1) What kind of projects and work do you think might be needed by designers because of the Great Acceleration? What are two ways that the changes resulting from the Great Acceleration are affecting your life?

As of 2018, the majority of cars being used still rely on petroleum. For the next decade, I think a transition from mostly traditional cars to mostly electric cars would help alleviate the CO2 emission by a lot. Therefore, I think designs of other types of cars which are equally environmental friendly is something the designers can think about. Architecturally, I think most houses and apartments in the world incorporates little to no use of renewable energy sources. In the near future, architects and city planners might need to incorporate the use of renewable energy and environmental friendly systems in order to combat the potential side effects of the Great Acceleration.

An example of how the Great Acceleration has effected my life would be the increased amount of students (competitors) as a result of the exponentially growing population. Due to the increase of population, college acceptance rates had decreased, which was to my disadvantage when I had to apply for colleges in senior year of high school. Another example of how the Great Acceleration has effected my life would be the increase of natural disasters as a result of the exponentially growing greenhouse gas emission and global warming. Over the past 5 years, many unusual environmental disasters and changes took place due to human’s continuous exploitation of the environment. The rate of hurricanes and typhoons in my home country for example has increased and unusual weather conditions occur over and over again.

2) What do you think it means to “think and design beyond the present” as a designer? Why might this be important? 

To “think and design beyond the present” means to design with the intent of making it useful and helpful for the generations ahead. This is important now more than ever due to the environmental exploitations that took place for the past 100 years. Out previous generation’s choices demonstrate to us not only on how unthoughtful and selfish actions can cost us but also how we choose to design can significantly affect the next generation.

3) Research the word Anthropocene and write a short description that you would share with a close friend (using your own words/language to explain, not an internet definition). What is one example of how the Anthropocene is affecting your home country? Images are encouraged.

Anthropocene, also known as the “human age,” is when humans have become the biggest factor that is shaping the earth’s environment, which is now. An example of how this has affected my home country would be the pollution of certain bodies of water due to my country’s solar panel production.

4) Next week we will tour Parsons’ Healthy Materials Lab Resource Library on campus. Please visit their site to learn about their work and watch the Green Science Policy Institute’s video series (7 videos in total, each about 3 minutes long) on the “Six Classes of Chemical Concern.” Answer the following questions:

Was was most surprising about these videos? Explain in detail.

The video that surprised me the most would be the introduction video. In the video, the narrator spoke about the use of Brominated Tris to create pajamas for infants. This is very distressing to know because it made me realized how unprotected and helpless most consumers actually are. The pajama company later on used a similar type of chemical to continue production, which shows how little some of these company actually care about how their products can affect the consumer’s health.

Do you use any of these materials commonly in your work or personal life?

Highly fluorinated clothes are one of the most common objects I own. From my wardrobe to bags and to shoes, fluorinated materials can be found anywhere in my house.

Will you change your behavior as a result of watching this series?

After watching these videos, I don’t think I will change my behavior in order to avoid certain chemicals. However, I will definitely design in products for others that are completely safe and free of the six classes of chemical concern.

Why do you think so many chemicals exist in contemporary designs? 

As mentioned in the introductory video and in addition to my own research on various fast fashion companies, I know that many harmful chemicals still and will continue to exist in contemporary designs. The reason being the lack of better alternatives.