1) In preparation for next week, read about what New York City (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and Central Park looked like during the Pleistocene (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (the last Ice Age). Write a brief summary of the climate was like and this location’s history. Then conduct independent research on what New York might look like in 2050. Given what you have learned in this class and based on your research, what do you think New York’s climate will be like in 2050?
The Central Park is actually a glacial event park. Because NYC once was covered by ice sheet. When those ice or glacial melted, it transported rock, sand and sediment which is the city now and parts of Long Island, and New Jersey. All the rocks in Central Park are the evidence of that glacial time period. The bedrock was shaped and unmodified during the climate changing. According to this article, “They include striations (abrasion grooves that show the flow direction from northwest to southeast), glacial polish (caused when rock was buffed by sediment), chatter marks (gouges in bedrock made by glacier-dragged stones), and erratics (boulders stranded on bedrock by the glacier).”
I quite expect the new city of NYC in 2050. Because lots of the exciting program is under construction now, and more and more architect is making the resilience design on the top of the archives. The Big U will give the city part of beautification and part of storm protection. While I learned there is a program named LowLine will make those abandoned underground station into a green covered community park. And the main energy in NYC will be produced by the mega-campus by Cornell University which will make capacity to cover the NYC’s electricity even in disasters. In one word, the whole city will be a whole community where it provides more communication, beatification, and protection.
2) Read the following article, “Short Answers to Hard Questions About Climate Change” (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and write a response describing which question surprised you the most. What other, new information did you learn? Do you feel encouraged by this article? How aware do you think your friends and family are of this information?
I was quite surprised by the subtitle “Will anyone benefit from global warming?”. Because I never thought this respective in climate issue, but it does exist. The different angle can refresh the evaluation of one issue. But like there is no winner in one war, I don’t think any particular country can actually benefit from climate warming. Disruption of transport, energy supplies, and labor markets can make the global economy to be a catastrophe. Since it’s a global village nowadays, there would be no one can get rid of this chain to be the only benefited. This article makes it more clear that clime changing effects everywhere in every possible way. It’s more than how to do protection of flood, but also the ocean acidification and polar melting which can cause the whole food-chain change. Once it happened, it’s hard to solve one single question, but a whole system of livings is threatened. I feel encouraged and educated by this article to do more for our planet and also share that information with people around. I asked some of my friends. I find most people are always aware of the environmental issues. 3 of my friends have shopping bags. And one of my friends who visited me last week from Europe said he was surprised by how much we use plastic bags in daily life. He hopes the enterprises and retailers can encourage people to use less plastic products.
3 Research and read an introduction to the Sixth Extinction (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. then visit artist Maya Lin’s project: What’s Missing: whatismissing.net (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. After reviewing the “About page” on this site, what are one species that you learned about on this site that has gone extinct? What did you learn on the “what you can do” page? What do you think of this site — as an artist’s project?
I learned the Oysters in New York is now nearly extinct. And because of the hurricane Sandy, tons of plants have flowed into waterways in the city and exposes sewage pollution issues. All the pollution is run off all over. On “what you can do” page, I find the consumption part is quite interesting. Buying the non-toxic products in cosmetics is not only good for our own skin but also a big deal for the planet. In the lipstick, sunscreen, shampoo and even toothpaste, there are lots of chemicals and toxins which can cause cancer and disrupt the water system. And same goes with the home products. All those toxic chemicals are literally wrapping us. It reminds me of the article about “microfiber plastic”. I think this site is quite successful as an artists’ project. The “galaxy” map leads people to located places and learn the environmental issues in an interesting and engaging way. It provides the solutions and tells people why we need to do that. All in all, it leaves a strong statement with the answer of “why”, “what”, “how”.
