Month: September 2018

The Museum of Reclaimed Space functions as New Yorks urban activism epicenter; most predominately they maintain a green thumb group of volunteers and gardens within the East Village. It’s surprising to see a group still functioning with anti-establishment ideals given the current political climate. They stand their ground and have had many small successes in their goal for keeping urban garden spaces accessible to the public. Their gardens encourage decrepit space renewal which house many innovative, sustainable and experimental environmental concepts and will soon utilize many new technologies to help maintain and segregate their spaces from corporate control. It was amazing to see how functional, beautiful and practical many of these gardens are. The research and development gone into many of these gardens although DIY show great technical prowess; and it would be phenomenal to see how these gardens would function; and what these gardens would look like with proper funding and engineering support.

https://www.citylab.com/solutions/2016/08/new-york-city-mta-flood-resiliency/49630

Moving to New York City from Melbourne, Australia was a huge leap; yet the most notable change has to be the weather. Although in Melbourne i’d experience the odd down pour which may overflow drains or flood up to door fronts, I had never seen flooding like that New York experienced during Hurricane Sandy. What was hugely concerning to me was how the MTA dealt with floods, as even with heavy rain, entrances to the MTA formed deep puddles making it difficult for people to move in and out of the tunnel. Upon analyzing the MTA entrance and tunnels surroundings, it was interesting to note not only how small the inside drain systems are, but also how decrepit they’ve become. Clogged with assorted trash and grime build up, it became increasingly apparent that something needs to change not only in the context of a flood; but even more so for the average down pour. This article talked about preventative flood damage measures by using new technology to clog tunnels and fence off water from pouring down MTA entrances; yet this hearkening comment “climate change will bring ever more severe and frequent storms” make me feel like some of these measures aren’t built to last. Like the L train renovation project; I feel as if the MTA should look into fixing some of the established infrastructure that exists; starting with the drain system. Because its great to have preventative measures for a disastrous flood; but it isn’t functional if people struggle to use the MTA when heavy rain puddle and eventually entrances.

Ed Hawkins, “bar code charts” portrays a progression in simplistic infographic design. Typically academic charts and graphs aren’t made easy for the public to analyze; and any small dips or rises are often skimmed over. This simple variation of a bar chart relinquishes this issue and allows for seamless and quick analysis of temperature change. People can notice drastic changes in a more consistent manner; and cross referencing charts would validate any problematic issues previous charts mightn’t have made clear. Hawkins charts blatantly show that climate change is not a distant, abstract threat, but an urgent matter and has developed a more publicly accessible visual and system to garner wider awareness of this matter.

 

 

The composting center was an invaluable experience detailing the benefits of such a simple to implement process. The more I learnt about the composting process and center, the more angry I became knowing how “sustainable” the newschool portrays itself to be, yet doesn’t actually have any composting process in its facilities. It was also upsetting to see how passionate the workers were about sustainability, yet how little funding and care their facility had been given. It was said their facility will be renovated in the year 2020, however I could also sense the disdain in the workers voice as they said this, as they’d obviously been promised a renovation in the past. Their collection box is a sad visual representation of the whole center. A functional facility with good intentions, yet no financial care. I feel like funding is necessary to organize and refine the composting system as it seemed much of the facility showcased old experiments and small demos for schools and tour groups. Although their facility and system functions just fine. I know for sure with the right funding, the composting turn around would increase exponentially; the system would be more organized and the visual aesthetic of the compound could appear more inviting and less of an abandoned junk yard or garbage dump; intern drawing more visitors/food donations.

Flooded airport runways have always been a concern of mine. My father lives in Hong Kong which airport runway is situated right by the water. Whenever i’d land, especially during typhoon season, i questioned how practical the runways position was. It didn’t seem to make sense to build an airport by the water in a city where typhoons frequent and can often become quite disastrous. There were times when my flight was delayed, I was stuck in the air for an allotted amount of time, or even my flight was cancelled, due to typhoon conditions around the airport. Although as stated in the article, many of these airport runways weren’t designed with global warming in mind. You’d think that the architects designing these airports would have the fore-site and knowledge of the environment they’re building on and around. Especially since Hong Kongs airport was built so recently (1998) It’s not like typhoons and water caused disasters only became relevant after the airport was built; they’ve always existed and caused issues; so why not design with the ever changing planet in mind? It seems like these issues are only getting worse.

This article was an interesting read as “heat days” had become a national phenomenon back when I lived in Melbourne, Australia.
Going to an all boys private school, I was required to wear a stringent school uniform. So when our parents were notified that we were
allowed to attend the school week, in tank tops and board shorts; I was one of the first to celebrate. Little did I know, how hot our school would actually get. Our school is over 150 years old, so much of the infrastructure is heritage listed… this means many of my classrooms didn’t have air conditioning. This would pose an issue when temperatures would reach over 40 degrees (104 degrees Fahrenheit) as kids started to faint, metal structures began to crack and collapse due to temperature expansions and my state had limited water supply due to an ongoing drought. It became too hot to even stay at school wearing minimal clothing, so to our parents relief, school was cancelled the week that followed until further notice (until the heat wave subsided). That week off school was the best; non stop swimming and icy poles. Heat waves are great when you have nothing to do but float in a pool donut… It actually became so hot I climbed on my roof with a water bottle as to not burn my timid feet and fried an egg. However, let it be known, to my dismay, my mother was not impressed…