Sustainable Systems Final Project

This project had us look into ideas about what is wrong with our societies interactions with the environment and how to intervene in those issues. It forced us to take a look at impacts of a whole community along with our own personal foot steps. There was a outline to requirements but as a general the project was pretty open to interoperation which gave us all the opportunity to make it exactly what we wanted and to form it into something we all found personally compelling.

I didn’t have solidified initial ideas, this first step brought up the most challenges that I had to deal with throughout the project. I had trouble figuring out how I could come up with anything helpful. My thought processes was along the lines of how can I help or even come up with an idea, you’d think they would have done that before. So I really didn’t know how to place myself into this system until I had a conversation with someone over at NYC Audubon. Below is the interview I had.

New York City Audubon Mission Statement:

“New York City Audubon is a grassroots community that works for the protection of wild birds and habitat in the five boroughs, improving the quality of life for all New Yorkers.”

  1. Your site speaks about bird friendly architecture, I was curious what the key components are to create a building as such?

Windows: “Besides simply using designs with less glass, we can protect birds by using screens, shutters, and details that partly obscure glass while still providing a view, or by using two-dimensional patterns that birds perceive as actual barriers. However, birds have poor contrast sensitivity compared to humans: shapes at a distance merge into a blur at closer range for birds. This means that most signals that make glass safe for birds will probably be readily visible to people.” (Bird Friendly Building Design PDF, page 7) Kathryn sent me a PDF form talking all about environmentally friendly architecture. One of the main points highlighted is windows and how birds don’t have the depth perception humans due causing this to be very fatal.  

  1. What are your main techniques to making your vision and mission come to life?

Kathryn: “We have a big mission and a small staff.  Our conservation and science staff focus their work on Project Safe Flight, Waterbirds of NY Harbor, and then other conservation habitat issues including rodenticide, green roofs as habitats, advocacy for bird-safe buildings.  Education/Public program staff work to engage the public with our work through walks, classes, festivals, outreach, etc.  Marketing staff spread the word, Development staff raise funds to pay for it all.  We run a membership program as a vehicle for building a community of bird-focused conservationists.”

  1. What are the biggest challenges your organization faces with conservation?

Funding.  Public apathy.

 

  1. What are some of the organization’s main goals? What are some of the main successes thus far?

Kathryn’s link: http://www.nycaudubon.org/images/NYCA-Annual-Report-2016-web.pdf

The details of the PDF are as followed, “Like many New Yorkers, I’m from somewhere else. I grew up in Northern California, surrounded by nature. But after moving to a downtown apartment in New York City, I found myself looking for nature outside of the city, on vacations to places like national parks. On returning, I put my binoculars in the drawer until my next trip out of town. It was not until I moved uptown and discovered birding in Central Park that I realized the incredible nature we have within our city. It changed my life, and I wanted—like many who have uncovered something amazing—to find a way to share my revelation.” — Part of a message from the president that really resonated with me, because I as well grew up surrounded by nature in Denver.

  • The organization has expanded on the *D-Bird (*D-Bird provides us with an interactive map of bird collision data, helping us identify the most hazardous areas in New York City for birds. Reports submitted by the public through the desktop website, and the newly designed mobile-friendly version of the site pictured here, have increased 59% since 2014)  online bird injury which allows them to collect more data and lower mortality rates.
  • Launched a after school pilot program called Feathered Friends, teaching children about nature and showing them first hand experience.
  • Working towards showing the islands many visitors the wildlife and educating them on such.

The Concern:  “Millions of birds funnel through New York City during spring and fall migrations. As they look for places to rest and feed, they can become confused by the bright lights and transparent glass of our city’s buildings, resulting in collisions that kill hundreds of thousands of birds a year.” (page 5).

You could go on and on about their efforts with the PDF provided but I highlighted the key points. I think this is a great organization because people wouldn’t think of the wildlife when coming to NYC, most people assume that is saved for more rural areas. But as Their main goal has shown there are many birds especially those migrating through the seasons; their goal being to make sure they can keep morality rates low and educate companies and individuals on the impact.

From this I gained the knowledge and idea that I ended up settling with. What became clear in my work and important to me from this was my passion for nature. I say it all the time but coming from Colorado I really grew up surrounded by nature. I think that was the biggest thing this class taught me and my main motivator, sense moving to New York I realized how important my home is to me and how much it has shaped me and continues to do so. So my main goal was really to represent that idea into my final.

Written Statement about my final product:

Sustainable Systems Final Statement

To begin my project I had an extensive email chain conversation with some people over at NYC Audubon. An organization that deals with methods to help save birds habited in New York along with those that migrate over the giant city. Major concerns highlighted by the organization were architecture and waste. When developing ideas for my own project I landed more on the waste side I figured I would have more opportunity and insight on the specific topic, thus began my research into different products and their specific effect on the environment. From there I concluded a majority or more manageable waste put out into the world is from to go containers. Items such as coffee cups, plastic water bottles and bags, these items take years on years to decompose and with millions on billions produced each year our world doesn’t have the space or resources to contain all of it. This is where my idea sparked.

My idea started off with simply charging customers fifty cents for every five dollars of product taken to go. But what will that really change? From there I have drafted up two almost ad like designs for the outsides of plastic and/or paper bags along with one for coffee cups. Having the actual message on the containers you will be taking into your home really doesn’t offer much space for the consumer to ignore the message. Lastly to add on is a trash can that tells you exactly how long the items you are throwing away will take to decompose in landfills. This causes the consumer to be forced to face the realities of their waste. The idea isn’t to protect feelings, this is a major issue and if something isn’t reaching out in front of a person’s face nothing will change.

As an overall this processes of step by step personally worked out super well for me, I found that I was able to reflect on each step I was taking and make sure it was my best foot forward. It gave me the opportunity to continuously develop my ideas and alter and change them. In the end the product I had cam up with really represents my passions and concerns for the environment. I’ve always had a interest in environmental studies and this class really sparked that interest back up in me.

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