Design and the Environment

Design and the Environment

I chose to do my Media Review on Design and the Environment because the last lesson that we learned in class really stood out to me on this subject. I wanted to look more into this because we are destroying our world and not even know how much we are damaging it. I feel alot of this needs to be brought to attention and there is something everyone can do to help better our environment.

This video shared why we need ecodesign. It showed pictures proving to how wasteful we our to the environment and some statistics of the problems we created. It describes how ecodesign can put the pieces back together to help sustain a substantial future.

http://www.npd-solutions.com/dfe.html
This website gives guidelines and considerations for designing products and their manufacturing processes for minimum impact on the environment. It has a list of the three major elements of design for the environment which are design for environmental manufacturing, design for environmental packaging, and design for disposal and recycle-ability. Below each it shares considerations that we could do.

http://www.hermanmiller.com/About-Us/Environmental-Advocacy/Design-for-the-Environment

This website's article is titled Design for the Environment. The companies long-term emphasis is on product durability, innovation, and quality demonstrates that the company has effectively designed for the environment. This article explains their focus on maintaining high standards while incorporating increasingly more environmentally sustainable materials, features, and manufacturing processes into new product designs.

http://www.newhouseofart.com/modern-house-design-the-shelter-of-wood-for-better-environment/

This explains a modern house design that stems from the economic and social situation of our city. It explains the model and shows some ways how it can be respectful for the environment. Here are a list of few ways it can help:

• Being has a greenhouse during the winter the ambient temperature rises during the summer and cooled front.
• The dining room has a double facade that allows winter sunlight in summer and keeps the cool facade.
• All bedrooms contain a Trombe wall, composed of reused plastic bottles full of water that accumulate heat during the day and throw it into the environment during the night.
• The umbrellas provide an efficient mobile shade in summer and allow sunlight to pass the winter.

 http://dianhasan.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/philips-designs-a-better-stove-that-saves-both-lives-and-the-environment/

This site shows how Philips designs a stove that saves both lives and the environment. The Chulha Stove is a low smoke biomass stove that traps smoke and heat inside a locally cast housing in such a way as to heat two pot-holes with a high rate of efficiency to require less fuel. It directs the smoke through a chimney chamber that includes a stack of slotted clay tablets that capture particulates as the smoke moves through, cleaning the exhaust before it ever leaves the assembly. The Chulha’s chimney also provides for indoor access for cleaning, eliminating the need to climb on the roof for chimney cleaning which leads to accidents such as toxicity of the smoke.Philips offers the design for free so that the stove can be made locally in clay casting.

Reading Reflection

In the book Cradle to Cradle the idea of how harmful we are to our environment was brought up. This caught my attention because it never occurred to me how much we are destroying it. It also came to a shock to me to know that recycling doesn't have a huge affect. Also, the amount of harmful chemicals in products used today. I feel that this should be brought to attention because like me, I was not aware of how bad our environment is doing and it makes me question if we can even fix it. I am not sure if we damaged it to the point where it is going to be too difficult to fix. I still think that it should be brought to attention because I feel there is still a lot we could do or avoid to better the environment.

Course Reflection

In class we watched a documentary on copyright infringement. The video was about Girl Talk and how he used pieces of artists songs and remixed them to make his own. The argument was whether or not he was stealing it and guilty of copyright infringement. The movie also brought up a lot of the history behind it with Walt Disney productions which was a shock to me how strict they are. One thing that was ridiculous to me was about the copying of mickey mouse at the child daycare. I feel that Girl Talk was stealing the music but shouldn't be considered guilty of copyright infringement. I feel it needs to be more lenient when it comes to remixes like this. Otherwise I really enjoyed watching this documentary, it was very interesting and entertaining.

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50 Things

Trip to the grocery store

1.       Stop at the valentine card section

2.       Pick through to find the most ridiculous card

3.       Choose the one that sings “you’re a cutie pie” over and over

4.       Pick up some milk

5.       Make sure it has the latest expiration date

6.       Continue shopping for soups and peanut butter

7.       Realize I am in the organic aisle

8.       Put items back because they are too expensive

9.       Stop in the chip section

10.   Try to resist because I love Doritos and they are on sale

11.   Put the Doritos back because I don’t need them

12.   See that there is a deal for Triscuits

13.   Pick up ten dollars worth of Triscuits

14.   Realize I’m an idiot for spending that much

15.   Still get the Triscuits because I love them

16.   Find a deal for soup

17.   Pick out 8 of my favorite soups

18.   The deal was 6 for 10

19.   Try to find tape

20.   Not just tape, heavy duty tape

21.   My parking pass came off my car and I need a way to stick it from the inside

22.   I grab duck tape

23.   Think how I am going to put this on my car without it looking ghetto

24.   Go to the frozen food aisle

25.   See that there is a deal for lean cuisines

26.   Grab 5 lean cuisines

27.   Realize I don’t even really like these but get them anyways

28.   Pass through the pizza and hot pocket section

29.   Refrain from getting anything bad for me

30.   Realize the amount of candy and chips equal out to eating bad foods anyway

31.   Pick up some bananas

32.   Pick the batch with the most bananas

33.   They are green but I figure they were ripen after sitting in my room

34.   Put back some of the frozen food items because my mini fridge can’t hold it all

35.   Grab some lettuce because I kid myself into thinking I can eat healthy

36.   Grab something chocolate

37.   Chocolate covered raisins seemed like a better choice than M&Ms

38.   Always need a chocolate fix after a meal

39.   Realize I can’t get my favorite juice because of fridge space

40.   My favorite juice is Welch’s White Grape Peach Juice

41.   Go to check out

42.   After I see the large amount of items, I estimate a total of $50

43.   When it is done ringing up, I see that I was wrong

44.   My total was over $80

45.   I was confused and looked at my receipt

46.   Was told I needed to get an advantage card to receive discounts

47.   I can still get the money I lost if I get an advantage card now and return receipt

48.   It was midnight so the customer service was closed

49.   Planned to go back the next day

50.   It’s been over a week and I have yet to get one

Reading Reflection

In the introduction of Cradle to Cradle, it talked about the hazardous and harmful things we surround ourselves with. It was shocking to me to know that there are so many things that we design that are harmful to the environment that I would otherwise never see as bad. It’s a shocker to me the large amount of designs that end up a waste. Later in the introduction, steps and methods were given to improve the corruption. Nature is known as the first designer and if we design better methods we could better the environment. I agreed with McDonough with his thought on how if we designed with completely positive intentions we could lead toward a new industrial revolution.

Course Reflection

This week in class we learned about color. I am currently in an art class where we are painting and mixing colors so I found the lecture to be useful. Also the lecture on environmental design was interesting to know the different ways to better the environment. The video on the waterbottle that filters any kind of water to make it purified was very shocking to me and could be extremely useful. I was also touched by the baby incubator  sleeping bag. It could be extremely useful to those unfortunate people in poor countries that don't have the money. It could save many lives.