I am from Massachusetts, specifically a small town outside of Boston called Medfield. I live right near the Charles River, a major River that flows through Medfield and through many other towns and through Boston where it empties out into the Ocean. There are many other rivers that run through Massachusetts, like the Concord River, Assabet River, and Blackstone River as well as Reservoirs like the Wachasett Reservoir. The Charles River reminds me a lot like the Hudson River Greenway Water Trail because many use the river for recreational use, but also for natural and cultural resources and as a water source for the town. Many people go out on day trips where they kayak, canoe, and even fish on the river. There are not many overnight accommodations on the Charles River near where I am but there are hotels that are close to the river once you get closer into Boston, like in Cambridge and the heart of the city. Since the river is so long, this waterway can be for long distance travelers or day trips, since there are so many areas where you can rent and/or launch boats. For the Hudson River Greenway Water Trail, every 10 miles there are access points and every 15 miles there are excursions and attractions like historical sites, hiking trails, swamps, and many more interesting areas. Like the Hudson River Greenway Water Trail, there are many access points to the Charles River and interesting areas along it like parks, bridges, and gardens.

To get to my house, one has to drive over a bridge that is over the Charles River. When I was younger, this bridge/road was a dirt road. Since it was a dirt road and not paved, this means that it wasn’t very far from the water, it was quite close to the river although it was still considered a bridge. When there was heavy rain (not heavy enough to be considered an “extreme event,” but still heavy rain) for 24 hours or longer, the river would get very high and most times would flood the road. I remember many times having to take the long way to the center of town because the bridge was flooded. This flooding problem we had reminds me of what I was reading in “How to Think Like the Dutch In A Post Sandy World.” In this article, it is discussed that after Hurricane Sandy, designs were needed to try and prevent something like this from happening again. The Hudson River flooding during Hurricane Sandy put 80% of Hoboken, NJ underwater. Because of this, houses were raised on stilts, green roofs and more trees were planted (to soak up rainwater), barriers and pumps were put in, and parks were turned into water containment basins. The uses of pumps were and are used in my house for flooding prevention as well. Since our basement would flood if water rose so much, we have pumps that try and stop this from happening. The town had the road paved about 7 years ago and during this process, the bridge was raised up significantly. This has helped stop what use to be constant flooding. Now it is very rare that the bridge floods, it has only flooded once since then when there was an excessive amount of rainfall in a short amount of time, and with this it was not nearly as bad of a flooding as we had previously. Both in Hoboken and in my town, residence needed to create a way of living with the problems of flooding (and climate change in the case of Hoboken). By rebuilding areas of Hoboken and the bridge near my house, there needed to be thought of water and what to do to prevent flooding.

Interventions for Filthy City- New York City- Using Amory Lovins’ Design Approach:

1. The issue of housing was a large problem and still is today. There is limited space in the city and it was in demand so it was very expensive to rent a small apartment. This resulted in many immigrants living in a small area. The landlords were very wealthy and did not want to make improvements on the buildings for immigrant tenants. These areas became slums, the buildings were not kept up and became unsanitary since many landlords wouldn’t pay for plumbing or if there was plumbing, wouldn’t pay for sewers so the streets would be flooded and filthy. Body lice also became a problem in these areas because it was very crowded so the lice would crawl from person to person. A way to fix this is to have requirements for buildings and certain things that landlords must to in order to have a safe, healthy area for all tenants. Another way to intervene would be to have buildings that are affordable for immigrants and lower class tenants. This would help the problem of overcrowding in small areas and help end the spread of disease.

2. The issue of waste and polluting the harbor was a large problem and is still a large problem today. The Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant was created where there is now a system of cleaning water and separating large pieces of waste and then cleaning it to make it drinkable. This fixed the problem of needing a place for wastewater and somewhere to clean it. Many people were pouring straight waste into the New York harbor so the water became extremely polluted and still is today. A way to fix this problem would be to continue to try and clean up the water. This can be done by actively cleaning it, getting pollution out of the water that is there currently, and by the use of getting oysters back into the harbor. Oysters filter water so this will act as a natural way to clean the harbor. Another way to intervene would be to continue to make people aware of the harmful effects their pollution is having on the environment and encourage them to stop polluting.

3. The issue of safe food was a problem in New York City in the late 1800s, early 1900s and will continue to be a problem. Specifically the meat industry was a major problem. The process of making sausages was very gross but interesting: Butchers would use rotten pig heads, decaying hearts, or any parts of the animal (usually pig) that they still had and make sausage out of it as a way to use the meat rather than throw it out. Butchers would mash up the meat, add borax to kill some of the bacteria on the rotten meat (the meat would still make someone sick and potentially kill them if it was consumed) and therefore mask the awful smell somewhat. Red clothing dye would then be added to make the rotten, grey meat look like fresh, red meat. There were only 10 food inspectors in the late 1800s early 1900s. To fix this problem, the food safety department has many more food inspectors now and the grading system for a restaurant was created to show how clean and safe it is. There are flaws in this system still, like how if a restaurant gets a B rating, it could be very close to a C, and it could be worse than the consumer thinks. A way to keep food safely up in New York City would be to hire even more health inspectors and have more routine check ins at restaurants to ensure standards are being kept. Also restaurants should have to be rated before they are allowed to open to ensure safety.

4. The issue of pollution of cars is a large problem now in New York City and across the globe. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, electric cars were produced but they did not get very far so the Ford gas automobiles were chosen as the car of choice. The problem of automobiles and the emission they produce is an issue that Amory Lovins has talked about too. There is a need to revert to the initial idea of electric cars because of the intense pollution that cars we are now using are creating. This is one way to help fix the problem. Another way would be to encourage other modes of transportation like biking and walking, which does not produce any emission and pollution into the air.

Lost/Wasted Energy:

1. Automobiles- about 75% of energy produced is lost
2. When a stove is cooling down- the heat energy is being lost, not collected
3. Planes- co2 emission and like automobiles, a large amount of every produced is lost
4. Power plants- up to 75% of the energy in the fuel at the start of the process
5. Opening the fridge- loosing heat energy
6. Leaving chargers plugged in- when you are not charging a devise, leaving plugs in waste energy. it can also ruin your chargers!
7. Throwing away food- food that has gone bad is usually thrown away and wasted
8. Leaving tvs plugged in- when the tv is turned off, it is still using energy because it is plugged in
9. Leaving lights on- wastes energy when leaving lights on and not in the room

Ways of Recapturing Loss of Energy:

1. Build the perfect automobile that doesn’t lose energy! Or there can be a machine to extract the energy lost from the air and put it in a tank to then be used later on.
2. Creating machine that is connected to the stove top to collect the heat- some type of wire that will collect it and store energy in a tank under the sink. Then the tank can be hooked up to the house and possibly used for electricity.
3. Create machine to extract the energy lost from the air and put it in a tank to then be used later on.
4. Create machine to extract the energy lost from the air and put it in a tank to then be used later on.
5. Have a machine that can collect the energy when you open it. Or have a lever that realizes when the door open and it turns off the energy so no energy is lost. Food won’t go bad since the door is only opened for a very small period of time.
6. Create a devise that can be put on the end of the cord and it can collect and store the energy that would usually be lost- Then you can use the devise as a portable charger.
7. Use old food like fruits and vegetables for compost!
8. Have a device connected to the tv that stores the energy that would originally be lost.
9. Turn lights off! Have a device that will collect the energy if someone forgets to turn them off.

1) How this is or isn’t a Design for Resilience methodology:

I would argue that this does play into the Design for Resilience methodology. There is a whole page in this exert that shows ecodesign strategy examples, which includes how the products are eco friendly, like having low impact and what type of materials it is made out of if it is created using sustainable resources. This is an aspect of the Design for Resilience methodology because the examples shown are products where the designer is aware and conscious of the materials used and how the impact the environment. The Okala Impact Factors describe how certain materials and factors effect the environment. This does play into the Design for Resilience methodology because it is providing knowledge about materials and their impact. With this knowledge, designers can be more conscious and be more informed on how to design for resilience.

2) How the design of the document itself helps you to understand its content:

The design of the document itself helps me understand the content better because of the use of graphics in it. There are many different types of graphics present, like line graphs, bar graphs, charts and Venn diagrams. These tools present the information in a visual way that makes it more interesting and easier to understand than just written in black and white in a paragraph form. Especially the charts and graphs are very informative because this makes it easier and quicker to understand the raw data rather than reading the information in a paragraph form and having to decipher what is being said. The page that talks about environmental impact categories is designed really well to help understand the content. To explain the types of ecological damage, there is not only a written description; there is a photograph that visually represents the ecological damage. To be able to visually see what it is that the text is describing makes me understand the content better.