience, to not only be denied her freedom but also denied even the mere opportunity to know she lacks that freedom, is downright infuriating. That’s not even the proper word to describe my disgust and disappointment in the world, but there it is. If an education has made such an impact on my life, a life full of blessing and opportunity, imagine the difference it could make in the lives of girls in third-world countries. If we ever want a decent world, then the education of women is key. Countries need to recognize this. Clearly, with all the prejudice in varying cultures, the education of all women is a very ambitious goal, but as this article mentions, with the education of women comes knowledge about contraception, better jobs, safety against abusive husbands or bosses, and better care for children, among many many other benefits. For instance, Turkey’s allowance of the World Bank Program is a tremendous step toward preventing suicide in young girls, and even though it did absurdly take Turkey’s desire to qualify for European Union membership to finally implement such girls’ equal education rights, this is just one more step in the right direction. Hopefully more will follow.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing reading about the many different water purification, (soft paths) I looked into the inefficiency of our water purification system. The house is roughly a hundred years old and lacks many of the modern features placed in many modern households. We have only a few old gutters surrounding the premises of our roof. World Changing spoke about how many modern and developing countries are perfecting a technique that allows them to capture and purify rainwater. Most of our gutters are old and leak rainwater throughout the property. Also, the runoff simply pours into the driveway where the water dissipates into the ground. Most of the water we use within the house is not for drinking. For instance, our toilet water and shower water can very easily be purified and reused in the house after it drips from our roofs. This would lower the monthly bills we pay for water and would cost very little to fix the house around this.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing reading about the many different water purification, (soft paths) I looked into the inefficiency of our water purification system. The house is roughly a hundred years old and lacks many of the modern features placed in many modern households. We have only a few old gutters surrounding the premises of our roof. World Changing spoke about how many modern and developing countries are perfecting a technique that allows them to capture and purify rainwater. Most of our gutters are old and leak rainwater throughout the property. Also, the runoff simply pours into the driveway where the water dissipates into the ground. Most of the water we use within the house is not for drinking. For instance, our toilet water and shower water can very easily be purified and reused in the house after it drips from our roofs. This would lower the monthly bills we pay for water and would cost very little to fix the house around this.
ReplyDeleteWorld Changing Response #6
ReplyDeleteTrisha Previte
ADP III: James Rotz
When I first heard about all the cell phones appearing in Africa, I was a little confused. Cell phones, in Africa? I thought these people needed food and nonviolence before cell phones - but after reading this article and also listening to what Professor Trumpey has had to say in lecture, I have to say I fully understand. The benefit of cell phones for developing countries is tremendous. The power of communication is incredible, allowing efficient links to relatives, markets, and hospitals. Having phones eliminates the need for uneccesary and time-consuming travel, allows for better knowledge of market prices, makes job-hunting easier, and even enables for more efficient voting and polling methods. The number of advantages is simply incredible, and because of the beauty of leapfrogging, Africans now don’t even have to spend the time, energy or money building landlines for phones. The possibilities this simple device has created are overwhelmingly incredible.
As with any new development, it is important to weigh the advantages against the disadvantages. One point that did worry me in the article is the idea of using airtime transfers as a banking system for transferring money. While that is a very innovative and clever system, it seems a little shaky to me, much too vulnerable and open to corruption. How can customers and companies keep from airtime-minute fraud? And as the article mentions, will such currency systems become targets of organized crime? The chances seem high to me, and so though leapfrogging is completely thrilling and encouraging, it is important to remember that new technologies always have faults in some way or another.
World Changing Response #7
ReplyDeleteTrisha Previte
ADP III: James Rotz
“The Bright Green City” p. 228
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shocked by the fact that Manhattanites use fewer resources and less energy than anyone else in America, despite being more populous than all but 11 states. Really, the idea of cities as green hubs seems preposterous, with all the pollution and grunge seemingly lingering about like the plague. However, it does make sense; with all those people walking in such a small expanse of land, well there’s one major reduction of greenhouse gases, along with all the other energy saved with people in fewer buildings collectively using fewer energy and taking up far less space. The most appealing aspect of cities to me is actually the pedestrian life. Being in Ann Arbor without a car has definitely given me perspective on this. Never in my life have I been forced to either walk or use public transportation to get where I need, but when you do not have a car, that is all that’s left. Honestly, I don’t mind it at all. I have really come to enjoy walking places, and though, yes, a car ride every once in a while is very, very nice, when I go home and realize everything is such a distance that I have to drive, I’m a little disappointed. I enjoy being outdoors, whether in a city or forest, and Ann Arbor has given me the chance to do so and at the same time be a greener individual. In the future, I hope suburbs and other such areas can work to increase the ease of public and pedestrian transportation so that more people can easily and happily enjoy similar experiences.
Andrew Hainen
ReplyDeleteADP III :: James Rotz
World Changing :: “How to make 1.7 million clean energy jobs”
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/010833.html
I randomly clicked on an article and this popped up. It goes through and explains what the government is doing right to help make jobs for the world. This is one time I will partially agree with the site. I could care less about the environment, about helping out the ecosystem and being “green”. But, one thing I do advocate is that eh government make jobs, as we just hit 10% unemployment nationwide. Even though this is suggesting to make fake jobs that would “cool down the planet”, a job is a job. People would be at work, they would be doing something they could feel good about, and the economy would be bouncing back.
Do I think this is going to happen under Obama? No. It had a chance because it looks good because it is “going green”, but this guy seems to be a professional in the area of making the job market garbage.
Modern cities today have a planned layout, set land aside for parks, and have a standard and convenient street pattern. In the section Megacity Innovations, there is an added element of city planning in building cities into a hybrid rural and urban setting. In the state of Goa in India, the capital city Panaji is undergoing or has been proposed, to undergo a huge change merging urban and rural environments. The city planners envision people in apartment buildings living next to rural farmers, in a city filled not only with farms but also trees and other native plants and animal species. They predict that with the proper funding and cooperation the city could be complete in thirty years. Other major changes in cities are how they’re being run. It has been noticed that people exposed to creativity, art and new was of thinking deviating from the norm are more open to changes. The recent leaders in the city of Bogota, Colombia, have done just that. They’ve managed to inflict change on people consuming water, accepting women, using public transportation, and reforming public services like doctors and education.
ReplyDeleteThe Bright Green City. It sounds almost futuristic, because one typically doesn’t think of modern day cities as green. Many of the buildings are old, there’s pollution and trash and overcrowded streets, but living in a city is much greener than living in rural areas and suburbs, unless you’re Amish. Even green houses in the suburbs still use more CO2 than in the city. This is because suburbs are much more spread out, and residences there have to commute to work, the store, school… there is that inescapable need to use the car. The city, conversely, has busy sidewalks with people walking, biking, and commuting via trains and busses. Urban sprawl is not only detrimental to environments, and habitats, but it also costs citizens valuable tax dollars to fund the schools and roads that have to be built. Also, in suburban areas kids are more likely to be overweight and watch more hours of TV. That was a very surprising fact to me, and there was no footnote to it so I’m not sure how accurate that is, but the fact that kids in suburbs are more likely to be overweight and watch more TV. It surprised me because the suburbs are generally a bit safer for kids to go outside and play. But it may make sense because kids in the city probably to walk around more in the city.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading the Reinventing the Refugee camp, I was uplifted at the progress that is being made in this area. Although everything is constantly being improved, I think that there area lot of very valuable, economic, and effective changes that are being made to refugee camps. Life straw is one example of an excellent invention that should be made readily available by governments to people living in poor countries without access to water. Plumpy’nut is a great new alternative for malnourished and nutritional peoples who don’t have access to clean water, and can not make the powdered milk drinks that have been used in the past to re-nourish people. Lastly, the compostable city is something amazing. It not only provides as a temporary shelter and safe haven, but it also helps ensure peoples future by composting into a fertile land for seeds, implanted in the walls of the cardboard houses, to grow, allowing the people to resume their lives and prosper.
ReplyDeleteKill your lawn. Seriously, keeping an artificial environment perfectly landscaped in front of your house has always seemed to be a somewhat bizarre practice to me. Having the perfect stripes mowed into your lawn? There is no natural beauty in that. Not only is it strange, but also detrimental to the environment. Soil transformation due to tilling, fertilizer, raking leaves, pesticides and loss of biodiversity changes the soil completely, which once took hundreds of thousands of years to create. The natural soil layers are disappearing and we still don’t know the long-lasting effects of this change. Loss of biodiversity also leaves animals and bugs resource less. By removing the artificial lawn and replanting native species of plants will provide native birds bugs and small animals a habitat to live.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that the soft path for water is a relatively easy thing that people can do, and is not only economically effective, but also helps preserve and restore our environment, so why aren’t more people doing it? Simply by collecting rainwater and gray water can reduce our consumption by so much. Cleaning water with living machines is also the best way, in my opinion, to clean water. I have studied this method for water treatment in the past and I believe that now the technology is not advanced enough to treat the mass quantities of water that large cities and towns produce, but we should start putting more money into it’s research and advancement because using infiltration will begin to create a cycle of consumption, rather than a closed circuit. The only problem with infiltration or using plants to clean rivers, land and such is that although the toxins are taken from the surrounding environment, they remain present in the plants. The toxins then when the plants die will be re-released into the earth. Lastly, permeable pavement is a beautiful, and great alternative to pavement, and I feel people should advocate when cities begin to repave their roads and sidewalks.
ReplyDeleteAnita Sidler
ReplyDeleteWorld 3 and 4
World 3: The Israeli- Palestinian School for Peace
I think this is one of the best things ever made: a peaceful school for children between two fighting countries. This is incredible that someone allowed this to happen. I think that these children will grow up learning not to hate their neighboring country and love them. It is courageous to make a school of this sort when there are many who still feel that they should be segregated. I think these types of schools will encourage others to start similar ones, to end hatred to one another. I find this very inspiring because I hope to start a school one day as well. I hope to open up an orphanage for all children around the world, especially adopt those children too old to be adopted and make a home/boarding school for them. I think it is so important to help others in need, and I really think we should do it as much as we can even if it is just giving a banana to the homeless man on the street or so. This school has only inspired me more to one day start my school for children and I hope more people learn from this school and hopefully mine as well.
World 4: How Business works
I read this section on how businesses work and it reminded me much of new businesses today in our bad economy. My boyfriend started a business last January and it hasn’t failed. He started a business fixing computers and ipods, and sells computer/technology accessories on the side. He thought about this for a long time and decided to dive into it, and in fact it was worked. The store actually did better, as we think, because of the economy because no one has money to buy new computers, so they want to six them inside and conserve their computers. I think that it is a fabulous idea because not only does it help local people get their computers fixed for cheap, but also conserves the consumption and garage of computers. So, a store that helps the economy and the environment at the same time- wouldn’t we want a lot more stores such as these? The section talked about whole foods, yes they started a whole big thing about organic foods, but they also don’t sell that much of it. In addition, they are terrible with their garage for a “natural foods store.” We all have to pay the extra 50 cents for whatever at a natural foods store in hopes to receive something better in return. I worked in a natural foods store in New York City, and we were also more expensive than whole foods. Customers would often complain about the price, but we were a smaller independent company that can only buy so much of bulk to receive a certain discount. We also bought more specialty items bigger stores didn’t have, and we spend a chunk of the money earned to composting. All produce is organic, and most of what we can get is local. So, can a big company such as whole foods do better? I think they can, and I hope that a big company such as can set a even better example and set the standards.
World Changing: 1
ReplyDeleteThe Barefoot College pg 359
I was interested the minute I read the words “Barefoot College.” While it sounded like a place to relax in a dorm, the reality seems more like a dream come true. The “Barefoot College” is a place that people of all ages can go to learn environmental sustainability along with many professions. It meshes the poor and the rich, and is accessible to all else who want to learn. The campus is just as interesting with rainwater collected from the roof, and solar panels, this old, previously abandoned building that once was an eyesore has been recycled and continues to good as it continues to run. The books are even made from recycled paper! The influence of this revolutionary school cleaning the environment (nature & socially) has even allowed women/girls to have access to night school in India.
I feel like this is what a place of higher education should be about. It takes the practicalities of life, and relationship with the environment, while still stressing the idea of an education to the community. By beginning with a focus on efficient living and learning a better social situation feels like it should be a guarantee. I wish that many of the practices for the Barefoot College were employed at schools and colleges in the U.S. and maybe we would be in better shape as a more rounded country.
World Changing: 2
ReplyDeleteEducating Girls and Empowering Women pg 316
The price of education is priceless. All of the world needs to understand this, I mean truly understand this. When school systems like the train wreck in Detroit start closing schools because of budget shortages, but allow a thieving mayor to last in office there is a problem. While Detroit does not separate based on gender for those who have access to the few schools left, the rest of the world seems to be left behind. There is a great disparity in the education of women verses men, and it is a shame. There is a dominoes effect of accomplishments a women will make when educated such as having fewer children, having more self confidence, and having a career. When a women does not have access to basic education she is not able to become the women that she would normally choose to be, but the women that society has impressed upon her. Women around the world have the right to education. It is time for stereotypes, and prejudices to be banished and to have education available equally to both genders.
World Changing: 3
ReplyDeleteMegacity Innovations p 282
We always here that little by little we can make a difference; if everyone does a little something then a large difference can be made. Well, why cant we just all make a difference, all at once and plan it? I love the idea of megacity innovations! Its making a difference one chunk at a time. I think that this is effective and smart. Why not test great social and environmental changes large group at a time. My favorite part of the ideas explored was free books, and other readings on the subway in Mexico City. This is brilliant! People are exposed to more and are able to be productive during time otherwise spent waiting. I also liked the idea of a social change within gender empowerment Columbia. Giving women a night were they can walk down the street with one another without the worry of harassment or subjectification is great way to build pride as mothers and sisters. Movements like these on a large scale are fantastic to see and I believe that these sort of opportunities in mass are the way to go. Its nice that municipalities are recognizing the power they hold with change for the better
World Changing : 4
ReplyDeleteCopyFight pg 337
I like this idea of “copylefting.” When something has been designated free and shall remain free, as a college student, as an independent woman, and as an American, I like that idea. I have always known the implications of copyright, and the restrictions, the rules, the bla’s, but copyleft is just so cool to me! It made me think about the different places in life that we may consider copyleft to be used in concept. First, we have the library, a place where there is public access, and is providing a public service, therefore the public always has free rights to the information it holds. Then there is the newspaper. While the purchase is a purchase it is the freedom of information that the first amendment protects which is free to us. In other words, freedom of the press. This made me realize the first amendment is like its own little copyleft of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and so on.
I also like the implications that copleft actually facilitates more free software by the rules that the previous information stems from. It spins a web of free information that otherwise would be tied up in copyright. Copyleft is a good thing.
World Changing: 5
ReplyDeleteEcoHouse Brazil pg 201
After building an EcoHut with my group, the thought of eco-friendly living and building have been on my mind. Beyond that, the whole vernacular housing has been their ever since ADP lecture. So, as I look through World Changing, I come across this EcoHouse in Brazil that I wish I lived in. While I have learned a lot about eco living I really enjoyed reading about the different steps they took to make this house an “EcoHouse.” Rainwater catchment was one of the elements we employed in our hut, along with passive cooling. However, our exact measurements taken for these two goals were developed differently but still had the same effect. I think one of the best traits of the EcoHouse was the Green roofs and facades. Who doesn’t want grass on their roof by the way, anyway? It would be great to just go up and play soccer, let alone the fact that it absorbs sunlight that would otherwise make it a hotter place to live. How cool! The craziest part of this house is the fact that they employ sewage recycling. It sounds really gross, but it makes sense to filter the water you have and to use it, why not! I don’t think I would want to live with it, and I feel like I would be just a little anxious to change filters daily just to be safe, but it is a practical thought, or at least at this time a good question in my book. “Sewage recycling…hmmm…”?
World Changing: 6
ReplyDeleteBig Green Buildings and Skyscrapers pg 245
Okay, so I have a thing for buildings. No, I don’t want to be an architect, but I love learning about them. I like the idea of shaping the places we live in, and not only changing our own living environment, but our natural environment. It think it is amazing that people put parks in a high rise, and actually think about where the water will go when we flush a toilet. I am impressed that countries like Germany will build buildings just so they can show” a renewed state” simply through the symbol of their architectural structure. Funniest building yet that is considered to be “green” is in London, which due to its shape has been nicknamed the “Gherkin” like the pickle…pickles are green, I just love the irony. Architects spend all this time to build this energy efficient building, influencing the shape all so it to be green and it ends up looking like a pickle!
World Changing Response: 7
ReplyDeleteHealing Polluted Land pg 250
We have been so focused on making the environment safe from potential future pollutants, and using already manufactured materials to recycle, we sometimes forget about nature. So as I read that mushrooms may help break down pollutants in soil and environment, I become very interested. Now all I wonder is why in the world do we not employ more nature into our, well, nature. Why do we always try to make something out of plastic, and coat it in plastic wrap, and put it in a box filled with Styrofoam peanuts to be sent to a shelf... of plastic. I feel like in some ways the industrial revolution ruined us. We want to put everything on an assembly line and that just isn’t the way to go about dealing with nature. If we want to make a cleaner environment, If we want to live in a cleaner environment we need to allow nature to be nature. Pesticides need to be let go of for the everyday Mr. Smith and his perfect green grass. Yes, pesticides are important for agriculture, I understand this, but as Americans we continuously tend to overindulge in the plastic and the pesticides. We need to learn to let go and allow the mushrooms to do their job before we run over them with our lawnmower.
World Changing Response: 8
ReplyDeleteCraft It Yourself pg 90
I feel like so many of the trends that pop culture thrusts upon us tends to rot our brains. Most of it is crap fads that are here, and gone the next day, only to leave a bunch of excess waste. The DIY, or do it yourself craze is not one of these trends that I see as mind numbing. I actually see it as great progress amongst modern society. It promotes away of thinking. First, to create, to think about materials, to consider waste, and how to use that waste. To enjoy what one already has and is capable of making also comes into play. I think this DIY way of thinking is healthy. This day and age we too often want immediate satisfaction, with DIY we learn patience and to reuse the materials we would otherwise consider discarding. We begin to recognize value in the things we have and our own capabilities. I believe this way of thought is important for us to make any progress with all that we have found as a past error for this world.
Response # 7
ReplyDeleteLanguage p. 375
This really got me thinking about language and its function. We see multiple groups around the world (most publicly the French government) desperately trying to preserve their languages. I understand the benefits of retaining the pureness of a language for educational purposes, but it is unrealistic to expect language to remain static. It has been changing for thousands of years, giving us the language we have today, so it is logical to expect it to keep changing. There are oddities in languages that people tend to weed out over time, for instance the verb to have. Its I have, You have, she/he has, we have, they have. Well, it makes sense except the she/he. Why is that different? So we see some sub cultures beginning to say she/he have, because it is the next logical progression in the english language. It may not sound pleasant to us, but that is because we have had it drilled into us from an early age what "proper" english is. There are obviously going to be rules for language, but rules were made to be broken.
Our world is smaller than ever, and we are quickly becoming one global community. It makes sense then that the community would share a language. Perhaps we will all speak mandahindienglispanish one day. It could happen.
Response #8
ReplyDeleteToyota: Green without Compromise
Okay, this was just too good to not right a response too. My parents both work for GM (I'm not biased at all!) and my dad is the quality director for Europe so he gets a ton of information on Toyota being one of their competitors. And no offense to anyone who owns a Prius, but the trend is not that young activists buy it... but old people. They say they emphasize the cool factor behind environmental innovations and get actors and athletes to give it more of a cool factor, but they really missed the mark.
At the beginning, when they were selling Prius' most young environmentally conscious people did want one. And then they weren't buying them anymore and old people were. It's like when you loved death cab for cutie for a month your freshman year of highschool, and your parents still listen to them so they can relate to you and think they're cool parents.
So maybe this book should reevaluate Toyota's marketing plan to make things cool.
Response #9
ReplyDeleteProtecting Biological Resources on the Deep Ocean Floor p. 524
If only we had though of this sooner. Previous experience has shown us, that when presented with a new resource of the world humans will plunder and strip bare that area until nothing is left and we moan over the loss of such a beautiful part of nature. As we learn more and more about the deep ocean floor, it is wise to place a UN type authority to regulate pirating of bio materials in an effort to protect one of the largest remaining mysteries of our ecosystems. Hopefully, we can learn more about this part of the world without having to fix it back up later. And we don't even know what's down there, if we mess it up maybe a 200 foot octopus will attack us. Better safe than sorry.
What I'm curious about is deep ocean tourism. This is a hugely fascinating part of biology, and many people will want to experience it when the technology is available. Will the area be limited to scientists? And who has the claims over the ocean to prevent others to come down there? The details need to be worked out, but overall I think this is the best solution to preventing irreparable damage.
Brijit Spencer
ReplyDeleteADP III
World changing response #7
12.13.09
The bright green city-The costs of sprawl
So we’re always talking about how good it is for the environment for us to “live off the grid”. I think it is kind of ironic then how damaging it can truly be to move to rural areas. Yeah, I know simply living in a rural area is not the same as completely living green and off the grid, but it is somehow connected in the sense that humans are inclined to live out in nature, and in doing so we think we’re doing a better thing for the earth-by avoiding cities and contributing to their horrible pollution and consumption. But here’s the thing; urban areas have already done all their damage. Every time a new house is built out in a rural area, it is taking away from that land. It is causing pollution and consumption that was never present there before. Then, more people like the sound of living out in the boonies so they build more houses there and pretty soon it is a suburb. I personally watched this happen in my hometown. Once an extremely rural, farming community, my town is now full of rich suburbs and rapidly expanding. Trees are gone. Heck, entire forests are gone. And the size of these houses is ridiculous. So we are all moving out of our cities so that we may enjoy the forests and nature, and then destroying it. Irony. On top of this, Rich homeowners in the suburbs are leaching off the urban system while paying nothing. Meanwhile they pay absurd amounts to build schools and roads etc. in their community, while urban communities suffer immensely from underfunding. It’s sad, but it will never end. People will never stop moving out into rural areas. We will never want to leave nature alone.
Anita Sidler
ReplyDeleteWorld 5-9
World 5: Clothing materials
In this section, the book talked a lot about different types of materials that could be better for the environment as opposed to some others. Such as, cotton, it actually consumes a great amount of water to grow it, and non-organic cotton is actually pretty harmful to the environment consider how much pesticides they use to grow it. Not only is it harmful to the earth, but then we also have to think about sweatshops and then how far the shirt traveled. I think these are all relative to think about and in an idealistic future; we would have the option to buy totally environmentally/human friendly clothing for less of the expensive price. What I think is interesting is that hemp is one of the best plants EVER. It grows fast, it’s easy, and it takes almost nothing to grow it. We can make anything out of hemp, some of the strongest ropes, paper, clothing, shoes and it is seen as a wondrous plant to many other countries. Though because Hearst, a person who wanted the paper industry to succeed, he connected hemp to marijuana usage and made it negative. Therefore, hemp is illegal to grow in the U.S. I think this is one of the stupidest things the U.S. can do. We can save so many trees and conserve so much water if we grow hemp to make our materials.
World 6: Biodiesel
My old roommate made his own gas from used up oil from fast food restaurants. He would spend the whole weekend make a bunch to use for however long it would take. It was free, and some places even offered him money to take the grease away. I thought that the book adding the instructions and recipe to make it was a very wise decision. Though I know it is extremely hard to do, and you can’t make mistakes AND you have to change your car into diesel is a lot to take in. I think that because we have endless amounts of fast food restaurants to give us vegetable oil, which they are most happy to give away to make it into something useful. I would love to see a business start to make biodiesel and ship it to those in need or even gas stations for a cheap price. That way it can start to become more mainstream, and once bigger companies see its success, it will start it’s own biodiesel company. I think this is very inspiring, especially since there are no known “bad” output of it used. Obviously the oil companies will fight for their own companies to survive, but we all know, they are the bad guys. Therefore, I think the U.S should start a governmental program to make biodiesel and make it affordable to people. Once people know that it is more affordable to buy biodiesel over gas, things may change dramatically. Then, we can have more jobs open here in the U.S. and hopefully we can regain some of what we have lost in our economy.
World 7: Environmental Facts
I just ran into a very interesting picture in the World Changing book. It is a “Peripheral Widget” product (I have no idea what it is but…) it has an “Environmental Facts” section that resembles much of the “nutritional facts” on foods. I think that every product needs to have this, including food. I think this will make people just as aware about the environmental impact of this object as much as they care about the nutritional facts. This will also make the companies try to do better, such as buying local apples v. apples from Europe, because they are advertising their product and people will judge them for it. Once again, if bigger companies are forced to do better, our environmental impact will be less due to the fact bigger companies own a lot more land that they corrupt.
World 8: Alternative Energy
ReplyDeleteI love the endless amounts to ways we can get alternative energy, yet it is still not mainstream enough. China has boomed with solar panels because they have an immense amount of population, does this mean that we won’t start really looking into alternative energy until we have to? I’d like to think not, but it may come to that. To create energy you need something that is constant and moving. Water from the ocean is not only always moving, it moves aggressively. In the book World Changing, it mentions water as a potential source of energy that we have not yet tapped into. Well why the hell not?! Because all the nice wealthy beach houses may have an “ugly” scenic view. It is the same why wind energy is not as popular as it would be if people didn’t think about the way things look all the time. This comes back to our materialistic views and how annoying we can be. We would rather wear Channel and have the purse made by a sweatshop by some 12 year old than get a purse made by someone local with no brand name. Wouldn’t it be more interesting if we had more independent objects then something that someone else has already? Okay, not everyone can own Channel, so it makes it special for those who can afford it. BUT even in that case, why be labeled like that? Wouldn’t you want some credit for searching super hard for a one-of-a-kind purse over some ugly black fancy purse? But this argument for another time. Back to alternative energy, I’d really like to see even some of our own student designers to take in considerations of designing a well functioning energy making device, that maybe wont look so bad.
World 9: Water
After living in California for 10 years, I heard often of the battle for fresh water. I drank only from bought water because tap water was not safe to drink and never recycled water. Taking showers uses a butt load of water, and as this section explains how one student, Peter Brewin, has developed a system where the water just used will go down in the drain, filter itself, heat itself, and come back through the shower head. This not only saves money, but also so much water. I would love to see our government to take note of this design and make a tax break or some sort of law to use the design in all new house plumbing. The other design is by a French group of designers whom made a system where you’d bath with a sponge and the excess water would flow into plants which will then filter through the soil and roots of the plants then the water will come back to your bath. This is such a simple, natural system to create recycled water. AND you can have plants in your home that all you have to attend it with is by taking a bath.
Dana Pierfelice
ReplyDeleteWorld Changing #3
Collaborative Design pg. 123
It’s nice to see U of M in an article in WorldChanging. The Portable Light was a great example of flexibility in design. In a nomadic culture, you can’t design something to be stagnant and expect greatness. They tested the limits of design and created something that so many can have access to and feel a part of. It’s a really nice idea that they can weave these LEDS into whatever fabric they have at hand. Our society is all about things that come easily to us and that can isolate us from each other. This project builds a community while being green and being able to maintain their lifestyle. I feel that often in design it is about working to the next step. They are working for future generations because something this simple can be passed down. It can keep their culture alive while enhancing their technology.
Dana Pierfelice
ReplyDeleteWorld Changing #4
Furniture and Home Décor pg. 157
Dumpster Diving has become more and more of an accepted practice. I have heard of many using it to obtain food, but getting furniture from trash seems like a much more reasonable thing to do. It has been a trend for a while to adorn homes with mish mash objects, relics of kitsch. The furniture section of this article stood out to me because it can completely compile with a college art students way of life. My suitemate last year made herself a coffee table out of an old door she aquired. It is more than in our capabilities to assemble things like these. It is of course easier for us to scour salvation armies looking for the coolest antique decorations around. Green will prevail as a “trend” if ideas like this are thrown out.
Dana Pierfelice
ReplyDeleteWorld Changing #5
Land Minds pg. 218
My closest brushes with violence are paltry. Land mines are a subject I had never really thought about or could even begin to imagine the devastation they could cause. I remember an episode of MASH where they rescue a boy from a land mine area. It was so lighthearted that that was my perception of these destructive things. To put it into the context that this is potentially farmable and livable land sort of opened my eyes. I found comfort in the first proposed idea. The MineWolf seemed to be the most direct and foolproof way to get rid of land mines. But that is based on the fear I have of explosions. I don’t take comfort in the idea of using flowers or burning. However, I can see how the other options are obviously the better long-term ideas. It will not be suitable farmland if it is filled with chemicals and toxins. I would like to see other ideas developed and perhaps more public awareness to this issue.
Dana Pierfelice
World Changing #6
The hidden vitality of slums-pg. 286
A lot of home development in the states is about exclusion. There are laws about cutting lawns a certain way or not keeping your Christmas lights up all year. These developments are not about building communities as much as their public relations officers would like you to think. What intrigues me about slums is their sense of community. They almost survive as one organism, each part is intrinsically wound in this society. The examples the book provided demonstrated this so well. These people fight for each other and themselves. They probably do have squabbles but it is still there main focus to remain on that land and to do that they need to be together. They are thriving communities because no matter how different they are from us, they still work. Access to clean water and electricity might not come soon but I think if they actively pursue it then it could be a foreseeable goal.
Dana Pierfelice
World Changing #7
Protest pg. 450
I only seek confrontation when I am somehow separated from the issue at hand. I can jokingly confront strangers about random things but I could never imagine standing up for a political issue I was passionate about. While creating posters for issues in TMP last year I felt like my own reflected my passivity to things. It didn’t have bold colors or horrifying graphics. It held onto a toned down palette of blues and greens and its imagery was of caribou (it was a poster on ANWR). Some of the protest art that was brought up hardly seemed impactful on a wider scale. The iRAQ posters are widespread but the idea is not more horrific than the shock we had when we first hear of Abu Graihb. I also have never considered the graffiti of Bansky any different than the origins of protest and rebellion that is inherent in graffiti work. It is interesting that they talk about his subversiveness because in the world of graffiti, that what will make you stand out from the rest. There examples of protest art made me feel like my own forced piece could be more justified.
Dana Pierfelice
ReplyDeleteWorld Changing #8
Citizen Science- pg. 481
I think it’s because I spent some of high school in a close knit artistic community that I am on a kick of the idea of community. I don’t believe that without others to confer and rely on that anyone can flourish. This article shows how beneficial communities are to ideas as well. It is easy now in the computer age to build a community with people who are passionate about the same things. These stargazers, bird lovers, and patients are realizing the benefits of working with and from others. They have an open dialogue and thus are able to dig deeper into their own hobbies. They will also be able to see results a lot quicker than when they do everything by themselves. These are the ideas that help Wikipedia thrive, or more specific websites like Instructables and Burdastyle prosper. Citizens who are informed and passionate about science should always try to help and make a contribution to it, no matter what size.
Dana Pierfelice
World Changing #9
Charting the Deep Ocean- pg. 521
I made peace with water at a late age. I had always enjoyed floating or wrapping my legs together to be a mermaid but I really learned proper swimming in middle school, much later than my peers. I really only fell in love with the ocean my senior year of high school when I was able to snorkel on the reefs off of Belize. This opportunity came in tow with a tropical ecology research trip I was on. As I was admiring these I was learning about what dire straits the reef and our oceans are in. Coral bleaching is horrendous reality that is happening to our reefs but there is not enough awareness about it. I feel that even though we are learning so much recently about our oceans, we are killing them before we can ever learn the full story. Global warming and over fishing are real issues for the ocean but they are hardly brought up because they seem to not directly affect humans. We need to change this way of thinking and trying to preserve the glory of the oceans.
1 Choice Fatigue Pg33
ReplyDeleteThe fact that there are so many choices when I go to the grocery store is definitely alarming. Take peanut butter for example. Aside from the fact that there are options like organic, creamy, chunky and so on, the shear numbers of brands are also overwhelming. Some are more expensive than others and I’m not sure if I’m paying for a well-known brand or if the quality of the product is actually better. All I want is the best peanut butter for my money and one of them has to be the best, which means that one of these companies is trying to screw me over. They are trying to me to spend my money on them and only one of them can be the best, which means the rest of them are trying to swindle me into paying money for their sub standard product.
2 Flooring (Linoleum) Pg143
ReplyDeleteMy dad had been talking about getting the kitchen floors done for about six months before settling on the type of floors he wanted. He is very careful about how he spends his money. He usually assumes that people are trying to rip him off and does not really trust contractors, despite the fact that he makes a decent living. He eventually settled on a linoleum floor. His decision was because of linoleums relatively low price, but also because he heard that people on the west coast were starting to use it because it was good for the environment. I thought this was interesting because I can pretty much guarantee that he was not actually thinking about environmental issues, but the fact that it was trendy in his home state of California was probably very appealing to him. It was a sort of interest insight as to how people decide to spend their money.
3 How to make a great Place Pg 259
ReplyDeleteWhat constitutes a great place to live is different for everybody. I know I would want to live in the type of place this section is describing, but there are obviously people who don’t mind living in those big cookie cutter developments where all the houses look the same. Many houses are cheap considering how luxurious their amenities are on paper. The people who buy these homes sacrifice living in close proximity to a cultural/ social hub so they can live in a home that says to others that they technically have it made.
One thing that bugged me about this section was how they seemed to imply that you could make this vibrant urban life happen if you only took the right steps. Sure, you can take small steps to making your home-town slightly better, but any appealing city that I’ve dreamed about living in went through a much more complex development to get to the point where it is today. There are to many variables to account for and obviously if you are surrounded by people that don’t share the same passion, it will be significantly more difficult to achieve.
4 Underground Literature Pg 285
ReplyDeleteIt doesn’t seem like anyone gets a raw deal in this situation. The writers get more exposure, the riders get to read and I guess its possible that it might reduce a little bit of petty crime. I like this Idea because it doesn’t seem like they were really trying to do anything bigger than make the subway ride to work more enjoyable. The only possibility for this would be that they actually were trying to reduce crime by putting books on the subway, which I doubt. It is more likely that this idea was born out of something simple like making the quality of the average subway ride more enjoyable.
5 Sustainable South Bronx Pg 340
ReplyDeleteThe way this program is changing this urban environment in the Bronx is intriguing to me because it establishes a different perspective of how such environments could exist. It is interesting that this approach is not only trying to solve issues related to the environment and how these areas contribute to them, but also social issues, with programs like the urban farmers market and the recycling and industrial parks. It is a little shocking that they discovered how dumping waste in these areas was actually more expensive in the long run. You would think they would have doen the math at some point sooner.
6 Udaipur as a learning city Pg 344
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the stuff that is going on with the free school I am getting involved with in Kalamazoo. The both focus on learning through the community and are both responses to the recent effects that globalization has caused. The classes in the free school in Kalamazoo are being taught by members of the community and about subjects that are actually relevant to the community and what the people are actually interested in. This strengthens the community as whole by giving them control of their own community rather than there being external control.
Shelby Roback
ReplyDeleteWorld Changing #4
“Picking Green Materials” pg. 87
World Changing brings up a good point about the materials that we use to make products. Most of the things that we buy cannot be recycled and therefore are thrown away. We are surrounding ourselves with trash and other objects that used to be in a store. So many useless items are made out of things that can’t be reused or recycled. What exactly are you supposed to do with an old pair of flip-flops? Throw them I guess. The problem lies not only in how much we are consuming, but in what we are consuming. If we get smarter about how to make products, then we will be able to get smarter about how to dispose of them. Making products that are recycling ready is a huge deal and we should be implementing it on a large scale ASAP.
World Changing #5
“Craft it Yourself” pg. 90
Going along with the theme of recycling and reusing, I read about how many people are adopting a DIY approach to reusing. Instead of throwing old things away, they are reusing them in creative ways that will make them last for many years to come. Instead of throwing away that old record, you can make it into a bowl. Not only are these projects unique, they are also environmentally friendly. There is already enough “stuff” in the world. Instead of making new things, we should reinvent old things. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, so why can’t our own trash by our own treasure? It’s time to get creative and learn how to reuse what we were originally going to just throw away.
World Changing #6
“Building a Green Home” pg. 147
When I think of a home I don’t usually think of something that is a part of the environment, but rather as something that sticks out in the landscape. This idea is slowly starting to change in the area of green design, and I like it. Instead of coming in a taking over nature in order to build housing, we can incorporate homes into nature. I have seen a lot of different homes that have been build underground, and take up a minimum amount of space when it comes to windows and doors that lead to the outside. This seems like a smart idea, taking advantage of cooler underground air, and being able to have a minimal effect on the natural area around your home. People are even starting to design these types of homes for cities. Granted, they are not underground, but they still incorporate nature into their design, allowing for plants and trees to grow on top, and even right in the middle of some of these homes.
World Changing #7
“Using Energy Efficiently”
Conserving energy can be as easy as turning off the lights when you are not in the room. There are so many simple things you can do to save energy, but most of them still aren’t being practiced. I think it would be a smart idea to make energy saving tricks mandatory in all homes. It’s as simple as installing motion detecting lights, insulating better, and cleaning out air-conditioning filters more often. The amount of money spent on these things would be well worth the price after finding out how much money it would save people on their electric and heating bills. So why aren’t more people doing this? Because they don’t have to. As long as people think that they have the right to consume as much energy as they want, they won’t change. Everyone needs figure out that we share the energy that is created, and if we conserve as much as we can we will be able to spend less money, as well as being able to share it with those who need it.