Kellyn Carpenter ADP III Section 4 World Changing Response
Greening Infrastructure, pg. 254
For this week’s World Changing response, I read the chapter titled Greening Infrastructure. I found this chapter extremely interesting in it’s analysis of green architecture and how we can build cities that are actually living and compliment nature. In this chapter, it begins by explaining that everything we do and everything that surrounds us (man-made or not) can be connected back to nature in some way. Therefore, why are we not creating things that benefit nature? In this chapter, this quote particularly stuck out to me: “it is time…to live on this planet as if we planned to stay.” I thought that this was extremely profound. We’ve talked before about how we are using resources at amounts that equate to multiple planets, meaning that we are rapidly depleting our own at rates that it can’t renew itself.
In Los Angeles, there is an organization called the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power that established a program where they give trees and tree-care lessons to local homeowners. With this program, they are increasing the number of trees in local neighbors and trying to re-forest the area. Another great concept presented was that the Ontario University has areas of their buildings where the walls are actually made of living and breathing plants. Green roofs, or planting on rooftops of high-rises is on the rise. Many people have begun to do this and roof top gardens are becoming an eco-fad. Many of these new eco-friendly trends not only help the environment, but they also decrease energy use and clean the air. The trees and “green facades” (meaning when plants are grown on the sides of buildings) provide valuable shade that decrease the amount of energy needed to cool a building. Rooftop garden help provide greenery and nature in places where it would otherwise be impossible to have trees. All of these factors, as well as the many more ideas shown in the chapter, as ways that we can all help to better our environment and preserve our planet.
Elaine Czech The Hidden Vitality of Slums p 286 I must admit, I was only drawn to this story because of the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Honestly before that movie I had never even thought about slums or that they even existed. Like always I try to go beyond what is written in the brief three pages to see more of the truth behind the article. This time however it was easier to begin my search since, instead of a list of novels that could help further my learning, there was some websites. I decided to check out One Small Project a group trying to create a book that celebrates life in working class neighborhoods. Besides their mission statement on the first page, I found the website very confusing. However in my confusion I stumbled upon a link to the New York Times that discussed the recent TED winner. Apparently the TED conferences every year, for the last six years gives out an award of $100,000 to a person whom they think will use that money as a backing to do good. This year’s winner is an artist who goes by J R. J R creates colossal images of people who live in slums and plasters them in downtrodden neighborhoods. His work, which is technically illegal since it involves trespassing, helps to shows the vitality of slum life while also improving it. The images are printed on waterproof vinyl and can double as new roofs or walls (Kennedy).
Link to J R's work: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/10/20/arts/design/20ted-slide-show-10.html
Bibliography Kennedy, Randy. Award to Artist Who Gives Slums a Human Face. 19 October 2010. 14 November 2010 .
The chapter titled Healing Polluted Land on page 250, was one of the most interesting chapters that I have read so far in World Changing. The subarticle that interested me the most was about Mycoremediation. Mycologist Paul Stamets coined the term when he discovered that specific fungus could be used to break down pollutants. Fungi, such as Oyster Mushrooms have spores that can help transform hazardous waste into “lush greenery”, that helps create and fertilize soil. All mushrooms have a certain part of them called the Mycelia, which absorbs nutrients from the environment, and turn it into sustainable matter. The Mycelia in this case, absorbs the toxins found in the environment and breaks the toxins down efficiently, to create non-toxic components. Aside from breaking down toxins, “Mushrooms can remediate soil and sediment contaminated by heavy oils, petroleum products, pesticides, alkaloids, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and even E. coli” (251). Statement used mushrooms to break down the sentiments left after a diesel-oil spill, and discovered that mushrooms not only cleaned up the pollution, but that mycelia are the best tools for such tasks. After reading this, I began wondering if it would be possible for us to use mushrooms on the coastlines to clean up after the gulf oil spill. Mushrooms could also be used to clean up the red sludge that has taken over towns in Hungary. With the knowledge that we have about mushrooms, not only can we clean up our environment, but we can also produce organic and safe food in the process.
I have been, for the lack of a better term/label, a conscious omnivore (which is misleading because I usually don’t/can’t eat meat) for about three years now (with a small break in between), and ever since I started, the issue of food is constantly on my mind. I am always questioning my motives, what I should eat and shouldn’t eat, what my budget allows me to eat, and if I should be advocating vegetarianism to my friends.
So, naturally this chapter “Eating better meat and fish” caught my eye instantly. After reading, however, I have very mixed feelings about it. While I agree with and fully advocate the different efforts to promote sustainable and healthy eating habits, it seemed that almost every section ended with a feeble solution of ‘make smart choices’. Don’t get me wrong; I am not calling the solution feeble in the sense that ‘making smart choices’ is ineffective or wrong, because I firmly believe that awareness and conscious decisions arising from that awareness are fundamental tools for change. What I find ‘feeble’ is the fact that it does not address issues of affordability and convenience. Because in the absolute sense if free-range, humanely raised, sustainable, eco-friendly meat was cheap and easy to come by there is no reason for anyone to not go for it.
Sustainable ranching, buffalo preservation, seafood watch, sustainable fishing— these efforts to change the way we raise and consume meat are certainly commendable and progressive, but how much do they affect us as individuals? I think (being a college student and not being the most well-off person) that perhaps the more effective way to bring a larger scale of change is to change the larger systems first. What if chain companies/restaurants like Starbucks, McDonald’s, even U of M dining halls were to select and serve sustainable meats? Such a change would subsequently change the habits and standards of customers and consumers and most definitely bring about an immediate and larger scale change than a personal choice of vegetarianism or conscious consumerism (not to say that these do not matter).
For this week’s world changing chapter, I chose to read “Brazil’s Telecentros.” This excerpt focused on the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Here, there is a brilliant project going on that illustrates how why open source software and cheaper computers are a necessity for emerging megacities. More than one hundred free computing centers are open to the public and are opening endless possibilities to brighten their futures. There is a one-hour time limit on these computers and locals can use to learn and widen their skills as well as search for jobs. To prove its success, there are now up to 250,000 people using these computers, or telecentros, every month.
These centers run off of open-source software, which is amazing for the people who cannot afford the private protected software. These people don’t have to pay a penny to use these computers but the knowledge they learn can change their lives forever. The head of Brazil’s National Information Technology Institute says that technology is the first step of development. He believes that new technology is the now a necessity for education, jobs and democracy. When a country goes open source, it completely changes and betters their relationship with the world economy, giving them the opportunity to become participants in a collaborative culture of problem solving.
This article about the slums of the world is fascinating. It talks about the slums from a different point of view. I have always seen desolate and depressing pictures of people living in shantytowns around the world. These images always evoke, for me and others, sadness and hopelessness for our world. It is honestly hard for me to comprehend that one billion people, 1/6th of the world’s population, lives in a squatting town like this. However, this article talks about the ways in which these town can grow and improve overtime. When the people ban together and organize their resources, it’s amazing how they can turn practically nothing into a thriving village. Yes, they start off in terrible conditions. There are none of the amenities that I take for granted everyday – running water, electricity, and toilets, but overtime, these towns have grown and developed such systems. With organized governments, and paved roads complete with restaurants, stores, and business, I am amazed at what these people can do. They create real, permanent homes for themselves and their families and continuously help improve the lives of the people around them. When I think about my own life, being born with a loving family and everything I could ever need, it makes it difficult for me to imagine what it would be like to start from nothing and build everything that I enjoy today. I guess if one doesn’t have it from the beginning, the only option is to make it for yourself. I hope everyone can be inspired from the slums of the world and celebrate as they become permanent settlements.
The article “Craft It Yourself,” on page 91 of World Changing explores the concept of DIY, or do-it-yourself. The article describes DIY as a movement that caught on to the public in the 1990’s, when people began to cherish the uniqueness with each of their homemade creations. Even the industries recognized the benefits in the homemade objects, and began to mass-produce things to look homemade or flawed. Sweaters were made with stray threads, and jeans with rips. Even then, a million pairs of jeans with the same rips did not have the same effect as the truly unique homemade designs. The media has made it extremely easy to find instructions on how to make almost anything one can think of with old household things. Magazines often times have DIY sections and articles, there are blogs and websites dedicated to DIY, and entire books have been published to give directions on how to put together almost anything. It has become a fad, not because people can’t afford to purchase a new bowl, but because they like the satisfaction in making their own, unique bowl that perhaps their neighbor doesn’t have. In respects to using household items to make other things in a DIY fashion, the concept is a great way to recycle. It gives items a new life, making use of things for a purpose they were not originally made for, yet for which work just as well. The article gives examples of items that are DIY, and includes a set of instructions and materials needed to make such things. For example, one can make speakers from old mint tins, two playing cards and headphones. This is a clever way to make use of old items that one would normally throw away, or leave stuffed in a drawer. As consumers people accumulate so much trash and waste that clutters homes, and ends up in landfills, often times after their first, initial use has been satisfied. With DIY projects, people are not only reusing materials, and giving them a second life, but they are also consuming less, spending less, and reserving resources. The DIY movement is a clever way for people to become more involved in recycling and environmental conservation while expressing their designer.
This week I chose the article “Doing the Right thing can be Delicious.” The title of this article is deceptive because it was not at all about how to find good organic food choices. In fact, I felt that this article was rather weak, especially in comparison to many of the others I have read. The introduction describes the bleak system we have set up for ourselves of eating only highly caloric processed foods. The article then says that some people have rejected the fast food phenomena and only eat “slow food.” The article does not delve much deeper into this idea, but says that we should join or start a slow food group in our area. After that, the article only briefly states that most farms today do not rotate their crops, and that is bad for the health of our soil. I felt that this article really didn’t present any drastically new concepts. It was just a lot of repetition of things I have heard already. It also did not explain any of its ideas thoroughly at all. Apart from that, I find it interesting that “slow food groups” exist. I have never heard of them before. It is hard to imagine having time to be part of a slow food group though. I don’t even have time to join university clubs. I think the idea of slow food is nice. It facilitates healthier eating, and interaction between people, especially family members. I think that our society as a whole would have to chill out a lot in order for the idea to work for most people though. Most of the time people are stuck at work or school and need a fast meal. Maybe if we were given more free time, slow food could just become food.
I thought it was amazing when they talked about the Fab Labs and how they were $20,000 - though still expensive, is much less than what I expected. They mentioned that a few years ago, it would have been multimillion. I especially like the paragraph that basically says that when everyone shares what they know, and everyone is able to have equal opportunities to solve their problems, then "it is impossible to predict just what we'll build as citizen engineers."(93)I was particularly touched by the picture of the students in Ghana that were working on refrigeration system. I think that it's great that a lot of technology's a lot easier and accessible for regular people to use, and it isn't just limited to the scientists or the experts.
The article which I read this week in world changing was about prefabricated homes. In today's consumerist society, bigger is better; the status of a family is determined by the size and quality of the home, regardless of how wasteful the construction of the home is, as well as its use of space and energy. We associate compact, prefabricated homes with low brow trailer parks, and ramshackle neighborhoods. But, the new trend is designed for the ecofriendly, stylish consumer, both low and high income. By using a modular production strategy, the majority of the construction involved in prefabricated homes is done offsite, and materials can be used more efficiently. The result is a cheap, stylish, rapidly built dwelling, which we are able to customize. This article struck me in particular because it dealt with the correlation of material possession to wealth and class. I had a conversation with my mother this past week about (god forbid) my future. She told me that regardless of my education, or even the amount of money I end up making as a college graduate, I will never be able to attain the quality which I enjoy now; the transition from a consumer based society to a sustainability and problem solving based economy has begun. The middle class is shrinking, soon we will have a small elite upper class, and a very large lower class, In my future, we will no longer use possessions as a marker for status in society, which is evident with the rise of prefabricated housing for all social classes.
Eliana Gershon World Changing Leapfrogging, p. 292
This week I read about leapfrogging, and was interested to find that the article mainly talked about cellphones. I know we discussed in lecture that cellphones were a great leapfrogging technology, and was expecting to find a clearer definition of what that meant as well as a series of examples. However, although I think plenty of things could be great for leapfrogging, cell phones are really an excellent example. The article focused on how easily accessible cell phones are for African countries, and how the addition of the technology has really been able to enhance and improve the communities both socially and economically. The most intriguing statement that was made in the article was about how leapfrogging is great because you don't have anything invested in the technology, so it becomes increasingly easier to piggyback off of it and create something even better. If Kenyans had poured millions of dollars into the iPhone, then I'm sure they wouldn't be so quick to see what new type of technology could replace and go beyond that of the iPhone. So, the lesson reaped from this week's reading: we shouldn't be so hung up on things just because they have worked out in the past. There is always room for improvement.
Abito is a company that has developed a living space that is 347 sq. feet (a little bit less than 19 x 19 feet) with all the furnishings that you need, it even includes a washer and drier. This must have caught my eye because it is relevant to a collage student, looking for small affordable housing. The widespread use of these apartments is a huge space saver for sure and the book suggests that living efficiently is also living green. There is presumably less waste and less energy used. The small size of these apartments would make it easy for widespread use. An apartment complex filled with these small apartments would be an incredibly efficient housing situation and could allow many people to save on waste and energy. I can see that energy is saved by lighting (less lights, only one room) and cleaning such as vacuuming would take up much less time and use electricity for less time. The smaller space would allow for fewer possessions and fewer wasted products.
This article talks about the future of urban life around the world. It discusses how perhaps third world countries are innovating in ways that we have not thought of in the U.S. because they have been forced to be creative due to a lack of resources. They are now coming into their own in a way that we cannot fathom. In Zimbabwe, for example, architects have designed a home with solar panels that open like a flower as the day warms, bringing in electricity, and closing at night. Another corporate building in Zimbabwe is built to mimic termite earth masses by using ventilation tunnels to keep a constant temperature. The building thus does not need an air-conditioning system, even in the blistering heat. This is an incredible innovation and seems so obvious because it already exists in nature. We have not, however, previously considered using what already exists in nature. If whole cities were to be built in this way, the change could be incredible, and moreover, it is not that implausible because it is already being achieved. While it is a bit of a stretch for already developed cities like those in the U.S., it can be achieved by countries that are just starting to really grow into their own. It is an excellent opportunity to bring a green lifestyle to places that are still building, while slowly restructuring the already developed areas of the world.
Kellyn Carpenter
ReplyDeleteADP III Section 4
World Changing Response
Greening Infrastructure, pg. 254
For this week’s World Changing response, I read the chapter titled Greening Infrastructure. I found this chapter extremely interesting in it’s analysis of green architecture and how we can build cities that are actually living and compliment nature. In this chapter, it begins by explaining that everything we do and everything that surrounds us (man-made or not) can be connected back to nature in some way. Therefore, why are we not creating things that benefit nature? In this chapter, this quote particularly stuck out to me: “it is time…to live on this planet as if we planned to stay.” I thought that this was extremely profound. We’ve talked before about how we are using resources at amounts that equate to multiple planets, meaning that we are rapidly depleting our own at rates that it can’t renew itself.
In Los Angeles, there is an organization called the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power that established a program where they give trees and tree-care lessons to local homeowners. With this program, they are increasing the number of trees in local neighbors and trying to re-forest the area. Another great concept presented was that the Ontario University has areas of their buildings where the walls are actually made of living and breathing plants. Green roofs, or planting on rooftops of high-rises is on the rise. Many people have begun to do this and roof top gardens are becoming an eco-fad. Many of these new eco-friendly trends not only help the environment, but they also decrease energy use and clean the air. The trees and “green facades” (meaning when plants are grown on the sides of buildings) provide valuable shade that decrease the amount of energy needed to cool a building. Rooftop garden help provide greenery and nature in places where it would otherwise be impossible to have trees. All of these factors, as well as the many more ideas shown in the chapter, as ways that we can all help to better our environment and preserve our planet.
Elaine Czech
ReplyDeleteThe Hidden Vitality of Slums p 286
I must admit, I was only drawn to this story because of the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Honestly before that movie I had never even thought about slums or that they even existed. Like always I try to go beyond what is written in the brief three pages to see more of the truth behind the article. This time however it was easier to begin my search since, instead of a list of novels that could help further my learning, there was some websites. I decided to check out One Small Project a group trying to create a book that celebrates life in working class neighborhoods. Besides their mission statement on the first page, I found the website very confusing. However in my confusion I stumbled upon a link to the New York Times that discussed the recent TED winner.
Apparently the TED conferences every year, for the last six years gives out an award of $100,000 to a person whom they think will use that money as a backing to do good. This year’s winner is an artist who goes by J R. J R creates colossal images of people who live in slums and plasters them in downtrodden neighborhoods. His work, which is technically illegal since it involves trespassing, helps to shows the vitality of slum life while also improving it. The images are printed on waterproof vinyl and can double as new roofs or walls (Kennedy).
Link to J R's work:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/10/20/arts/design/20ted-slide-show-10.html
Bibliography
Kennedy, Randy. Award to Artist Who Gives Slums a Human Face. 19 October 2010. 14 November 2010 .
Melis Agabigum
ReplyDeleteHealing Polluted Land p.250
The chapter titled Healing Polluted Land on page 250, was one of the most interesting chapters that I have read so far in World Changing. The subarticle that interested me the most was about Mycoremediation. Mycologist Paul Stamets coined the term when he discovered that specific fungus could be used to break down pollutants.
Fungi, such as Oyster Mushrooms have spores that can help transform hazardous waste into “lush greenery”, that helps create and fertilize soil. All mushrooms have a certain part of them called the Mycelia, which absorbs nutrients from the environment, and turn it into sustainable matter. The Mycelia in this case, absorbs the toxins found in the environment and breaks the toxins down efficiently, to create non-toxic components. Aside from breaking down toxins, “Mushrooms can remediate soil and sediment contaminated by heavy oils, petroleum products, pesticides, alkaloids, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and even E. coli” (251).
Statement used mushrooms to break down the sentiments left after a diesel-oil spill, and discovered that mushrooms not only cleaned up the pollution, but that mycelia are the best tools for such tasks.
After reading this, I began wondering if it would be possible for us to use mushrooms on the coastlines to clean up after the gulf oil spill. Mushrooms could also be used to clean up the red sludge that has taken over towns in Hungary. With the knowledge that we have about mushrooms, not only can we clean up our environment, but we can also produce organic and safe food in the process.
Hannah Ryou
ReplyDeleteEating Better Meat and Fish pg. 63
I have been, for the lack of a better term/label, a conscious omnivore (which is misleading because I usually don’t/can’t eat meat) for about three years now (with a small break in between), and ever since I started, the issue of food is constantly on my mind. I am always questioning my motives, what I should eat and shouldn’t eat, what my budget allows me to eat, and if I should be advocating vegetarianism to my friends.
So, naturally this chapter “Eating better meat and fish” caught my eye instantly. After reading, however, I have very mixed feelings about it. While I agree with and fully advocate the different efforts to promote sustainable and healthy eating habits, it seemed that almost every section ended with a feeble solution of ‘make smart choices’. Don’t get me wrong; I am not calling the solution feeble in the sense that ‘making smart choices’ is ineffective or wrong, because I firmly believe that awareness and conscious decisions arising from that awareness are fundamental tools for change. What I find ‘feeble’ is the fact that it does not address issues of affordability and convenience. Because in the absolute sense if free-range, humanely raised, sustainable, eco-friendly meat was cheap and easy to come by there is no reason for anyone to not go for it.
Sustainable ranching, buffalo preservation, seafood watch, sustainable fishing— these efforts to change the way we raise and consume meat are certainly commendable and progressive, but how much do they affect us as individuals? I think (being a college student and not being the most well-off person) that perhaps the more effective way to bring a larger scale of change is to change the larger systems first. What if chain companies/restaurants like Starbucks, McDonald’s, even U of M dining halls were to select and serve sustainable meats? Such a change would subsequently change the habits and standards of customers and consumers and most definitely bring about an immediate and larger scale change than a personal choice of vegetarianism or conscious consumerism (not to say that these do not matter).
For this week’s world changing chapter, I chose to read “Brazil’s Telecentros.” This excerpt focused on the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Here, there is a brilliant project going on that illustrates how why open source software and cheaper computers are a necessity for emerging megacities. More than one hundred free computing centers are open to the public and are opening endless possibilities to brighten their futures. There is a one-hour time limit on these computers and locals can use to learn and widen their skills as well as search for jobs. To prove its success, there are now up to 250,000 people using these computers, or telecentros, every month.
ReplyDeleteThese centers run off of open-source software, which is amazing for the people who cannot afford the private protected software. These people don’t have to pay a penny to use these computers but the knowledge they learn can change their lives forever. The head of Brazil’s National Information Technology Institute says that technology is the first step of development. He believes that new technology is the now a necessity for education, jobs and democracy. When a country goes open source, it completely changes and betters their relationship with the world economy, giving them the opportunity to become participants in a collaborative culture of problem solving.
The Hidden Vitality of Slums
ReplyDeletePg. 286
This article about the slums of the world is fascinating. It talks about the slums from a different point of view. I have always seen desolate and depressing pictures of people living in shantytowns around the world. These images always evoke, for me and others, sadness and hopelessness for our world. It is honestly hard for me to comprehend that one billion people, 1/6th of the world’s population, lives in a squatting town like this. However, this article talks about the ways in which these town can grow and improve overtime. When the people ban together and organize their resources, it’s amazing how they can turn practically nothing into a thriving village. Yes, they start off in terrible conditions. There are none of the amenities that I take for granted everyday – running water, electricity, and toilets, but overtime, these towns have grown and developed such systems. With organized governments, and paved roads complete with restaurants, stores, and business, I am amazed at what these people can do. They create real, permanent homes for themselves and their families and continuously help improve the lives of the people around them. When I think about my own life, being born with a loving family and everything I could ever need, it makes it difficult for me to imagine what it would be like to start from nothing and build everything that I enjoy today. I guess if one doesn’t have it from the beginning, the only option is to make it for yourself. I hope everyone can be inspired from the slums of the world and celebrate as they become permanent settlements.
Erica Neumann
ReplyDeleteNovember 15, 2010
The article “Craft It Yourself,” on page 91 of World Changing explores the concept of DIY, or do-it-yourself. The article describes DIY as a movement that caught on to the public in the 1990’s, when people began to cherish the uniqueness with each of their homemade creations. Even the industries recognized the benefits in the homemade objects, and began to mass-produce things to look homemade or flawed. Sweaters were made with stray threads, and jeans with rips. Even then, a million pairs of jeans with the same rips did not have the same effect as the truly unique homemade designs. The media has made it extremely easy to find instructions on how to make almost anything one can think of with old household things. Magazines often times have DIY sections and articles, there are blogs and websites dedicated to DIY, and entire books have been published to give directions on how to put together almost anything. It has become a fad, not because people can’t afford to purchase a new bowl, but because they like the satisfaction in making their own, unique bowl that perhaps their neighbor doesn’t have.
In respects to using household items to make other things in a DIY fashion, the concept is a great way to recycle. It gives items a new life, making use of things for a purpose they were not originally made for, yet for which work just as well. The article gives examples of items that are DIY, and includes a set of instructions and materials needed to make such things. For example, one can make speakers from old mint tins, two playing cards and headphones. This is a clever way to make use of old items that one would normally throw away, or leave stuffed in a drawer. As consumers people accumulate so much trash and waste that clutters homes, and ends up in landfills, often times after their first, initial use has been satisfied. With DIY projects, people are not only reusing materials, and giving them a second life, but they are also consuming less, spending less, and reserving resources. The DIY movement is a clever way for people to become more involved in recycling and environmental conservation while expressing their designer.
Kaiti Marek
ReplyDelete15, November 2010
ARTDES 250: SEC4
This week I chose the article “Doing the Right thing can be Delicious.” The title of this article is deceptive because it was not at all about how to find good organic food choices. In fact, I felt that this article was rather weak, especially in comparison to many of the others I have read. The introduction describes the bleak system we have set up for ourselves of eating only highly caloric processed foods. The article then says that some people have rejected the fast food phenomena and only eat “slow food.” The article does not delve much deeper into this idea, but says that we should join or start a slow food group in our area. After that, the article only briefly states that most farms today do not rotate their crops, and that is bad for the health of our soil.
I felt that this article really didn’t present any drastically new concepts. It was just a lot of repetition of things I have heard already. It also did not explain any of its ideas thoroughly at all. Apart from that, I find it interesting that “slow food groups” exist. I have never heard of them before. It is hard to imagine having time to be part of a slow food group though. I don’t even have time to join university clubs. I think the idea of slow food is nice. It facilitates healthier eating, and interaction between people, especially family members. I think that our society as a whole would have to chill out a lot in order for the idea to work for most people though. Most of the time people are stuck at work or school and need a fast meal. Maybe if we were given more free time, slow food could just become food.
Engineer it Yourself
ReplyDeletepg.93-96
I thought it was amazing when they talked about the Fab Labs and how they were $20,000 - though still expensive, is much less than what I expected. They mentioned that a few years ago, it would have been multimillion. I especially like the paragraph that basically says that when everyone shares what they know, and everyone is able to have equal opportunities to solve their problems, then "it is impossible to predict just what we'll build as citizen engineers."(93)I was particularly touched by the picture of the students in Ghana that were working on refrigeration system. I think that it's great that a lot of technology's a lot easier and accessible for regular people to use, and it isn't just limited to the scientists or the experts.
Paula Schubatis
ReplyDelete11/16/10
ADP 3
Section 4
A Prefab Home
p149
The article which I read this week in world changing was about prefabricated homes. In today's consumerist society, bigger is better; the status of a family is determined by the size and quality of the home, regardless of how wasteful the construction of the home is, as well as its use of space and energy. We associate compact, prefabricated homes with low brow trailer parks, and ramshackle neighborhoods. But, the new trend is designed for the ecofriendly, stylish consumer, both low and high income. By using a modular production strategy, the majority of the construction involved in prefabricated homes is done offsite, and materials can be used more efficiently. The result is a cheap, stylish, rapidly built dwelling, which we are able to customize. This article struck me in particular because it dealt with the correlation of material possession to wealth and class. I had a conversation with my mother this past week about (god forbid) my future. She told me that regardless of my education, or even the amount of money I end up making as a college graduate, I will never be able to attain the quality which I enjoy now; the transition from a consumer based society to a sustainability and problem solving based economy has begun. The middle class is shrinking, soon we will have a small elite upper class, and a very large lower class, In my future, we will no longer use possessions as a marker for status in society, which is evident with the rise of prefabricated housing for all social classes.
Eliana Gershon
ReplyDeleteWorld Changing
Leapfrogging, p. 292
This week I read about leapfrogging, and was interested to find that the article mainly talked about cellphones. I know we discussed in lecture that cellphones were a great leapfrogging technology, and was expecting to find a clearer definition of what that meant as well as a series of examples. However, although I think plenty of things could be great for leapfrogging, cell phones are really an excellent example. The article focused on how easily accessible cell phones are for African countries, and how the addition of the technology has really been able to enhance and improve the communities both socially and economically. The most intriguing statement that was made in the article was about how leapfrogging is great because you don't have anything invested in the technology, so it becomes increasingly easier to piggyback off of it and create something even better. If Kenyans had poured millions of dollars into the iPhone, then I'm sure they wouldn't be so quick to see what new type of technology could replace and go beyond that of the iPhone. So, the lesson reaped from this week's reading: we shouldn't be so hung up on things just because they have worked out in the past. There is always room for improvement.
Abito
ReplyDeletePage 153
Abito is a company that has developed a living space that is 347 sq. feet (a little bit less than 19 x 19 feet) with all the furnishings that you need, it even includes a washer and drier. This must have caught my eye because it is relevant to a collage student, looking for small affordable housing. The widespread use of these apartments is a huge space saver for sure and the book suggests that living efficiently is also living green. There is presumably less waste and less energy used. The small size of these apartments would make it easy for widespread use. An apartment complex filled with these small apartments would be an incredibly efficient housing situation and could allow many people to save on waste and energy.
I can see that energy is saved by lighting (less lights, only one room) and cleaning such as vacuuming would take up much less time and use electricity for less time. The smaller space would allow for fewer possessions and fewer wasted products.
Liz Ritenour
ReplyDeleteWorldchanging
Megacity Innovations p. 282
This article talks about the future of urban life around the world. It discusses how perhaps third world countries are innovating in ways that we have not thought of in the U.S. because they have been forced to be creative due to a lack of resources. They are now coming into their own in a way that we cannot fathom. In Zimbabwe, for example, architects have designed a home with solar panels that open like a flower as the day warms, bringing in electricity, and closing at night. Another corporate building in Zimbabwe is built to mimic termite earth masses by using ventilation tunnels to keep a constant temperature. The building thus does not need an air-conditioning system, even in the blistering heat. This is an incredible innovation and seems so obvious because it already exists in nature. We have not, however, previously considered using what already exists in nature. If whole cities were to be built in this way, the change could be incredible, and moreover, it is not that implausible because it is already being achieved. While it is a bit of a stretch for already developed cities like those in the U.S., it can be achieved by countries that are just starting to really grow into their own. It is an excellent opportunity to bring a green lifestyle to places that are still building, while slowly restructuring the already developed areas of the world.