Do you mean world changing? Because that's due this week. I have a weekly statement on the other Oct. 26. 2010 blog post.
NonViolent Revolution p460
While growing up I heard about Gandhi and Rosa Parks. I was told how they fought back peacefully but I didn’t understand how fighting peacefully worked. When a superhero spots a villain, the idea of not moving from one spot despite blows has ever occurred to me as a way to defeat a villain; however, life isn’t like a comic book I guess. Life is about changing and by using nonviolence, the protestor is changing the mind of the viewer instead of beating them to a bloody pulp. Also, by changing the views of others, more peaceful leaders will more likely be directed leader. That was something that came to a surprise to me. What really shocked me was the two minute stop. People would completely stop what they where doing in a street and stand still for two minutes. This nonviolent protest was used by the Danes to protest against the Nazis. I have seen videos of people doing this in streets before and even Ann Arbor had a two minute stop in a street before. So it makes me wonder if this protest has been adapted by popular culture as a type of humor or if people are still using this strategy to protest. Lastly, the more gutsy nonviolent protest was when a deaf translator signed on national television about the next presidential election. Some how, the results of the presidential election got construed and she was supposed to sign that a different man had been elected president. Instead, she signed to deaf watchers while on national television that the president was actually someone else. She went on with the regular translations for the rest of the show. This seemed incredibly gutsy to me just because it seems like if a presidential election was going to be fixed then someone would be watching the translator. I couldn’t believe that she managed to get away with telling the truth on television with out getting shot. I guess that says something about how I see the truth being rarely told on television networks such as fox.
reaction to Alejandro Cartegena's work.... Alejandro Cartagena was born in the Dominican Republic in 1977. Today he lives in Mexico and mainly through photography he works to educate himself and the world about environmental issues in Latin America. At the same time, he uses this goal of awareness to seep into his past history and engage the concept of promoting what has previously happened to what is occurring now in both literal and concrete ways. He is both an artist and a teacher in that the work he does is aseptically pleasing and beautiful in its craft but there is a deeper meaning to his work similar to a lesson that could be taught in a classroom. This conceptual visual approach to what he wants to show the world is quite successful. It is literal, in that he is actual showing the world through images what he wants them to see but this is definitely extremely effective because it is far from abstract. Yet, at the same time it is not too much in your face because it is gently hidden as being categorized as an art piece. He has won many awards for what he has done and has been widely published which shows how much what he does is appreciated therefore it must be working as well-clearly he is reaching out to a large audience and with this positive reaction people must be paying attention to him. His projects are very continual and all connect to one another to create a timeline that furthermore connects his past and the worlds past to now-which gives the message that everything you do is not unnoticed; all actions have a reaction. -brynn kurlan
While reading the introduction and fall of Culture Jam, one of the passages managed to stick out in my mind. The passage was referring to the lack of connection within today’s families and how technology and work is now what triggers human satisfaction. I understand that this generalization cannot apply to all modern day families but the passage stuck out to me because I believe that I respond in the exact opposite manner.
On a daily basis at college I have been faced with huge amounts of stress and sleep deprivation and some days I can feel that there is simply no “light” about me. On days like these though, I find that often times I can recover my glow and happiness from even a short conversation with one of my family members. Something about a familiar and caring voice manages to put me at ease without fail and it helps me to smile on even the worst days. I know that sometimes I use movies and television to relax but a relaxation method and a method to find my inner light are very different processes in my opinion. In my experience, I have found that an inner glow does not come from Internet and television but rather from being loved. I am consistently happier when I am around the people I love whether they are friends or family. If there is anything/anyone that I can use as a crutch when I am feeling down, it is the people that love me. When I remember that there is someone beside me who cares about me and is supporting me, not only can I get through moments of overwhelming stress but I can again recover the glow that this books refers to from various forms of technology.
Although I realize that there are families and people like this, I feel it is pessimistic to assume that this is the way most modern day human act.
Fresh off reading Culture Jam, the chapter on branding immediately caught my attention. It is not necessarily the worst thing to never consider the role branding plays in our lives, as that is the goal for it to remain subtle and somewhat subliminal. However, I am happy to report that with an increasingly cynical eye attuned to the consumerism-based world we live in, it is becoming impossible to remain ignorant of the way in which we as consumers are prepped and predisposed (controlled, essentially) to do certain things. Because there are endless options facing consumers today, brands are the company tool to be chosen. It certainly seems a bit contrived that this alone influences the sale of Nike nine times out of ten when its competitor is most likely no different and no worse. But decisions must be made, and this is how that is going to happen. The issue arises, however, when “attractive brand identities too often veil companies’ corrupt or unjust behavior” (393). There is a limit to the amount consumers can be played and lied to. A prime example of this manipulation is the Cotton “The Fabric of Our Lives” campaign. Aside from the cheesy commercials that are instantly suspiciously scheming, one has to consider why cotton even needs branding. It is not owned by a single entity and it is an integral material in society so why advertise? The reason is that the cotton industry is the “number-one user of pesticides of any agricultural-crop industry in the world” (396). The fact is, the cotton commercials are not doing what they seem, promoting a product—because we would all buy it anyway—instead they are preemptively distracting us from the truth. And this led to the rise in the antibranding movement, which clearly has not altogether removed brands from the market, but alternatively utilized branding to expose a dishonest corporation. Now with increased public awareness, many companies have been made transparent and for a large number of consumers the Nike swoosh reads extremely negatively, marking a company to stay away from, evoking thoughts of horrific treatment of foreign labor. As a result, the industry has changed. It is possible to create a brand that connects to its customers not by turning them into obedient inferiors who seek happiness in products, but by empowering them as co-creators in establishing positive identities that fall in line with responsible corporate principles. Branding can be used not only to sell desire, but to create mental models for change. (393) As companies Muji and Blackspot do, many businesses are now going logo-less. Standing for simple, quality products with nothing shiny to distract from that, they have been extremely well received. It is a relief not to be a walking advertisement and feel that our purchase choices are constantly artificially constructed.
This week in World Changing I chose to write about the article "Consuming Responsibly." Simply from reading the title you probably think that this article is just going to lecture about why it’s important to not over spend money and buy too much unnecessary items. Well you are correct, but that is not all they do in this article. As many of us already know, buying less stuff is obviously makes good green sense, however many of people can relate to the fact that we all like to have nice and new things, whether it be for ourselves or for our homes. Smart consumption does not always have to do with buying fewer things, but figuring out who makes the best available products and where they can be found. That also means doing some research in being able to identify deceptive marketing. This article is basically telling us that we do have the power to wise up about the goods we consume, and that it can make a difference without us completely giving up the things we enjoy. I think that this article is very important because, in today’s society it really is all about the things we own. That they are always going to have to be new clothes or new household items. I think that this information is a good way to get people to help themselves and the environment, without actually gives up a normal routine.
I chose the article "Urban Transportation" (262) for this week's assignment. Mass transportation is something that I feel very strongly about, as I think that lessening society's dependence, in any way, on solo transportation (cars) will greatly reduce the environmental impact associated with the production, transport, and combustion of these vehicles.
I really like the idea of raising the price of parking within large cities to discourage people from driving their own personal vehicles around town. That way, it also lessens congestion for emergency vehicles, and is just safer for all city-dwellers. I also thought that Bus rapid Transit is something that should be implemented on a much larger scale in the US. Being able to transport large groups of people over paralleled existing roads at high speeds is the picture of efficiency. People will want to use a service that is known for being convenient and easy to figure out. Thus, if the bus service deals with roads that passengers are familiar with, the benefits are substantial.
For this week’s world changing article, Movement Building on page 412. This article addressed some of history’s most radical and faced paced movements across the world. The first of these influential movements discussed was The Abolition Movement. This movement was faced with changing something that was widely accepted for hundreds of years: slavery. When this movement began with a few passionate people and influential trials, no one knew that such an ancient practice could be turned over so quickly but in fact it took just over 50 years from its birth to the emancipation of 800,000 slaves. This article also went on to discuss the apartheid in South Africa and using tools to influence social change. Although I found this entire article very interesting there was one message that really made me optimistic for our future.
The most influential message of this article in my opinion was that all you need to start a revolution is a few passionate people willing to spread the word and continue to persist no matter what they face. People spend their lives having opinions but many do nothing to change the norms that they disagree with. Society has led us to believe that in fact we cannot make a difference when we most certainly can if we have the passion and drive. The examples in this excerpt are perfect motivators to those who have this passion and want to make a difference. They show that the unthinkable can happen, even if it starts with only a few people voicing their opinions and trying to make the change. Passion is contagious and although everyone may not agree with you, at least you can open his or her eyes to other views. Quoting the Beatles, “You say you want a revolution. Well, you know we all want to change the world,” and now I believe that I can.
This week for my world changing response I read Educating Girls and Empowering Women. The main point of this article is that we need to change the structure of development to include women, empower them and secure their rights. The most important step in doing this is to make sure all girls are being educated. In 1990 a world conference was held, including 155 different countries to agree on making schooling available for all children. Unfortunately still to this day there is a gender barrier in schools. A major problem with educating girls is that it goes against government regulations. One technique to try to get parents to send their girls to school is the World Food Program. They supply one meal a day to students which encourages parents that do not have all the resources to feed their families. I was really shocked to find out that girls write suicide letters to their principals in Turkey just to show how badly they want to go to school. The fact that many countries still believe that women should stay home and do house related work and take care of the children instead of becoming educated is mind blowing to me. I was pleased to read that there is a growing amount of women’s self-help groups being formed. I thought it was interesting that one specific group sought out other ways to become educated. They invite women that do have careers, such as a lawyer and discuss topics related to the speaker. If enough women can from these groups and find ways to educate themselves maybe some of the countries that suffer will become stronger.
As consumers become more aware on the importance of “going green” I thought it would be interesting to see how “Green Marketing” works. The article focuses of three companies; they are Electrolux, Phillips, and Toyota. What was interesting about the article was how companies put more emphasis on other characteristics of the product rather than how environmentally friendly they were. In the second introductory paragraph, the World Changing book talks about how many companies have been reluctant to promote their environmental good deeds or environmental improvement in their product because they lack perfection and will lead to criticism and “green-washing.” It was good that companies have set standards on how a “green” product should be. In fact these environmentally friendly products can even improve the level of quality. Going green also does not necessarily mean that companies need to compromise their products. The Toyota Prius is a good example of this. The Prius looks and feels like a “conventional” car and it do not require consumers to change their habits to use this car. In addition this car is very environmentally friendly and consumes less gas. What was great about this car was customers such as actress, Cameron Diaz, talking about her Prius in the Tonight Show, which was “gold” for the markets and the Prius’s “cool” level. Even with these great benefits of saving the environment, people have trouble labeling certain products as “green” because it was not perfect. That being said, sometimes other benefits such as longevity of the product overshadow the “environmentally friendly” product. This was the case with Philips, even with a great CFL (compact fluorescent light) light bulb product, because Americans do not really care about the quality of light they receive and that not many of the bulbs fit many American light fixtures, the product wasn’t popular. “Eco-friendly” also was not on the top of people’s list, but longevity was, and so Philips went back and designed an eco-friendly product with a long life.
After reading Culture Jam, I wanted to see what Worldchanging had to say about consumption. Worldchanging acknowledges that in today’s consumer society, it may be a little too hopeful to think that readers will be able to drop their buying habits and start consuming less. Instead, it suggests that we as consumers make smarter choices through research. Knowledge is power! If I look at the situation from this point of view, only we are to blame for the harm that we bring upon ourselves with the toxins and pollutants in so many of today’s products. Although deceptive marketing may try to seduce us with their brand-new items, we should be smarter than that and look for the real information ourselves.
American Apparel was used as a prime example of a sweatshop-free clothing label. This is interesting to me because many of my friends and I were attracted to American Apparel because of its style, not its labor practices. Aside from labor practices, however, the clothing material also makes a big difference on its impact on the environment. While a normal cotton T-shirt uses one-third of a pound of pesticides and fertilizers, organic cotton shits do not use any of the pesticides. This means no chemicals, which means better health for field workers and a quality product for yourself! There are also fabrics made from wood- beech wood and bamboo to be specific- that make for fabric textures that are incredibly soft, breathable, and versatile.
These environment-friendly products don’t always have to mean ugly and expensive. The Method Home brand produces cleaning products that are biodegradable, nontoxic, and aesthetically pleasing! This told me that design could really help change the world through products from environment-conscious product lines such as Method Home.
World Changing: Conserving Water This week I decided to read about conserving water in the World Changing book. They had a few key points and small things we could do to save energy, water, and pay less on our water bill. One of the things that they suggested was a low-flow water fixture. I always thought that a low flow shower head just sprayed out less water, with less strength. I’ve always had a low-flow shower head at my house so I never knew the difference. Which there isn’t since they use air and push it through the shower head at the same time as the water. This way it appears that your getting the same amount of water but less is coming out at one time. Another interesting way of saving water was the recycling shower. I had never heard of a recycling shower before, and at first it sounded gross because I thought it would be our reused dirty bath water, but it is filtered and then sent back warmed and sprayed out a second time. I think this is a very helpful way to save water. You can also buy a low flow toilet system, which the book says has improved in the past few years, but I had one two years ago in the dorm I used to live in, and it would over flow even if you just put two sheets of toilet paper down it because it wasn’t strong enough. The ones in the art school seem to work fine, so maybe they really did fix it quickly. Lastly this chapter talked about the rehouse/bath project. In this project the water we used would be sent to water plants around the house. After the plants are fed the water over flows making it so you have to clean up puddles. This seems less effective since a lot of people would then just end up buying new floors if they warped, which in the end would use more energy then if we were to just take longer showers. Maybe there is another way to visually understand how much water you are using with out over flowing plants with water.
I read two passages from World Changing that gave me two different perspectives on the photo posted to this week’s blog post (the colored housing with no plants), ‘The Bright Green City’ and ‘Retrofitting the Suburbs.’ It took a few seconds to realize what was strange about the photo, and it turned out to be the lack of greenery in the neighborhood. One would think that an area with vibrantly colored houses would be attractive, but it takes more than that to create a beautiful neighborhood. One view is that this is a representation of what a suburb is. Take away the green lawns, annual flowers lining the front porch, backyards with a few majestic oak or maple trees, and you see what the suburb actually is. It is a development. ‘The Bright Green City’ explains why a suburb is not a sustainable way to live. It is a manufactured landscape, made to look like we are living near or in nature, at least compared to a city that looks like a concrete palace. But it is only a façade, as the area was most likely a forest for people living in Midwest suburbs that has been clear-cut for development or it was agricultural fields. Building on greenfields is the worst as it is removing an ecosystem and replacing it with sprawling houses that change the local environment. Such building styles are completely avoidable. Many near-city suburbs and even downtown areas are left vacant as wealthier families prefer to live further away from the city, closer to ‘nature,’ which is in fact an artificial environment. I can change this trend my making sure I live in an area that has already been settled, such as a city or pre-developed suburb that has medium to high density housing, so as not contributing to sprawling suburbs that take over previous natural areas. I can also see the photo from another perspective, as a deserted area in a once vibrant suburb that took a turn for the worst. ‘Retrofitting the Suburbs’ discusses this exact problem. As suburbs grow older and people move out, so do many stores, leaving behind vacant strip malls and bog box stores. These lots are generally left empty. Many new ideas have come up on how to revive these large empty lots, and many have been turned into development complexes with more streets and even a school. It is important to reuse these places and possibly turn them into city centers, rather than increase suburban sprawl by developing green areas outside of the city.
In this section, the author describes a shirt being designed by the company Cutie Circuits. This shirt, called, “The Hug Shirt,” is designed to allow you to feel the sensation of being given a hug by a loved one. This hugging sensation is triggered by a heart beat or body temperature of someone on the other end of the phone. There are sensors embedded in the shirt that pick up these signals. Though the article doesn’t directly state that this is an amazing innovation, it’s fairly obvious through the use of its descriptive words that the Hug Shirt is a pretty awesome thing. I found this funny because I had just finished reading the first part of Culture Jam who’s author talks about how human beings have become so disconnected with nature and overly connected with the Internet, electronics, and the media. Lasn, the author, would absolutely tear the Hug Shirt apart. The fact that it imitates the real warmth and feel of a hug would upset him greatly. This is exactly the opposite message that he is trying to share with society. Another subject that was brought up in World Changing, as well as Culture Jam, had to do with being protected from overstimulation. We are constantly being bombarded, though we do not realize it, with sounds especially in an urban setting. These sounds have gotten profusely worse for the human ear as technology has advanced over the years. Miki Yui and Felix Hahn finally came up with the idea of wearing devices embedded in clothing that emit subtle sounds which are suppose to run together with the sounds heard around oneself when walking through an urban city.
Alright so I decided to read this time in world changing about producer responsibility (pg 118). Mostly because of the image that cuts the section in half. For those that don’t know what it is do this mental exercise. Take and remember any one of the scenes from the film “manufactured landscapes” involving Chinese workers sifting and breaking apart electronic waste. There you go. You now have the same image I am currently looking at. Basically the sections overall idea was that it would be a great idea if manufactures also had to deal with the end life of the objects they produce. They noted that Germany has done this with their automobile companies and that in the end caused the companies to come up with creative ways to turn junked cars into something profitable again. It was kind of interesting but of course they never said what the cars got recycled into. Ah well. Another interesting part in this section was on easy to take apart phones. Apparently it’s easier to just shred them then take them apart as it stands. Who knew right? I mean it’s not like they are designed to survive falling from a distance. Anyway the sarcasm aside, it’s cool how they are designing the phones to pop apart in two seconds when hit by a laser. Maybe this will encourage other ways of dealing with other electronic waste like computers and TVs. I guess time will tell.
For my World Changing article I read Educating Girls and Empowering Women. Women’s rights especially those surrounding women in developing countries, has been a topic I have always wanted to learn more about. This article discussed the ways in which the educational gap between genders can be breached and the programs that have begun to do so. For instance, there are several programs that offer monetary incentives to parents for allowing their girls to attend school instead of keeping them at home doing chores and helping the family in other ways. Another way to keep girls in school for longer is by setting up free food programs at the schools that would decrease the burden on the family. The importance of educating women was stressed because of the effects it would have on birth rates as well as on the self-confidence of the women being educated. In addition to the focus on education, the article also illustrated how places where women feel comfortable and secure such as at the hairdresser can be utilized for connecting domestic abuse victims to programs that can help. This seemed a very effective method for introducing ideas in an existing setting where a woman already feels safe and this feeling of safety can be extended even further. The World Changing articles have been very helpful for me to see how problem-solving methods can be implemented successfully. Although, this class has made the issues our world is facing very real to me it is reassuring to know that changes are being made and solutions are being found.
Today in lecture it was like watching a story about humanity evolving into robots. I was incredibly moved by the depiction of the Bangladesh laborers working with oil in just t shirts and jeans as well as being barefoot. It was very suprising to see these people just commit to these jobs without recognizing the hazards of working in such fields and areas. I was a bit dazzled to see how quick the Chinese woman assembled the contraption. It was incredible to watch her performance because she had gotten so use to do that same job. I could never see myself piecing together something with that many compartments to it. Although the overall perspective of the piece involved technological challenges and a few ideas that help form the idea of a particular landscape, I was far more interested in the lifestyle of a human being. It seems as if these people are forced to complete these tasks in order to live well. It also seem like their more of a democracy and that nothing intriguing can present itself to those workers because they were focused on what the company sought as being important. The Chinese workers that were breaking down metal seemed much happier than the workers in the yellow jackets and I thought that to be very essential to performing because if they can enjoy what they do, then the problem that their facing, to some extent, be replaced with joy.
With regards to the article on public transportation, I do agree with the fact that public transportation is necessary, especially for those who cannot afford a car of their own. While it is important to provide those who are less fortunate with public transportation, and this also cuts back on carbon emissions, since each of the people on the public transportation. I do strongly disagree with the idea of raising the cost of parking in cities and attempting to discourage those who can afford their own car from buying one. Especially since I am a citizen of the state of Michigan, I realize that car sales are very important to our state, and also to the country. As we can see, during the period when the auto industry was in danger of going bankrupt, the country went into a deep recession. Although it would be nice to make higher standards on the automobiles, which are produced in the United States, we must still have individual people buying cars. For many people who live in the suburbs, owning a car is absolutely essential, since the work place is many miles away. In a city setting there is definitely a need for public transportation, but at the same time, I do not see any problem with individuals owning their own cars if they are financially able to do so. In the event that a person who lives in a city needs to get somewhere during the time that public transportation is not running, or in the event of an emergency, it would be very helpful to own your own car. I also believe that by raising prices for parking and discouraging individual citizens from owning their own car is somewhat communist. The government should not be telling citizens what they should or should not be buying, as long as it is a domestic product.
This week I actually moved from the Worldchanging book to explore the online contributions that Worldchanging.com is providing readers with through consistently posted articles and news. One that caught my eyes was "Newspaper Wood: From Tree to Paper to Wood". This article talked about a new kind of product being designed in the Netherlands by design company vij5. This product, called Kranthout, "newspaper wood" in Dutch, is exactly what its name implies. It is "wood" that is made from recycled newspaper through a process that rolls them through machines to be made into tabloid-sized logs that can then be used just as normal wood would be used. In other words, these recycled logs can be "milled into planks, drilled, and sanded". It's interesting where technology and imagination can take us once we begin to consider taken-for-granted processes in more creative ways. Who would have thought that we could move backward from paper back to wood? This sort of design really brightens my outlook on our future, because it tells me that we are capable of creating not just aesthetically pleasing design, but design that is actually functional in a meaningful way that has the potential to change the world. Even more impressive is that this design company has already thought out the end of this product's life and has incorporated it into the making of the Kranthout. The glue that binds these newspapers together was selected for "its ability to be separated from the paper in an eventual recycling process." With cheap and sustainable production methods and an environment-friendly effect all the way to the end of its life cycle, this product is a step forward in fixing our planet.
Do you mean world changing? Because that's due this week. I have a weekly statement on the other Oct. 26. 2010 blog post.
ReplyDeleteNonViolent Revolution p460
While growing up I heard about Gandhi and Rosa Parks. I was told how they fought back peacefully but I didn’t understand how fighting peacefully worked. When a superhero spots a villain, the idea of not moving from one spot despite blows has ever occurred to me as a way to defeat a villain; however, life isn’t like a comic book I guess. Life is about changing and by using nonviolence, the protestor is changing the mind of the viewer instead of beating them to a bloody pulp. Also, by changing the views of others, more peaceful leaders will more likely be directed leader. That was something that came to a surprise to me.
What really shocked me was the two minute stop. People would completely stop what they where doing in a street and stand still for two minutes. This nonviolent protest was used by the Danes to protest against the Nazis. I have seen videos of people doing this in streets before and even Ann Arbor had a two minute stop in a street before. So it makes me wonder if this protest has been adapted by popular culture as a type of humor or if people are still using this strategy to protest.
Lastly, the more gutsy nonviolent protest was when a deaf translator signed on national television about the next presidential election. Some how, the results of the presidential election got construed and she was supposed to sign that a different man had been elected president. Instead, she signed to deaf watchers while on national television that the president was actually someone else. She went on with the regular translations for the rest of the show. This seemed incredibly gutsy to me just because it seems like if a presidential election was going to be fixed then someone would be watching the translator. I couldn’t believe that she managed to get away with telling the truth on television with out getting shot. I guess that says something about how I see the truth being rarely told on television networks such as fox.
reaction to Alejandro Cartegena's work....
ReplyDeleteAlejandro Cartagena was born in the Dominican Republic in 1977. Today he lives in Mexico and mainly through photography he works to educate himself and the world about environmental issues in Latin America. At the same time, he uses this goal of awareness to seep into his past history and engage the concept of promoting what has previously happened to what is occurring now in both literal and concrete ways. He is both an artist and a teacher in that the work he does is aseptically pleasing and beautiful in its craft but there is a deeper meaning to his work similar to a lesson that could be taught in a classroom.
This conceptual visual approach to what he wants to show the world is quite successful. It is literal, in that he is actual showing the world through images what he wants them to see but this is definitely extremely effective because it is far from abstract. Yet, at the same time it is not too much in your face because it is gently hidden as being categorized as an art piece. He has won many awards for what he has done and has been widely published which shows how much what he does is appreciated therefore it must be working as well-clearly he is reaching out to a large audience and with this positive reaction people must be paying attention to him.
His projects are very continual and all connect to one another to create a timeline that furthermore connects his past and the worlds past to now-which gives the message that everything you do is not unnoticed; all actions have a reaction.
-brynn kurlan
While reading the introduction and fall of Culture Jam, one of the passages managed to stick out in my mind. The passage was referring to the lack of connection within today’s families and how technology and work is now what triggers human satisfaction. I understand that this generalization cannot apply to all modern day families but the passage stuck out to me because I believe that I respond in the exact opposite manner.
ReplyDeleteOn a daily basis at college I have been faced with huge amounts of stress and sleep deprivation and some days I can feel that there is simply no “light” about me. On days like these though, I find that often times I can recover my glow and happiness from even a short conversation with one of my family members. Something about a familiar and caring voice manages to put me at ease without fail and it helps me to smile on even the worst days. I know that sometimes I use movies and television to relax but a relaxation method and a method to find my inner light are very different processes in my opinion. In my experience, I have found that an inner glow does not come from Internet and television but rather from being loved. I am consistently happier when I am around the people I love whether they are friends or family. If there is anything/anyone that I can use as a crutch when I am feeling down, it is the people that love me. When I remember that there is someone beside me who cares about me and is supporting me, not only can I get through moments of overwhelming stress but I can again recover the glow that this books refers to from various forms of technology.
Although I realize that there are families and people like this, I feel it is pessimistic to assume that this is the way most modern day human act.
Brands, page 393-397
ReplyDeleteFresh off reading Culture Jam, the chapter on branding immediately caught my attention. It is not necessarily the worst thing to never consider the role branding plays in our lives, as that is the goal for it to remain subtle and somewhat subliminal. However, I am happy to report that with an increasingly cynical eye attuned to the consumerism-based world we live in, it is becoming impossible to remain ignorant of the way in which we as consumers are prepped and predisposed (controlled, essentially) to do certain things.
Because there are endless options facing consumers today, brands are the company tool to be chosen. It certainly seems a bit contrived that this alone influences the sale of Nike nine times out of ten when its competitor is most likely no different and no worse. But decisions must be made, and this is how that is going to happen. The issue arises, however, when “attractive brand identities too often veil companies’ corrupt or unjust behavior” (393). There is a limit to the amount consumers can be played and lied to. A prime example of this manipulation is the Cotton “The Fabric of Our Lives” campaign. Aside from the cheesy commercials that are instantly suspiciously scheming, one has to consider why cotton even needs branding. It is not owned by a single entity and it is an integral material in society so why advertise? The reason is that the cotton industry is the “number-one user of pesticides of any agricultural-crop industry in the world” (396). The fact is, the cotton commercials are not doing what they seem, promoting a product—because we would all buy it anyway—instead they are preemptively distracting us from the truth. And this led to the rise in the antibranding movement, which clearly has not altogether removed brands from the market, but alternatively utilized branding to expose a dishonest corporation. Now with increased public awareness, many companies have been made transparent and for a large number of consumers the Nike swoosh reads extremely negatively, marking a company to stay away from, evoking thoughts of horrific treatment of foreign labor.
As a result, the industry has changed.
It is possible to create a brand that connects to its customers not by turning them into obedient inferiors who seek happiness in products, but by empowering them as co-creators in establishing positive identities that fall in line with responsible corporate principles. Branding can be used not only to sell desire, but to create mental models for change. (393)
As companies Muji and Blackspot do, many businesses are now going logo-less. Standing for simple, quality products with nothing shiny to distract from that, they have been extremely well received. It is a relief not to be a walking advertisement and feel that our purchase choices are constantly artificially constructed.
This week in World Changing I chose to write about the article "Consuming Responsibly." Simply from reading the title you probably think that this article is just going to lecture about why it’s important to not over spend money and buy too much unnecessary items. Well you are correct, but that is not all they do in this article. As many of us already know, buying less stuff is obviously makes good green sense, however many of people can relate to the fact that we all like to have nice and new things, whether it be for ourselves or for our homes. Smart consumption does not always have to do with buying fewer things, but figuring out who makes the best available products and where they can be found. That also means doing some research in being able to identify deceptive marketing. This article is basically telling us that we do have the power to wise up about the goods we consume, and that it can make a difference without us completely giving up the things we enjoy. I think that this article is very important because, in today’s society it really is all about the things we own. That they are always going to have to be new clothes or new household items. I think that this information is a good way to get people to help themselves and the environment, without actually gives up a normal routine.
ReplyDeleteI am posting my World Changing response here:
ReplyDeleteI chose the article "Urban Transportation" (262) for this week's assignment. Mass transportation is something that I feel very strongly about, as I think that lessening society's dependence, in any way, on solo transportation (cars) will greatly reduce the environmental impact associated with the production, transport, and combustion of these vehicles.
I really like the idea of raising the price of parking within large cities to discourage people from driving their own personal vehicles around town. That way, it also lessens congestion for emergency vehicles, and is just safer for all city-dwellers. I also thought that Bus rapid Transit is something that should be implemented on a much larger scale in the US. Being able to transport large groups of people over paralleled existing roads at high speeds is the picture of efficiency. People will want to use a service that is known for being convenient and easy to figure out. Thus, if the bus service deals with roads that passengers are familiar with, the benefits are substantial.
Both of my posts for this week are in this set.
ReplyDeleteFor this week’s world changing article, Movement Building on page 412. This article addressed some of history’s most radical and faced paced movements across the world. The first of these influential movements discussed was The Abolition Movement. This movement was faced with changing something that was widely accepted for hundreds of years: slavery. When this movement began with a few passionate people and influential trials, no one knew that such an ancient practice could be turned over so quickly but in fact it took just over 50 years from its birth to the emancipation of 800,000 slaves. This article also went on to discuss the apartheid in South Africa and using tools to influence social change. Although I found this entire article very interesting there was one message that really made me optimistic for our future.
The most influential message of this article in my opinion was that all you need to start a revolution is a few passionate people willing to spread the word and continue to persist no matter what they face. People spend their lives having opinions but many do nothing to change the norms that they disagree with. Society has led us to believe that in fact we cannot make a difference when we most certainly can if we have the passion and drive. The examples in this excerpt are perfect motivators to those who have this passion and want to make a difference. They show that the unthinkable can happen, even if it starts with only a few people voicing their opinions and trying to make the change. Passion is contagious and although everyone may not agree with you, at least you can open his or her eyes to other views. Quoting the Beatles, “You say you want a revolution. Well, you know we all want to change the world,” and now I believe that I can.
This week for my world changing response I read Educating Girls and Empowering Women. The main point of this article is that we need to change the structure of development to include women, empower them and secure their rights. The most important step in doing this is to make sure all girls are being educated. In 1990 a world conference was held, including 155 different countries to agree on making schooling available for all children. Unfortunately still to this day there is a gender barrier in schools. A major problem with educating girls is that it goes against government regulations. One technique to try to get parents to send their girls to school is the World Food Program. They supply one meal a day to students which encourages parents that do not have all the resources to feed their families. I was really shocked to find out that girls write suicide letters to their principals in Turkey just to show how badly they want to go to school. The fact that many countries still believe that women should stay home and do house related work and take care of the children instead of becoming educated is mind blowing to me. I was pleased to read that there is a growing amount of women’s self-help groups being formed. I thought it was interesting that one specific group sought out other ways to become educated. They invite women that do have careers, such as a lawyer and discuss topics related to the speaker. If enough women can from these groups and find ways to educate themselves maybe some of the countries that suffer will become stronger.
ReplyDeleteWorld Changing Statement
ReplyDeleteGreen Marketing
Pg. 389
As consumers become more aware on the importance of “going green” I thought it would be interesting to see how “Green Marketing” works. The article focuses of three companies; they are Electrolux, Phillips, and Toyota. What was interesting about the article was how companies put more emphasis on other characteristics of the product rather than how environmentally friendly they were.
In the second introductory paragraph, the World Changing book talks about how many companies have been reluctant to promote their environmental good deeds or environmental improvement in their product because they lack perfection and will lead to criticism and “green-washing.” It was good that companies have set standards on how a “green” product should be. In fact these environmentally friendly products can even improve the level of quality.
Going green also does not necessarily mean that companies need to compromise their products. The Toyota Prius is a good example of this. The Prius looks and feels like a “conventional” car and it do not require consumers to change their habits to use this car. In addition this car is very environmentally friendly and consumes less gas. What was great about this car was customers such as actress, Cameron Diaz, talking about her Prius in the Tonight Show, which was “gold” for the markets and the Prius’s “cool” level.
Even with these great benefits of saving the environment, people have trouble labeling certain products as “green” because it was not perfect. That being said, sometimes other benefits such as longevity of the product overshadow the “environmentally friendly” product. This was the case with Philips, even with a great CFL (compact fluorescent light) light bulb product, because Americans do not really care about the quality of light they receive and that not many of the bulbs fit many American light fixtures, the product wasn’t popular. “Eco-friendly” also was not on the top of people’s list, but longevity was, and so Philips went back and designed an eco-friendly product with a long life.
Response to “Consuming Responsibly” (p.35-38)
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Culture Jam, I wanted to see what Worldchanging had to say about consumption. Worldchanging acknowledges that in today’s consumer society, it may be a little too hopeful to think that readers will be able to drop their buying habits and start consuming less. Instead, it suggests that we as consumers make smarter choices through research. Knowledge is power! If I look at the situation from this point of view, only we are to blame for the harm that we bring upon ourselves with the toxins and pollutants in so many of today’s products. Although deceptive marketing may try to seduce us with their brand-new items, we should be smarter than that and look for the real information ourselves.
American Apparel was used as a prime example of a sweatshop-free clothing label. This is interesting to me because many of my friends and I were attracted to American Apparel because of its style, not its labor practices. Aside from labor practices, however, the clothing material also makes a big difference on its impact on the environment. While a normal cotton T-shirt uses one-third of a pound of pesticides and fertilizers, organic cotton shits do not use any of the pesticides. This means no chemicals, which means better health for field workers and a quality product for yourself! There are also fabrics made from wood- beech wood and bamboo to be specific- that make for fabric textures that are incredibly soft, breathable, and versatile.
These environment-friendly products don’t always have to mean ugly and expensive. The Method Home brand produces cleaning products that are biodegradable, nontoxic, and aesthetically pleasing! This told me that design could really help change the world through products from environment-conscious product lines such as Method Home.
World Changing: Conserving Water
ReplyDeleteThis week I decided to read about conserving water in the World Changing book. They had a few key points and small things we could do to save energy, water, and pay less on our water bill. One of the things that they suggested was a low-flow water fixture. I always thought that a low flow shower head just sprayed out less water, with less strength. I’ve always had a low-flow shower head at my house so I never knew the difference. Which there isn’t since they use air and push it through the shower head at the same time as the water. This way it appears that your getting the same amount of water but less is coming out at one time. Another interesting way of saving water was the recycling shower. I had never heard of a recycling shower before, and at first it sounded gross because I thought it would be our reused dirty bath water, but it is filtered and then sent back warmed and sprayed out a second time. I think this is a very helpful way to save water. You can also buy a low flow toilet system, which the book says has improved in the past few years, but I had one two years ago in the dorm I used to live in, and it would over flow even if you just put two sheets of toilet paper down it because it wasn’t strong enough. The ones in the art school seem to work fine, so maybe they really did fix it quickly. Lastly this chapter talked about the rehouse/bath project. In this project the water we used would be sent to water plants around the house. After the plants are fed the water over flows making it so you have to clean up puddles. This seems less effective since a lot of people would then just end up buying new floors if they warped, which in the end would use more energy then if we were to just take longer showers. Maybe there is another way to visually understand how much water you are using with out over flowing plants with water.
I read two passages from World Changing that gave me two different perspectives on the photo posted to this week’s blog post (the colored housing with no plants), ‘The Bright Green City’ and ‘Retrofitting the Suburbs.’ It took a few seconds to realize what was strange about the photo, and it turned out to be the lack of greenery in the neighborhood. One would think that an area with vibrantly colored houses would be attractive, but it takes more than that to create a beautiful neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteOne view is that this is a representation of what a suburb is. Take away the green lawns, annual flowers lining the front porch, backyards with a few majestic oak or maple trees, and you see what the suburb actually is. It is a development. ‘The Bright Green City’ explains why a suburb is not a sustainable way to live. It is a manufactured landscape, made to look like we are living near or in nature, at least compared to a city that looks like a concrete palace. But it is only a façade, as the area was most likely a forest for people living in Midwest suburbs that has been clear-cut for development or it was agricultural fields. Building on greenfields is the worst as it is removing an ecosystem and replacing it with sprawling houses that change the local environment. Such building styles are completely avoidable. Many near-city suburbs and even downtown areas are left vacant as wealthier families prefer to live further away from the city, closer to ‘nature,’ which is in fact an artificial environment. I can change this trend my making sure I live in an area that has already been settled, such as a city or pre-developed suburb that has medium to high density housing, so as not contributing to sprawling suburbs that take over previous natural areas.
I can also see the photo from another perspective, as a deserted area in a once vibrant suburb that took a turn for the worst. ‘Retrofitting the Suburbs’ discusses this exact problem. As suburbs grow older and people move out, so do many stores, leaving behind vacant strip malls and bog box stores. These lots are generally left empty. Many new ideas have come up on how to revive these large empty lots, and many have been turned into development complexes with more streets and even a school. It is important to reuse these places and possibly turn them into city centers, rather than increase suburban sprawl by developing green areas outside of the city.
Art Meets Technology:
ReplyDeleteIn this section, the author describes a shirt being designed by the company Cutie Circuits. This shirt, called, “The Hug Shirt,” is designed to allow you to feel the sensation of being given a hug by a loved one. This hugging sensation is triggered by a heart beat or body temperature of someone on the other end of the phone. There are sensors embedded in the shirt that pick up these signals. Though the article doesn’t directly state that this is an amazing innovation, it’s fairly obvious through the use of its descriptive words that the Hug Shirt is a pretty awesome thing. I found this funny because I had just finished reading the first part of Culture Jam who’s author talks about how human beings have become so disconnected with nature and overly connected with the Internet, electronics, and the media. Lasn, the author, would absolutely tear the Hug Shirt apart. The fact that it imitates the real warmth and feel of a hug would upset him greatly. This is exactly the opposite message that he is trying to share with society.
Another subject that was brought up in World Changing, as well as Culture Jam, had to do with being protected from overstimulation. We are constantly being bombarded, though we do not realize it, with sounds especially in an urban setting. These sounds have gotten profusely worse for the human ear as technology has advanced over the years. Miki Yui and Felix Hahn finally came up with the idea of wearing devices embedded in clothing that emit subtle sounds which are suppose to run together with the sounds heard around oneself when walking through an urban city.
Alright so I decided to read this time in world changing about producer responsibility (pg 118). Mostly because of the image that cuts the section in half. For those that don’t know what it is do this mental exercise. Take and remember any one of the scenes from the film “manufactured landscapes” involving Chinese workers sifting and breaking apart electronic waste. There you go. You now have the same image I am currently looking at. Basically the sections overall idea was that it would be a great idea if manufactures also had to deal with the end life of the objects they produce. They noted that Germany has done this with their automobile companies and that in the end caused the companies to come up with creative ways to turn junked cars into something profitable again. It was kind of interesting but of course they never said what the cars got recycled into. Ah well. Another interesting part in this section was on easy to take apart phones. Apparently it’s easier to just shred them then take them apart as it stands. Who knew right? I mean it’s not like they are designed to survive falling from a distance. Anyway the sarcasm aside, it’s cool how they are designing the phones to pop apart in two seconds when hit by a laser. Maybe this will encourage other ways of dealing with other electronic waste like computers and TVs. I guess time will tell.
ReplyDeleteFor my World Changing article I read Educating Girls and Empowering Women. Women’s rights especially those surrounding women in developing countries, has been a topic I have always wanted to learn more about. This article discussed the ways in which the educational gap between genders can be breached and the programs that have begun to do so. For instance, there are several programs that offer monetary incentives to parents for allowing their girls to attend school instead of keeping them at home doing chores and helping the family in other ways. Another way to keep girls in school for longer is by setting up free food programs at the schools that would decrease the burden on the family. The importance of educating women was stressed because of the effects it would have on birth rates as well as on the self-confidence of the women being educated. In addition to the focus on education, the article also illustrated how places where women feel comfortable and secure such as at the hairdresser can be utilized for connecting domestic abuse victims to programs that can help. This seemed a very effective method for introducing ideas in an existing setting where a woman already feels safe and this feeling of safety can be extended even further. The World Changing articles have been very helpful for me to see how problem-solving methods can be implemented successfully. Although, this class has made the issues our world is facing very real to me it is reassuring to know that changes are being made and solutions are being found.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteToday in lecture it was like watching a story
ReplyDeleteabout humanity evolving into robots. I was incredibly moved
by the depiction of the Bangladesh laborers working with oil
in just t shirts and jeans as well as being barefoot. It was very suprising to see these people just commit to these jobs without recognizing the
hazards of working in such fields and areas. I was a bit dazzled to see how quick the Chinese woman assembled the contraption. It was incredible to watch her performance because she had gotten so use to do that same job. I could never see myself piecing together something with that many compartments to it. Although the overall perspective of the piece involved technological challenges and a few ideas that help form the idea of a particular landscape, I was far more interested in the lifestyle of a human being. It seems as if these people are forced to complete these tasks in order to live well. It also seem like their more of a democracy and that nothing intriguing can present itself to those workers because they were focused on what the company sought as being important. The Chinese workers that were breaking down metal seemed much happier than the workers in the yellow jackets and I thought that to be very essential to performing because if they can enjoy what they do, then the problem that their facing, to some extent, be replaced with joy.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the article on public transportation, I do agree with the fact that public transportation is necessary, especially for those who cannot afford a car of their own. While it is important to provide those who are less fortunate with public transportation, and this also cuts back on carbon emissions, since each of the people on the public transportation. I do strongly disagree with the idea of raising the cost of parking in cities and attempting to discourage those who can afford their own car from buying one. Especially since I am a citizen of the state of Michigan, I realize that car sales are very important to our state, and also to the country. As we can see, during the period when the auto industry was in danger of going bankrupt, the country went into a deep recession. Although it would be nice to make higher standards on the automobiles, which are produced in the United States, we must still have individual people buying cars. For many people who live in the suburbs, owning a car is absolutely essential, since the work place is many miles away. In a city setting there is definitely a need for public transportation, but at the same time, I do not see any problem with individuals owning their own cars if they are financially able to do so. In the event that a person who lives in a city needs to get somewhere during the time that public transportation is not running, or in the event of an emergency, it would be very helpful to own your own car. I also believe that by raising prices for parking and discouraging individual citizens from owning their own car is somewhat communist. The government should not be telling citizens what they should or should not be buying, as long as it is a domestic product.
ReplyDeleteThis week I actually moved from the Worldchanging book to explore the online contributions that Worldchanging.com is providing readers with through consistently posted articles and news. One that caught my eyes was "Newspaper Wood: From Tree to Paper to Wood". This article talked about a new kind of product being designed in the Netherlands by design company vij5. This product, called Kranthout, "newspaper wood" in Dutch, is exactly what its name implies. It is "wood" that is made from recycled newspaper through a process that rolls them through machines to be made into tabloid-sized logs that can then be used just as normal wood would be used. In other words, these recycled logs can be "milled into planks, drilled, and sanded". It's interesting where technology and imagination can take us once we begin to consider taken-for-granted processes in more creative ways. Who would have thought that we could move backward from paper back to wood? This sort of design really brightens my outlook on our future, because it tells me that we are capable of creating not just aesthetically pleasing design, but design that is actually functional in a meaningful way that has the potential to change the world. Even more impressive is that this design company has already thought out the end of this product's life and has incorporated it into the making of the Kranthout. The glue that binds these newspapers together was selected for "its ability to be separated from the paper in an eventual recycling process." With cheap and sustainable production methods and an environment-friendly effect all the way to the end of its life cycle, this product is a step forward in fixing our planet.
ReplyDelete