It was a pleasure meeting you today! Welcome to your final Art & Design Perspectives course and our discussion section.
This week and last we have been introduced to various technological and environmental issues, such as our current population, dwindling natural resources, our carbon impact on the environment (rising CO2 levels) and the carbon footprints we leave, lack of sustainability in our current global systems (e.g. "closing the loop" of consumer goods), and the overall North American hyper consumer culture. In addition, a lot of great points were brought up by Derrick Jensen in the article "Beyond Hope" (here)... that being said, what are you still thinking about?
This is an open space for your first weekly statement.
(Image: Man-made "trees" The Getty Museum)
First Weekly Statement
ReplyDeleteJim Christian
9/15/09
Today, at the Art School’s yearly barbeque, Ashley walked up to me and said “so you are really into the business side of things, aren’t you?” My first reaction was “No, not really.” See, I’ve always considered myself to exist somewhere in the world of physical design – somewhere within Art and Engineering. I’ve always thought that business exists on the other end of the college spectrum.
And that’s where I realized it was a silly assumption. My years here at the University of Michigan have essentially been defined by my attempt to break the boundaries between Art and Engineering. Why would the boundaries between Art and Business be any different? In conclusion: I guess I am pretty interested in business, or at least I can be when the topic requires it. Something about what I said in class today suggested that I was interested in business, so something about our topic got me thinking about it.
In fact, a lot of ADP III thus far has been about business. How do we work as artists in today’s environment, which seems to be a result of our economy? Our world looks like it does because our economic model has pushed us there. Like Trumpey talked about yesterday – currently we have a linear system: Material Extraction, Material Processing, Manufacturing, Use, and Waste Management. This is our economy. We are currently parasites. Now, the question we are trying to answer is difficult. It will take the work of Artists, Engineers, Businesspeople, and everyone else to figure it out. Can we close this loop? Can we stop being parasites?
So, my interest lies in this question. How do we close the loop? Before we get into the how, though, lets start with the “why?”. Why do we want to close the loop? So that we stop taking material and leaving garbage. Closing this loop would cause both waste management and material extraction to turn into one process of recycling. The result: Recycling, Processing, Manufacturing, Use, and then Recycling again. This would result in a bunch of closed loops all over the world, all for different materials and goods. On the good side, this solves our problem of taking materials and leaving trash, but it creates another problem. It doesn’t leave room for advancement and innovation. It suggests that once we create these loops, we stick with them. A shirt is a shirt, and then it is recycled into a new shirt. I think there is a better solution.
What if we turned this loop into a spiral? Instead of closing the loop, we make it a spiral that moves forward with time. This would allow for invention and innovation. Now, I know I am just talking about the visual shape of this system, but I believe that a diagram can provide a lot of insight into a new process. This spiral suggests moving forward but living within our means nonetheless. If we feel that we need to use less, we let the spiral taper inward. If we feel that we can use more – or say we find another planet to live on, we can let the spiral expand ever so slightly. Also, keep in mind that a shirt can be a shirt, then become a jacket, and then a tablecloth, and then a canvas bag. This system allows for progression.
Another thing to consider in this new spiral is the advancement in recycling techniques. Recycling will essentially become a business just as big as, if not bigger than, the manufacturing business. This doesn’t seem too unrealistic, since material extraction will get expensive with less supply and higher demand. We will stop pouring money into building giant oil rigs, and start pouring money into figuring out how to turn a plastic wrapper into a winter jacket. It is possible at an atomic level. Now we need to make it possible at an economic level.
While I feel that this diagram deserves a lot more time and attention, I feel that this is a good start to brainstorming the design of a new material system. Whether it be in the form of a research paper or a physical project – to be continued.
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ReplyDeleteSamantha Levy
ReplyDeleteWeekly Response 1
For this week, the most interesting part of lecture (for me) was the results of our quiz, and the conclusion that our generation does not have a connection with the natural part of our world. Why is it that a child can identify logo after logo and we sophomores in college cannot classify a leaf? Self-admittedly, I was embarrassed. I also felt like I should have known more about where my trash goes and where my food and water come from. Even when I received the observation assignment, I panicked; a three-page paper about a plant restricting any mention of money, health, politics or agriculture? It seems that I have a lot to learn.
Starting this semester, I want to reconnect with nature. In my American Culture class, Museums and the Pacific, we are learning about how past societies wanted to build museums to improve the “inner-self” of the degenerating citizens, even comparing their importance to hygiene (Bennett 17-18). Although this is not exactly the same as a museum, I think connecting back to nature could have a similar effect. Perhaps spending more time outside and learning about my environment could be a positive step in improving myself. If everyone tried to spend more time getting to know more about what goes on outside of our human realm could it improve people themselves as well as the environment?
Besides the lecture, the writings of Aldo Leopold in Sand County Almanac made me more curious about how nature can better my life. It seemed that he got so much enjoyment out of doing things like watching the geese and examining the flora and fauna of his weekend home. ¬By living so closely with wildlife, Leopold also paid more attention to effects of humans on the landscape. This is another important reason that I want to reestablish my bond with the environment; I want to know what we are doing wrong so I can learn how to fix it. Also, becoming more familiar with my surroundings will also force me to feel the impacts of pollution, etc. more directly.
I want (not hope!) my curiosity to foster a new lifestyle or at least a new hobby of spending more time learning about the natural world and exploring it first hand. I also want to learn more about how I can reduce my impact on the environment and preserve it for future generations.
ARTICLE REFERRED TO:
Bennett, Tony. “The Formation of the Museum”. in The Birth of the Museum: History, Theory, Politics. London: Routledge, 1995, pp. 17-58, 246-248
Emily Maier
ReplyDeleteWriting Assignment One: Connections
I think it is interesting how many of my classes this semester are related to the environment, technology, and how the two are connected. It is really interesting to me to learn about the paths that we make and the imprints that we leave on the world. I think that having a greater understanding of these connections between our technologically advandced world and our environment will help us begin to fix the problems that we have created for ourselves in terms of global warming and other environmental issues.
I thought it was interesting when Professor Trumpey brought up the point about our waste and knowing where it goes. He used the example of our cell phones, something that most people use every day and end up getting rid of after two years of use. The path that he traced back to mines in Africa and how that was related to killing gorillas was very surprising to me. I think that this relates to other projects that we are doing in class, like the carbon footprint, and the new writing assignments. Once we understand where everything comes from and how we harvest and manufacture those materials we see how everything is related. Once those connections are made and understood we can see the problems more clearly and then begin to indentify the issues that need to be altered.
This relationship between technology and the environment is related to the ecosystem that Aldo Leopold dissuses in A Sand County Almanac. Leopold shows how everything is connceted to something else, and in a way depends on the surrounding plants and animals. Leopold discusses on page 27 how the oak tree will only be able to grow in certain conditions and there are many seeds that fail because squirrels eat the acorns. Other than the weather, the trees survival depends on the squirrels, rabbits, mice, and beetles. Everything is related, not only in the small ecosystems of a forest but more globally once people are technology are involved.
There are many species that depend on each other, for both life and death. These correlations are not ones that we would normally see. When we do not see the connections we may not realize that we are harming many more species when we decide to cut down a tree. Similarly we do not realize that we are aiding in the killing of gorillas when we buy our cell phones. The writing assignments that force us to trace back to the origins of our belongings and the backgrounds of our homes will be interesting and will teach us about the effects that we have on our world when we consume and with our everyday living. I am very curious to see the connections that I make once I do the research for these assignments.
Weekly Statement 1 – 9/19/09
ReplyDeleteOccasionally to skipping ahead to watch TV as a 7 year-old child, making breakfast would become a hasty chore. Regardless of my early morning rush I was careful with how I prepared my bowl of cereal. Milk was something that was considered very precious to my family and was given a small carton of it once day from the local milkman service. Since we lived in the mountains apart from the metropolitan city of Seoul it was harder to obtain perishables. Fortunately for us the small bakery across the street in another apartment complex was where we purchased large bottles of water because of how unclean the tap water was. My parents even refused to boil vegetables with it. American food was also not as easy to get with it taking about an hour drive to the American Military Base just to pick up groceries. Gas was expensive as was the small portion of milk in a Korean grocery store, but sometimes we went ahead and brought it there if the 10 lanes of Korean traffic was backed up according to the view from our living room window.
Milk was a luxurious part of my diet. At school I had more access to a carton of it than I did at home and during lunch I was considered a ‘celebrity’ to many of the Korean students because of how much they wanted to learn and be apart of American culture once they graduated for college. So their way of this self-exploration was delightfully offering a trade of their milk for my Fruit-by-the-Foot, Gushers, or a Peanut butter sandwich. I wasn’t so desperate for milk, but it often became a habit that extra food was packed in my lunchbox specifically meant for trading if I was in suddenly in the mood for a dairy treat.
Joe Trumpey’s last few lectures have reminded me of this specific story because after many years of growing up back in the United States I have forgotten to take care of what is considered precious. Milk is no longer a luxury to me because of how easy and very cheap it is. It’s that attitude that is the reason why resources that are actually considered precious like water is wasted every day. I hate to believe that the faucet is a magical device that gives you unlimited amounts of water where it will never run out, but I believe that because it is an easily accessible part of my life I forget that clean water will not be there forever. The phrase, “Poor design” by Professor Trumpey was the words that struck me the most. The examples of the process of recycling was an interesting discussion to me because I thought about the idea of how much a hassle it was to my family to get food when we lived in the mountains. Surrounding my apartment was run down complexes as well as hand built housing that looked as if the bakery was their own support. The water was terrible (Terrible that it was brown at sometimes, not all parts of Korea was like this however) but probably the only access to a consistent water supply for bathing, cooking, and drinking. It was possible that we were one of the very few with a car. So our options were not as limited. Even in America while it might be slightly easier to get water, the idea of getting food that is cheap and good for you is difficult for those at minimum wage. Yet another example of poor design. Food should not be difficult to obtain it should be easier, and especially food that is critical to our health. Calcium in milk is important to a growing child, which is why my parents couldn’t stress the dependency of our milkman. The mineral is also a main ingredient in many of our dishes. Life without milk was something my mother could not live with.
Living in America truly has spoiled me, but I feel very grateful for the easier access to these resources. I drink milk religiously because of how much I love it rather than it’s easy accessibility. I drink a carton of Soy Milk in just 4 days.
.Through out my life I have not been an outdoors type of person. I have never been camping, I couldn't tell you what poison ivy looks like, I have never had any interest in plants unless they are aesthetically pleasing to look at. My feelings about this class were very disconnected and for these first few weeks I have honestly not had much interest. However, after saying that, I must say that I believe I can learn a great deal from our readings and our lectures. Personally, I have liked this ADP much, much more than the other two and feel as though I'm actually learning something, and realizing how I as a human being can and do effect the earth.
ReplyDeleteIn this first reading of A Sand County Almanac, the author I feel is a bit bland when describing his surroundings, but when he begins to ask questions of individuals and of our society in general like prof Trumpey does in lecture, I become intrigued. There is a particular question in the book that struck me. On page 18, Aldo describes a meeting he has with an educated woman who exclaimed that she "had never seen or heard the geese that twice a year proclaim the revolving seasons to her well-insulated roof". Upon reading this one thinks how this is possible. I have grown up with geese walking around my yards since I was a little girl, and personally I feel as though it is hard to not notice them. However, It does spark a tone on our society. Have we grown so self-involved in learning and educating ourselves on anything but nature that we have completely disregarded our natural surroundings? We have technology that can do amazing and exciting things, and we are (supposedly) a brilliant species, yet we can't notice the obvious things that surround us everyday
Stephany Schafer
ReplyDeleteWeekly Response 1
The article “Beyond Hope” took me by surprise to be honest. I was expecting to have quite a few reality checks when the environmentalism book was thrown at us, but I did not actually believe the subject of hope would be brought to discussion. Now typically there are many who simply hope things will change when it comes to the environment, however there are few people who think about their environment on a day-to-day basis. This article did not really tell me anything about hope that I did not already believe.
Hope is merely a distraction, and if you simply hope things will change its likely they will not. I am quite in awe of this author; I had not thought someone other than myself had the guts to say things so bluntly and honestly. When he first stated that when it came to the environment we are all fucked, I laughed particularly hard because at the very beginning of class those were my thoughts exactly! So I was left wondering…how many other people have realized that hope is only a way of lying to yourself?
Upon further investigation, this is not the common view of the public, and most people still idly cling to ideals that hope will help things get better. Rather unfortunate, but as long as hope has religious ideals behind it many will still believe in it.
All in all I’d say that hope has no purpose for realistic goals, and most people should indeed forget about it. Action is what makes a difference, and only when people realize that and get off their asses to make change happen instead of hoping that it will, will things change.
After three lectures of this ADP course, there is one recurring image in my head. This image is that of the gorilla that Professor Trumpy showed us. When first shown the power point slide of the cell phone and the gorilla, I saw absolutely no connection. Once the correlation was made, I was stunned. One would never make this connection, or the average American probably has never even thought about the products and processes and efforts required to produce the objects we use every day, such as cell phones. Considering this insight to the gorillas, coltan and cell phone connection, I began looking and wondering how everything around me, man made in particular, came to be. I’m sure there are other consequences much like the gorilla hunting that are a result of some novelty item.
ReplyDeleteAnother mind opening fact I’ve learned because of this class was a result of calculating my carbon footprint. The average American’s carbon footprint is about 27 tons of CO2, which is significantly larger than the worldwide average which is around 5 tons of CO2 a year. This one comparison really drives home to point that Americans consume and use as if natural resources are in endless supply. It would be impossible for Americans to completely turn around and change their habits at this point, so sometimes all of these “green” efforts seem kind of pointless. Especially since a lot of the time, for example, recycling to make a notebook requires more energy than just making a brand new one, so what are we gaining there?
The most interesting part of A Sand County Almanac for me was when Leopold spoke about events that happened each year that the tree he was cutting down was alive. I liked how he broke it down and forced the reader to consider this lifespan and how it “experienced” or “withstood” so much history.
There is a lot I have yet to learn about the environment and am looking forward to the readings assigned for this course in order to broaden my horizons and hopefully in the end have begun practicing more “green” habits.
First week of ADP III give me a different impression from the other two ADP I’ve taken. Finally we start to learn something that’s practical, that’s around us. Beginning with a survey is quite shocking for me, especially when I realized how little I know about the environment around me. And how bad our situation is on this planet. Climate change, over population, pollution, all these are because of our activities and development of technology.
ReplyDeleteJensen’s article Beyond Hope is quite interesting. He doesn’t give a specific solution to solve all these environmental problems, but provides a different way to think. He asserts that the only way to make things better is to change our attitude--- give up hope and start to do the actual work. I don’t totally agree with Jensen’s idea. It is true that if we just sit there and wishing for miracles nothing will ever happen. However, if we just keep doing the work don’t think about anything else, it’s just going to be dull and tiring and we will lose our motivation soon, forget about the original reason why we are working. For me, hope is my motivation. It helps me to see what it will be in the future when I’m working and doing these things today. Sometimes look further gives me a brief sense of where I am going and how I’m going to get there. In the contrast, just by looking at the steps I’m taking under my feet is easy to get lost.
Work and hope, we can’t miss either one. However without hope we will lose our direction. Work with the hope we have, things will gets better as we work hard at this moment, I believe our work will not be worthless, but progressive, to make our planet a better place for everyone, for all the creatures on the earth.
Letao Zhang
Alexis Newton
ReplyDeleteWeekly Response #1
There were quite a few things that have caught my interest these first few ADP lectures, though the one thing that has stuck out the most thus far would have to be the mention about how many logos are recognizable compared to the amount of plants that are recognizable by children.
Perhaps it is most surprising to me because I realize that this is a truth about me as well.
When I walk out my door to go to class every morning, I pass logo after logo before I even reach the bus stop. Not to mention the hundreds of logos that can be found inside my house. It is crazy to think that the amount of species of plant life that I pass during this same route is way more than that of the logos I see, and yet I can only name a small fraction of this plant life.
The fact that I am very interested in graphic design and advertising design made this shocking information even more relavant to me and my artwork. The thought that I have the power to create something that has the potential to be more recognizable than the plants in one's own backyard was an amazing thought, and it also made me somewhat sad. For this reason, I am looking forward to taking this course and finding ways to use my atistic ability and passion for graphic design to raise awareness about those forgotten plants that surround us and influence our lives.
All of this made me think about what times when there were no corporate logos must have been like, and when plants were known and not taken for granted by almost everyone. I have not attepted my observation paper yet, but I realize that it is hard for me to imagine a completely untouched place in nature. Even nature trails that i have been on contain man-made trails of cement and wood, and signs with logos directing us where to go. My goal for this observation assignment is to try and find one of these untouched pieces of nature, where I can turn completely around and not see no obvious traces of human beings, aside from footprints in dirt or sand.
Since the lecture when we discussed our quiz results, I have noticed that I have been paying more attention to nature and the plant life around me. While sitting on the porch of my house, I looked around at how much of what I could see was man-made and taken over by concrete, brick, and metal. I then looked at the metal fence surrounding my house and thought of the idea of fencing in this patch of nature that we call our yard, and how though it is nature, we have still constructed and manipulated it to look how we want it to. I hope that throughout this course I continue to gain new ways of looking at things and thinking about things.
Kyla Suchy
ReplyDeleteWeekly Statement- Week 1
(9/21/09)
I was prepared for the book “A Sand Co¬unty Almanac” by Aldo Leopold to be dull and lengthy, however, I feel it has me feeling more mentally equipped for the paper we are to write about our time spent with a plant. At first I was curious and unsure of what things a plant can possibly inspire me to write about. Now I realize that every flower, tree, bird, etc. has a history; a story to tell in context to the rest of the world.
For example, Professor Trumpey spoke in some detail about corn today (9/21/09) in lecture. I had never put much thought into how corn was domesticated or who took the time to do so. I had assumed that corn was corn, as plants are plants. I now have that knowledge that the Mayans domesticated corn (maize) 7,000 years ago. They carefully picked out the most desirable seeds only to wait until the following year to plant them and try the process all over again. It really struck me in lecture because it brought me back to pages 19 and 20 in A Sand County Almanac. When I originally read it, I only understood that geese ate corn. Now the story is put into context with my new knowledge of corn. As us Americans have a preference for our highly domesticated, large kernelled, American grown corn: the geese of Wisconsin keep coming back to their prairie corn. The author questions whether it is for nutritional value or tradition, but is content with not knowing their whole story. I personally would not typically pay attention to the eating patterns of geese, but I am beginning to realize that everything is intertwined with one another. Had the Mayans 7,000 years ago gotten to the level we are now with our corn, then perhaps Aldo Leopold would have wrote something a little different about his friends the geese.
In conclusion, when I sit with my plant I know a few more places to look then the surface. Visually the plant may be either interesting or ordinary, however, I realize the real beauty lies in its history. I am honing my investigative skills to find out how to extract its story and how it falls into the context of my life.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI took a philosophy class last year that talked a lot about animal rights, factory farms, and the morality of eating meat. The treatment of the animals is so poor , cruel and unhealthy that I wish was ignorant of it while cooking a steak.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think most people aside from fast food businesses would prefer eating a grass fed piece of meat, especially if they knew the circumstances under which we were eating farm factory animals. Also I think the treatment of these animals is cruel enough on its own for the government to take action and illegalize it, but when you throw in all the environmental hazards and add everything up, it gives us more reason to outlaw factory farming.
The article is well written because every situation is considered. Health, business, the environment, and moral values are all brought up and the author gives every aspect of every situation, which is why the article is very convincing. I think it is well worth it to raise the price of meat a little to save ourselves from all the other hazards we have to go through, not to mention the animals and the environment.
Fifth Weekly Statement
ReplyDeleteJim Christian
10/14/09
The great thing about ADP III lecture is that no matter the topic, Joe always manages to get me thinking about the broader picture. In math class, I spend my time copying equations and wrapping my head around simple, meaningless, and seemingly irrelevant (most of the time they manage to become useful weeks later). In Physics, I spend my time desperately trying to understand how resistance and capacitance in electric circuits are related. In ADP III, I spend my time listening to stories and statistics about our environment as I frantically take notes on my individual thoughts on the topic. This is where the picture comes together. Joe gives us facts and stories, but they are presented in a way to be analyzed and immediately developed into something more.
The “something more” that I attempted to identify in class today goes as follows.
Joe was reviewing last lecture and talking about successful artists who have done interesting projects in their towns to improve the local environment. Many of these were based around the topic of irresponsible action – such as the lady who found concrete deposits in the river because construction companies would dump wherever was convenient. This irresponsible action immediately reminded me of Jensen’s Paradox – where he made coal production more efficient to improve the process, then instead we just went and used more coal. It also applies to more fuel-efficient vehicles – where we get more miles to our gallon, but then we buy more gallons to get more miles. All that happens here is we find a way to lower the cost so that we can have more. More More More.
Now, why don’t we just slow ourselves down a step? Why do we need to go farther? We don’t. The only reason we go farther is because we are given the tools to get there on our budget. And now, unfortunately, we need to get there, because our economy has slowly evolved to centralize businesses and spread franchises. Now, we can’t live without a car, because without a car, we can’t get to our job. Do you think people had a problem getting to their job before cars existed? No. Maybe they had a longer walk, but it was manageable, and they were in better shape because of it.
Now, I’m not saying that the car was a bad invention. All I’m saying is that in the excitement of rapidly advancing technology, we tend to lose sight of what is good for us. We get so excited about the new stuff we can acquire that we forget to stop and carefully analyze the situation. Do we need this? Will it harm the environment? Will it lead my lifestyle ultimately in a direction that I do not want to go?
The moral of the story is the first thing that Joe brought up in summarizing Monday’s lecture. Under the topic of Consumption: We should be cautious and informed consumers.