For my family’s paper dolls, I decided to keep them all on the same size scale. Every person in my family holds a great amount of importance, we move together, and we stay in tact. This is also why the members are all strung equally to a clothing hook. Similar to a marionette, when one family moves, the rest of them follow. My family is very close and tightly knit together which is why I chose to display it this way.
This idea correlates to the idea presented in my paper. I told the story of my great-grandfather passing away because it is the story my father told me to teach the importance of keeping the family together before I left for college.
The next part of the dolls I illustrated was each of my family’s personalities. I chose to portray both a realistic and abstract image.
On my parents I painted each one of them black. They tend to be strict and overprotective, so this represents a sort of power or overshadowing they hold. I also made sure to paint it in black with clean strokes to make their skin appear thicker to display that protective layer as well as they like everything to be very simple and straightforward.
For the personalities, I chose to show the polar opposites of my mom versus dad as well as my brother versus me. My dad tends to be on the tech side. He is good with numbers, majored in engineering and management, and loves computers. My mom is a little more laid back, but her side of the family is mostly composed of artists.
The last two personalities are that of my brother and I. Instead of showing our backgrounds, I thought to present how we tend to deal with things. My brother tends to take on a lot of my dad’s traits. He loves math, computer science, video gaming, and fencing. He tends to be very aggressive and swift in situations. To represent this, I used pastel to draw flames of fire. For me, I tend to be a lot more laid back. In situations I take a while to really analyze and think about the situation until I got it perfectly. In harmony to my brother, my personality is a bit more calm which is why I chose the water symbol for myself.
To contrast my brother and I from my parents, I also decided to differentiate the mediums I used in my illustration. For my parents I used paint because when it dries it is clean and doesn’t budge much. Where as my brother and I are still developing and we plenty of mistakes along the way. We also tend to rub off on each other a lot because we are close which is why I used pastel which tends to spread easily.
New York City is an interesting place, mainly because of its intriguing architecture. Many of its buildings lack the basic shapes we know such as rectangles, squares, triangles. A simplified version of the structure might feature these types of shapes as well as some modern buildings, but most buildings are then intensified by its complex forms. So, for my project I decided to map out circular objects found throughout the structure of the Highline.
Exfoliating beads made from plastics in toothpastes or body washes get into the waterway and don’t dissolve once spit out or washed off
Solution: Micro net that captures .3 millimeters
Made of aluminum
Catches toothpaste beads, plastic bags, styrofoam
Beware of toothpastes with polyethylene
Plastic have been with us since World War II
The discovery of bad plastics is very young
Gyre – 5 main gyre in oceans
Ocean currents bring together all of the trash
High tech device allowed to determine how much plastic was in water finally developed
Troll
Approximately 5.2 trillion particles of plastic was found
Ideas on ideas to sift plastic is becoming difficult
Need to deviate around the idea of disposable items
Newton creek is the backyard of making the city possible
What happens to your body happens to the earth
The earth is breaking down at the same time your body is
Look at the smallest plastic sources
Landfill
Can see plastics in water
Albatross birds being killed by plastics in their bellies
Clean Water Acts/ Super Fund
The CWA is a federal law that was put in place by the United States in order to govern water pollution. It is a basic structure to regulate pollutants in the water and the quality standards for the surface waters. It also sets wastewater standards. It is now illegal to discharge pollution to navigable waters unless a permit was obtained.
The Super Fund is a government run fund to clean up the nations hazardous waste sites.
Source: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/
On a scale I would put both of these examples on the 10^5-10^7 scale. Both are held on a national basis. Meaning they aim to clean up the United states. However, if we scale back farther we can see that this would benefit not only our nation, but the surrounding nations and the planet as a whole.
In an illustration I would place side by side a comparison of what would the legislation aims for versus what might happen without these acts to environment. I would want to show a full range of possibilities of what is to come on a global scale.
I would also want to illustrate the issue on a small such as the Albatross birds. One event can end up becoming so impactful that people end up recognizing it as an issue and feel evoked to promote awareness for the problem. However, the scale has to be at the same size as them or else people wound up confused and distracted from the original problem. The scale needs to be relatable to them.
What does it mean for polluters like Exxon when you go online and discover that Newton Creek and Gowanus are Super Fund sites?
I don’t think it is that surprising that these sites might promote the Super Fund websites. Newton Creek and Gowanus directly deal with receiving the waste we create and they directly attack the issue of water pollution and wastefulness by attacking back as the source that caused the problem. These areas are threatened by these types of companies since they have already been made into a dump. In order to at least prevent from any more waste from coming through they defend themselves against polluters by teaming up with government run organizations such as Super Fund.
A diagram of this kind illustrates one of the issues you recorded, but could cover two or more scales– (1)10 ^ 7illustrating the federal Act and Super Fund,(2)10 ^ 0how the water looked at the surface with industry at the shore ( a picture you captured), and (3)10 – 2for worms and fish that may have mutated from the effects of industrial pollution,(4)10 – 5for # of recorded cancer occurrences of people who live near Newtown creek and(5)10 – 8for how the NYC Billion Oyster Project on Governor’s Island is helping to clean our waterways at a cellular/molecular level to reduce viruses that kill the health of our water’s ecology. So with one large illustration you would have five scales represented – two items captured/ heard on the trip and three items that come from additional research on the topic your heard about briefly on the trip.
As stated before, I chose to illustrate the problem with the Albatross birds. This type of bird is threatened faster than any other types of birds with 17 out of 22 species of albatross being globally threatened for extinction. In order to portray this issue, I sketched it out on five different scales. They are killed in such vast amounts that they can’t breed enough in time.
The albatrosses used fly across the world ocean’s 50 million years ago. Now they are known to be located in all of the world’s oceans except for the North Atlantic. Although they are seen to typically populate the Southern Hemisphere.
10^7 – illustrating a scroll that represents both the CWA and the Super Fund
10^5 and 10^8 – The first part of the drawing shows animal rescue trying to save the endangered birds from their dying natural habitat. The second part is the logo for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds which is an organization that serves to try and preserve these birds. This is to prove with the help of many individuals, the birds have a potential at flourishing once again.
10^0 – Both the Act and the Fund point towards a scene we saw on the boat ride. This is a sketch of when the boat explored the landfill at Newton Creek. At the shoreline there were plastic bags scattered on the rocks and other waste floating in the water. I wanted to display that the Act and Fund were made to regulate these forms of waste and prevent this from further occurring.
10^-2 – This next scale also shows something the Act and Fund were made to prevent. I wanted to depict how the polluted water affected the Albatross birds by drawing one bird with it’s stomach filled with the plastics it eats.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon canola oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups long-grain rice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 to 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Juice of 3 limes and zest of 2 limes (hold back juice of 1 lime for garnish)
Chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish
Directions
Watch how to make this recipe.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add the rice and salt. Cook over a low heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly to make sure the rice doesn’t burn. Add 2 cups of the broth and the juice and zest of 2 limes and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the rice is done. Add more liquid as needed. The rice shouldn’t be sticky.
Just before serving, stir through the juice of 1 lime and lots of chopped cilantro.
2012 Ree Drummond, All Rights Reserved
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/garlic-cilantro-lime-rice-recipe.html?oc=linkback
Why is water such a big issue? We have systems like the one described above to help replenish our clean water source, right? There is so much of it, yet a lot of it is not really usable for drinking or sanitation purposes. Water is a pretty replenish able resource, but we don’t really think about what happens to the water we use after it comes out of the faucet and down the drain.
Even with these systems, there are still 2.5 billion people in the world who still practice open defecation. This allows human waste which carries deadly bacteria, parasites, and micro organisms to make their way into our water sources.
Nearly 1 billion people are not able to reach clean drinking water, 90% out of 30,000 deaths that occur each week are due to unsanitary drinking water. But the problems don’t just stop there. The water crisis can end up leading to problems with education, health, poverty, and women/children.
There is always room for improvement, and the water crisis is not an end of the world case. The problem is solvable. There are solutions such as rainwater catchments, spring protections, latrines and more. The impact can be tremendous.
We are not the only people as citizens or individuals who can make an impact on the water system. The UN passed a resolution to recognize water and sanitation as “essential to human rights”. They called upon hundreds of nations and international companies to provide the necessary money, tools, and capacity to build to give clean and affordable drinking water. They believe that clean water is needed to push forward ecosystems, businesses, communities, agriculture, and commerce.
The UNGC works with 8368 companies, 161 countries, and 32,919 public reports. It is a comprehensive guidance for companies to teach them about how they can respect the human rights to water and sanitation. Their goal is to “create sustainable and inclusive global economy that delivers lasting benefits to people, communities, and markets.” In order to help guide them, the organization comes up with a business plan that aligns its strategies with the ten principles of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.
Their view on companies is that businesses and industry associations can have a significant influence on corporate sustainability. They would also be established throughout the world and gaining a deep understanding for specific industry trends and needs.
Companies around the world, no matter the size, consult associations for advice on critical issues related to sustainable development and corporate citizenship. These associations are motivated to help these companies with the incentive to improve their own reputation and competition. The associations are also able to get very specific and narrow in on issues specific to certain industries. Businesses and associations also then publicly engage with consumers to spread awareness on how associations can help change and promote sustainability.
On their website, the UNGC maps out a Water Stewardship Maturity Progression to help assess where you are on your water management journey with the help of a progressive path.
There are many other organizations that are now also partnering up with companies to improve sustainability and our water and sanitation systems such as wateractionhub.org which enlists 365 organizations, 197 projects, and 383 project locations.
Sustainablewash.org easily compacted their method into three steps: Actively promote WASH sustainable charter, complete sustainability self-assessment tool, and conduct third-party assessment to decide organization’s adherence.
Even with the progress made so far there are still a lot of questions being asked like “if corps could save the world with all the money they already have, why not just do it?” But I think this is too much of a generalized statement and ignores all the other efforts that needs to go to change and make things more sustainable
Another question that comes up; “is desalination to water shortages?”
This is the process of turning the salty ocean water to clean usable water. It sounds like a good idea since about 96% of our water on the planet is actually made up of the ocean and many areas of the planet facing serious droughts.
However, these processes (reverse osmosis and distillation) takes up a lot of resources and requires a lot of energy, time, and money. It can also end up harming or killing our ocean life. It is a lot more expensive than just turning to our freshwater resources, but there are still companies trying to find their way around this issue. There are corporations looking to help sustain our environment. Forbes publishes the top sustainable companies.
The new layout of this piece displays a repetition of the routine in my life that I can’t seem to get away from since school has started. Another concept that I wanted to display was my perception of relationships and communication relative towards time.
Everyday starts and begins the same way. I wake up, eat a little, go to class, do some work, possibly meet up with somebody, and go to sleep. I feel disconnected from this city, its people, and its structures. The atmosphere is so fast paced I barely have time to stay in one location long and really absorb what is going on. I think when you go off on your own and spend most the time by yourself, the days tend to grow longer and the hours pass by much slower because you just feel so alone. The other day I was discussing with a friend that only one week of orientation already felt like one drawn out month. We had already accomplished more things that week than we would have in the suburbs for a month.
The other subject I wanted to touch upon was relationships. When you have the time to spend with your closest friends and family and you are having so much fun just living in that moment, years can speed right past you and you wouldn’t even realize it. Although, in the city I feel as though I haven’t been able to make that connection with people. Even when I was able to visit my friend in the afternoon or spend time with my family, those moments were still just brief encounters that they merely became just another interval to my day. As soon as I sat down to chat with them it felt like a second later I had to stand up again to say goodbye. They had their own tasks to still do and I had my own.
New York’s energy is neither good nor bad, but sometimes it is good to distance yourself from it to reconnect to it again
The Process:
This project took several changes to get to the final. We learned about creating several iterations or drafts for this process. Before each iteration or draft began the photos were mapped out in my journal and then glued down to newsprint in order for presentation. The first two parts dealt with spacing the photos on a linear timeline while the last two dealt with both the perception of space and time.
In-between each iteration and during each class we would check our progress. I think this round of critiques gave me a lot of insight on how I can convey my original message in a clear way. Looking back at the very first timeline I presented, it now seems very jumbled up with no certain order. As I continued along with this project and change the order around taking suggestions from others, I think where my timeline is now sets a stronger impression for the original message I wanted to convey.
I think even listening to other people’s projects was beneficial. I really began to understand how different other people’s perception of time was. I even learned how some might be similar to my perception as well and I could sometimes relate to how others saw the time passing. Time passes in different ways and I how people perceive it is very circumstantial to that point they are at in their life.
This assignment still associates with our own perceptions of time, except this time we place the photos on an x and y axis to consider space along with time.
When I went to go collect the pieces for my assignment today, I had not realized that the goal was to collect only plastic waste. Instead I ended up trying to clean the square block around my dorm as much as possible. Along the way I realized how much people just chuck and toss away. People had finished consuming the product the containers originally held, so compost wise, they had not wasted a bite. However, once they used that beverage or that food to the most of what could benefit them, they don’t think much about how much they still wasted the containers. These materials that could have been repurposed for something else are now thrown on the streets and sidewalks.
A majority of the items I was able to recycle, because I had collected a bunch of newspapers, bottles, containers, aluminum. Yet, there were still objects that wasn’t as easily disposed of such as batteries, styrofoam, food, and cigarettes. I placed what was recyclable in the recycling chutes outside of my dorm that separated items from paper, plastics, and regular waste.
After researching, I discovered the residential households in NYC is provided with regular curbside and garbage collecting. There are also designated areas throughout the city where city dwellers may dispose of their waste. The only thing residence must do is separate their wastes from their recycling. In The New School dorms, students have trash chutes and recycling rooms on each floor and well as recycling and garbage cans through out each of the university buildings. My home is similar to NYC where we have garbage and recycling collecting on a weekly schedule by the curb of my house,
Many items that I ended up picking up were expected such as cans, bottles, newspapers, and business cards. I think a majority of the things I found, I pretty much expected to find. However, there were some out of the ordinary wastes such as metro cards, car service slip, Listerine packet, plate of fruits, pens, cup of pee, batteries, unopened sauce packets, and patient bracelets. I think most items I found anyone would typically consume as I found mostly take out items for people on the go.
Items I typically consume that are one use are products such as water bottles, detergent bottles, paper, any makeup product containers, boxes of tea bags, plastic bags, produce bags, menstrual products, Ziploc bags, batteries, in cartridges, and paper towels.
I think after this project I started to realize how much we throw away items without really thinking about how much we are really consuming. The other day I was cleaning my bathroom and I am now realizing how many paper towels I had wasted. In stead of using one on a spot to clean, I would use three. Reducing our consumption can really help reduce the amount we scrap. I think the easiest part in my life to save on would be cleaning products, supplies, beauty products, and food
Part 2 of this assignment serves the same purpose as Part 1, but this time we rearranged using the critiques provided in the previous class as well as to fit the writing portion better.
