Environment

Hey! We're the Brown/RISD DFA Environment Team. Our current project is Stormwater Runoff.

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Ideation!

With our focus neatly defined by the end of the last semester, we've been in full swing with ideation!  After some unconstrained brainstorming, we did some interviews of community members to better understand their opinions about storm water runoff and available consumer solutions, along with observations of residential land use and downspout structure.  Drawing from these and our past research, we assessed what elements are essential to an optimal solution: adaptability to a various settings, a use for the collected water that is desirable in the eyes of the consumer, and longevity, to name a few.  We conducted some feasibility tests, too (just to make sure our ideas weren't too good to be true!), which we're setting up in these pictures.  Now, on to the final crit, the end of the semester, and looking onward to furthering the project next year!

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FPNA Fox Point Neighborhood Association

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FPNA, fpna, Fox Point Neighborhood Association, Fox Point neighborhood, Fox Point, College Hill, India Point Park, East Side, Providence, neighborhood association

A few of our members attended a Fox Point Neighborhood Association meeting this Monday. It looks like they're concerned about the history, environment, and aesthetics of the neighborhood, all good things! We're going to meet with them again in February to discuss our ideas. In the mean time, it's time for winter break.

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Final Crit

Yay for the end of Fall Semester! We ran a slightly more informal crit at the TRI-Lab in which we hung up photos and provided post-its to prompt conversation about our research. We had a great time, and decided at the end that it's time for...

wait for it

...IDEATION!!!!!! 

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Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island

Building Community Power for a Safe and Healthy Environment

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FPNA Fox Point Neighborhood Association

FPNA, fpna, Fox Point Neighborhood Association, Fox Point neighborhood, Fox Point, College Hill, India Point Park, East Side, Providence, neighborhood association

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Some last minute notes, conversations, and preparations before our Final Crit this Saturday!

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Today we took a walk over to India Point Park with our friend Jamie, who has also been working on a stormwater runoff project in the area. We walked over on Brooke St toward Wickenden St and passed the highway. Overall, we noticed that there were quite a few downspouts that simply ended at the sidewalk, and a whole lot of paved surfaces. Not to mention while India Point Park is covered in grass, grass doesn't soak up rainwater that well, and you'd do much better having native plants in a rainwater collection garden.

We're definitely thinking of implementing our project in this area, now the next step is to talk to the people living in the neighborhood!

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This week a few of our team members met with Amelia from Environmental Justice League. We discussed the different projects that they're doing, including awareness projects around Mashapaug and Huntington Industrial. One of their primary problems has been communicating the issues to the residents. She also reminded us that different neighborhoods and people require different solutions.

Now we're ready to get out and connect directly with members of the Providence community. We're going to head down to India Point Park to check out the sewer systems, paved areas, and talk to people there. Wish us luck!

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After the community crit last Saturday we got a lot of great advice on how to continue with the project. We're currently zoning in on what area of impact and user group we're targeting and why. The overarching theme, though, is the drive to create something tangible that involves the community and creates a behavioral change. We think that's a pretty good goal. ;)

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Getting ready for the DFA Community Crit this Saturday! We're going to focus on presenting our topic to the DFA group and defining stormwater runoff and why it's a problem. Our current next steps as they stand are:

investigate the impact of members of the community on runoff and pollution

investigate the existing infrastructure of the sewer system relating to stormwater runoff

then - target the area of greatest impact, target the user group

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Save the Bay: There's still a lot of work to do

Historically heavy rains this year have led to a rash of beach closures in Rhode Island and underscore the need for the Ocean State to do more to clean up its coastline, Save the Bay officials say.

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Providence, RI – Today, Environment Rhode Island released Frightening Facts about Narragansett Bay, a Halloween fact sheet that compiles ten of the most "scary" realities facing Rhode Island’s most ic

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Our Project

is stormwater + urban runoff! We've officially picked our project topic and are now contacting community partners and gathering more in-depth research. Very exciting! 

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IT'S TIMELINE TIME!

Our team is currently gearing up for the two big crits we're going to have this semester, the Community Crit on Nov 9 and the Final Crit on Dec 7. We're spending the first two weeks investigating local problems related to water in Providence through online research and a field trip (yay!). Afterward we're going to devote the remaining month to research.

And after it's party time! *does environmentally friendly dance*

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Studio Crit

This week we had a studio crit with the entire studio and our awesome visiting co-founder and DFA alumn, Annie Wu! We discussed with the entire team that we were moving away from toxic waste management in studios, largely because there seemed to be a lack of necessity and we were worried about it being too focused on the RISD community rather than the entire Providence community.

Continuing off our previous project, however, we are still interested in continuing themes of influencing psychology and enforcing responsibility on individuals. Now we are looking into water, specifically urban runoff in Providence as well as water usage in public facilities versus residential homes. During our research phase we're really hoping to find mentors and community partners to guide our work as well.

Peace!

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Welcome Back!

September was the month of publicity and powwows, now's the time for the nitty gritty. We settled into our team with leaders Priscilla and Tya taking the stage, also welcoming our new members Ben and Andrew from Brown.

Our first step was to reevaluate our topic. Is hazardous waste disposal in studios viable/relevant/solvable? Some say yay, some say nay, so we've decided ourselves into mini-research groups to look at our day-to-day lives and figure out what we do that is harmful to the environment, each group focusing on a specific topic.