COMPLEX SYSTEMS THINKING

  • Posted on: May 16, 2015
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Read the following article, “Everything that’s in your iPhone”. What surprised you most about this article? What are some of the locations involved in the process of making a phone (list three)? What are some of the materials (list three)? What are the effects of these materials on humans, air and water systems?

Please visit Parsons’ Healthy Materials Lab 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: Do you use any of these materials commonly in your work or personal life? Will you change your behavior as a result of watching these videos? Why do you think so many chemicals exist in contemporary designs?

 

Why China’s Pollution Could Be Behind Our Cold, Snowy Winters , NPR MARCH 08, 2015

 

china

coal

300+ million year old coal from Kayford Mountain, West Virginia (Kanawha Coal Field). Approximately 67% of The New School’s energy was supplied by fossil fuels in 2011.

 

coal_jonathan

36 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the planetary system each year

system

Humans are materially embedded (and have evolved as a species) within a vast, complex system. We can’t opt-out easily — “there is no outside” of the planetary system.

Jamie Kruse is an artist, designer and part-time faculty at Parsons School for Design. In 2005 she co-founded smudge, (smudgestudio.org) with Elizabeth Ellsworth, based in Brooklyn, NY. She is the author of Friends of the Pleistocene: fopnews.wordpress.com.

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