Senior Seminar @daisies666-blog - Tumblr Blog

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The clean bright white tiles here create a sterile image that is starkly different from the vibrant image of nature. They are clean and fresh but to an extent that is almost uncomfortable. Working on find a way to combine these tiles with a natural product to create a tense image.

#tiles #clean

Working with these doorstoppers. They are so unnecessary, yet almost every house has one. It shows how much more we need to compared to nature. The form and function of these things are certainly unique in their own way but they are also peculiar. The degree to which they can flex is also interesting and displays a lot of tension.

These longer plastic pipes can be used to connect the different plastic joints together. I really like the forms they can create. They are very rigid, smooth, artificial and cold. Would be interesting to combine these with very vivid and natural products.

#sticks #plastic

Interested in these plastic joints and the kind of framework they can create when being connected. Reflective a nature like network but is created with a very fake feeling material.

#fake #network

Notes/Comments on Plastics/Nature

Nature is constantly changing and these plastic sleeves are a way to preserve and disrupt the natural process. The disruption is extremely unnatural but nonetheless, is just like many other activities that humans partake in.

The sleeves also really elevate this image of nature. Just like it would elevate a rare baseball card.

#feedback #class

Is That A Plastic Bottle You're Drinking From?

This NY Times article focuses heavily on the BPA ,a chemical variant of estrogen, that is often used in many plastic and non plastic products. It really made me think about the toll our human made "products" can have on the environment and even ourselves.

These BPA contaminated products are on of the many "endocrine disruptors that appear to have adverse effects on the body’s hormone system". I don't understand how we can take this risk as a society and how its even allowed by our government. This BPA is estimated to be within 92% of us.

The writer talks about the concerns but also does mention how the data is not 100% conclusive yet, kind of like tobacco in the 70's. But we know what happened with the tobacco and its health damages.

A good and very telling excerpt from the article:

"For example, the chemical industry cites one recent study in which BPA did not cause harm to the reproductive health of Long-Evans rats. But that strain of rats has been found to be less susceptible to endocrine disruptors, while CD-1 mice (also used in many experiments) are more vulnerable. Are humans more like Long-Evans rats or like CD-1 mice? We don’t know. But there are so many studies showing low-dose effects on animals and humans that the precautionary principle should apply: let’s try to cut back on exposures."

Recent studies are also showing that high levels of BPA in the blood have been found to be linked to obesity, diabetes, miscarriages and cardiovascular problems.

Simple things like water bottles may be hurting us a lot more than we think.

Here is the link: http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/is-that-a-plastic-bottle-youre-drinking-from/

#cut back #bpa

Going Green But Getting Nowhere

The article heres talks about the difficulties of adopting a low impact life-style and the contradictions that can come with it. A great quote in the article that sums up many of these contradictions: "You refuse the plastic bag at the register, believing this one gesture somehow makes a difference, and then carry your takeout meal back to your car for a carbon-emitting trip home."

There is a great tension in this scenario that may not be apparent to the person unless they consciously think about all their actions.

The article goes on to talk about how reversing (or even just alleviating) environmental problems requires great dramatic action that cannot be done with simple individual action. If we really want to alleviate the earth of its environmental problems we must forget about the distractions of individual action and embrace the idea of collective action.

"Self-interest, not self-sacrifice, is what induces noticeable change. Only the right economic policies will enable us as individuals to be guided by self-interest and still do the right thing for the planet."

Who is paying for the environmental damages? We are paying for them as a society.

We need to limit ourselves. Think about "“cap and trade,” the system that helped phase out lead in gasoline in the 1980s, slashed acid rain pollution in the 1990s and is now bringing entire fisheries back from the brink."

Also, not exactly sure what "planetary socialism" is. Would like to research this concept more.

Here is the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/opinion/going-green-but-getting-nowhere.html

#collective action #collaborate

Bagging the Plastic?

NY Times: Is It Time to Bag the Plastic?

A great article here talking about America's addiction to this convenient "product". Only a handful of cities are trying to resolve this problem with bans and taxes on this plastic commodity. This really reminded me of the super market I shopped at while I lived in NY this summer. Double bag everything unless you ask them not too. The double bag is the default. What is the reason behind this? Addicted to convenience? Are we so narrow minded that we forge what happens to these bags once they leave our possession?

The article points out that "the city pays $10 million annually to send 100,000 tons of plastic bags that are tossed in the general trash to landfills in South Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania".

In addition, the article talks about how the plastic bag frenzy never caught on in many European Countries. Is the plastic bag addiction something that is engrained in our American culture and the illusion that our huge country is an endless plain?

Another good point: "But experience shows that even environmentally conscious people need prodding and incentives to change their behavior permanently."

This is pretty wild/ridiculous: "After Austin, Tex., passed a bag ban earlier this year and with Dallas considering one, State Representative Drew Springer, a Republican, introduced the Shopping Bag Freedom Act in the Legislature. That act essentially bans bag bans, protecting the right of merchants to provide bags of any material to customers."

A ban on bag bans is so silly.

The article even speaks about how Representative James P. Moran, Democrat of Virginia, just recently introduced a bill to create a national 5-cent tax on all bags.

Here is the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/sunday-review/should-america-bag-the-plastic-bag.html?pagewanted=all&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A17%22%7D

#plastic #double bag #habits

Materials

Real and fake products. The combination of the two and how they can visualize the tension/harmony.

Concept

Formalizing the tension/harmony that is created by the interactions/exchanges between the natural world and the human world.