A History of Green washing: How dirty towels impact the green movement.
The fact is, those cards do very little because how many people actually read them? And sure they might do it once or twice if they do read it, but soon they forget about it and go back to old habits. Some people just hate using a towel more than once.
Printing those cards is also a waste to the environment because those cards are constantly thrown out and reprinted. This is one of those things where people need to be educated and they need to start caring about these things. Rather than just printing the cards to reduce laundry costs and giving the facade that they are all for helping the environment, they need to do all things within the company to help the environment, and maybe there will be some benefits for them too. But if we only look at what benefits us now in this instant, we will never improve the quality of our environment.
The fact is that people and businesses need to make a change. Some people do little things, which of course help, but it is not enough. There are just as many people out there who don't care and will continue doing things the wrong way. We need to start making BIG changes, and everyone needs to do it.
And whilst it is a bad thing that the company uses those cards to reduce their laundry bills, the fact is that people won't generally make a change unless there is something in it for them. People will turn lights off more often because it saves them money in their power bill. Sure, there are some people who catch the bus to help the environment, but its also cheaper and generally more convenient than trying to find a park and then paying for the park.
Dirty towels are just the surface. The fact is that every aspect of our lives can be changed to benefit the environment, and create a cleaner future....
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Week 3 - Reading 1 by Fackler (7)
Tsunami warnings written in stone
This is a basic instinct that people seem to forget everywhere. People seem to think that because something hasn't happened for ages, it wont happen again. This is the biggest mistake because the longer you wait the more chance it is going to happen again, and maybe sooner than you think. I have enormous respect for those who make life a tiny bit harder by living further away, rather than playing chance with their lives and losing everything.
It was the same with the floods in brisbane last year, where people forgot about the 1974 floods and thought the could build in low lying areas, only for the richest waterfront houses on the river to be destroyed once again. The people of Brisbane will remember this for a few year before it passes to the back of their minds once again and the next flood comes along. It is a vicious cycle, and it occurs throughout the world
People need to continually be educated through generations and the right practices put in place, so everyone knows what to do when the time comes. This kind of things happens through any type of natural disaster: Tsunami, earthquake, flood, landslide, fire, cyclone etc.
It is all about learning from past experiences and the stone is the perfect example of past generations trying to save heartache for the new generations. Yes maybe we can't live on the water because a tsunami might come along, but would you prefer to live on the water close to your boat and quite possibly die, or live on higher ground, a bit further from the boats, but be more assured of living when the time comes.
If only more countries and groups of people left warning signs or stones in the ground for future generations....
This is a basic instinct that people seem to forget everywhere. People seem to think that because something hasn't happened for ages, it wont happen again. This is the biggest mistake because the longer you wait the more chance it is going to happen again, and maybe sooner than you think. I have enormous respect for those who make life a tiny bit harder by living further away, rather than playing chance with their lives and losing everything.
It was the same with the floods in brisbane last year, where people forgot about the 1974 floods and thought the could build in low lying areas, only for the richest waterfront houses on the river to be destroyed once again. The people of Brisbane will remember this for a few year before it passes to the back of their minds once again and the next flood comes along. It is a vicious cycle, and it occurs throughout the world
People need to continually be educated through generations and the right practices put in place, so everyone knows what to do when the time comes. This kind of things happens through any type of natural disaster: Tsunami, earthquake, flood, landslide, fire, cyclone etc.
It is all about learning from past experiences and the stone is the perfect example of past generations trying to save heartache for the new generations. Yes maybe we can't live on the water because a tsunami might come along, but would you prefer to live on the water close to your boat and quite possibly die, or live on higher ground, a bit further from the boats, but be more assured of living when the time comes.
If only more countries and groups of people left warning signs or stones in the ground for future generations....
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Week 2 - Lecture (5)
Future Visions and Scenarios
Metropolis 1927 (Fritz Lang)
- old movie - trailer has been revamped
Future Scenarios today - Robots of Brixton
- 2011 RIBA Presidents medals student award winner
History repeats itself, first as tragedy second as farce...
I find it very weird that a video such as this would win an architectural award. I have seen a few of the other entrants and they included 'architecture' in their presentations. This didn't really seem to apart from the architectural background in the film. Obviously these were designed but I would have thought it would have to be a piece of architecture with all of the details
your role as an architect is to design an architectural entity that provides critical scenes and successfully demonstrated that it responds well to your future scenario. You will present your proposal as architectural fiction.
initial investigation
- what if? scenarios
Urban theme. What if BBC decided to introduce London style congestion charge to the CBD in 2020 to heavily reduce traffic congestion in the area? - Congestion charging (London 2003)
Suburban. What if all retail stores in Paddington central stopped selling goods in favor of online stores but decided to keep physical presence for customer experience?
Regional. What if Woodford folk festival site were to become a self sufficient community that was to be managed and operated self sufficiently.
Virtual. What if QLD governments key strategy was to resolve urban, suburban and regional issues virtually?
TED TALK - Marcin... - Open source ecology - Building own machinerymch cheaper
Project Ingeborg in Klagenfurt - virtual library
Project glass by google -
Metropolis 1927 (Fritz Lang)
- old movie - trailer has been revamped
Future Scenarios today - Robots of Brixton
- 2011 RIBA Presidents medals student award winner
History repeats itself, first as tragedy second as farce...
I find it very weird that a video such as this would win an architectural award. I have seen a few of the other entrants and they included 'architecture' in their presentations. This didn't really seem to apart from the architectural background in the film. Obviously these were designed but I would have thought it would have to be a piece of architecture with all of the details
your role as an architect is to design an architectural entity that provides critical scenes and successfully demonstrated that it responds well to your future scenario. You will present your proposal as architectural fiction.
initial investigation
- what if? scenarios
Urban theme. What if BBC decided to introduce London style congestion charge to the CBD in 2020 to heavily reduce traffic congestion in the area? - Congestion charging (London 2003)
Suburban. What if all retail stores in Paddington central stopped selling goods in favor of online stores but decided to keep physical presence for customer experience?
Regional. What if Woodford folk festival site were to become a self sufficient community that was to be managed and operated self sufficiently.
Virtual. What if QLD governments key strategy was to resolve urban, suburban and regional issues virtually?
TED TALK - Marcin... - Open source ecology - Building own machinerymch cheaper
Project Ingeborg in Klagenfurt - virtual library
Project glass by google -
Week 2 - Charette discussions (6)
Group discussions
Urban - Having a transport system like London
pro
less congestion
reduced c02
more space for people movement
city cycle - better used
builds revenue
more use of city fringe retail
car pooling opportunities
Con
reduced availability of movement
divides rich and poor
higher dependence on public transport
can public trains deal with extra people?
city residents
price rise in the retail sectors
prices rise in transport
increase in traffic load
people have to go around the city
...Therefore residents would probably leave
Suburban - Sustainable retail experience
Pro
Good for shop owners
more space
more clothes advertisement
less movement (convenient)
can sit at the computer and order
con
Waiting periods
less jobs
no customer experience
good to buy things and leave with them
...Where do you go if you want it now?
Regional - Self sufficient
Pro
Grow plants and vegetables for selling
could make all the produce selling in the one area
could use lots of different types of power (wind, hydro)
Con
far away if you want to travel there
Susceptible to flooding again
...Woodford mining
...Everything off the grid and local
Virtual -
-Real is better thank fake
-layer on top of th ereal world
-Is a part of education 'Backboard' etc
-retail online shopping
-communication Facebook, Skype etc
-Government - information filtered through
-time has a factor in the real world
Urban - Having a transport system like London
pro
less congestion
reduced c02
more space for people movement
city cycle - better used
builds revenue
more use of city fringe retail
car pooling opportunities
Con
reduced availability of movement
divides rich and poor
higher dependence on public transport
can public trains deal with extra people?
city residents
price rise in the retail sectors
prices rise in transport
increase in traffic load
people have to go around the city
...Therefore residents would probably leave
Suburban - Sustainable retail experience
Pro
Good for shop owners
more space
more clothes advertisement
less movement (convenient)
can sit at the computer and order
con
Waiting periods
less jobs
no customer experience
good to buy things and leave with them
...Where do you go if you want it now?
Regional - Self sufficient
Pro
Grow plants and vegetables for selling
could make all the produce selling in the one area
could use lots of different types of power (wind, hydro)
Con
far away if you want to travel there
Susceptible to flooding again
...Woodford mining
...Everything off the grid and local
Virtual -
-Real is better thank fake
-layer on top of th ereal world
-Is a part of education 'Backboard' etc
-retail online shopping
-communication Facebook, Skype etc
-Government - information filtered through
-time has a factor in the real world
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Week 2 - Reading by Koerth-Baker (4)
Innovations that will change your tomorrow
It is often very difficulty to think back to things when they were first invented and realize just how long they took to succeed. These days everyone wants everything done so quickly that it is hard to imagine that inventions back in the 19th and early 20th centuries actually took more than one persons lifetime to make possible.
I have only been alive for 23 years, but the inventions, or rather advancements that have occurred in this time have been enormous. We have gone from no computers, to slow computers that do little, to supercomputers that can basically do everything for us. Cars these days are developing in luxury, speed and every other factor in just one year. Advancements back in those times came along very slowly, just like the light bulb. Where as the light bulb is at a point where it can't really be improved and is now inefficient. Now we need to create new paths like they did back in the 19th century, which is going to take our geniuses a long time to figure out like it did Edison and all those before him.
I don't think in any way that people are smarter these days, I just think people in the day had to figure things out that have never been done before. Those people created new paths which people today continue on and improve. Now as we have developed the old ideas to that maximum potential, we look to other things which are more efficient and better for the environment.
Those people back in the 19th and 20th centuries also had different responsibilities to what we have today. They were looking to innovate and create things no one had ever thought of. Now we are looking to improve those things or create new things that are better for society and the environment. Things created back in the day were potentially harmful to people and the environment (to nobodies knowledge). The advancements in recent years in the medical field has discovered many of the potential harms that we face from these things. Now we look to improve the quality of the world which we have degraded over time and make it a safer place in every aspect.
The inventions that I like the most or that I think will be the most widely used
The morning multi-tasker
How much simpler would this make every bodies life. Rather than keeping everything stored in books, which take up physical space, it is stored digitally and can be viewed and worked out in front of you for your benefit. This is something that I know will be in every bodies house in a few years. Whilst it will start out expensive it will soon become affordable for everybody.
Nice little cabin in the sky
Who wants jet lag? you want to get to a new place and experience it rather than spending the first 2 days in bed. Seriously we have the technology to create better flying environments, so why don't we upgrade already and improve productivity. If you measured the loss of every bodies productivity from jet lag I'm sure it would outweigh the cost of upgrading some planes.
Terrifying Playgrounds
I think a major problem in society today is that people are too soft, and don't let their kids do enough stuff or experience enough things to toughen them up. Kids are suppose to get hurt, that's how they learn and experience and know what not to do in the future. By hiding kids from these things you make them weaker all through life. If you increase the difficulty of activities you make problems for kids that they need to think about before they do it which provides them with better skills in working out situations and better coordination.
The liar's workout
Everything restricting us is in the mind. We only perform that well because that's what our brain is telling us is our limit. Your brain cant differentiate between a slight difference in time unless it is right in front of you. I think this is a brilliant way of improving peoples performances and I'm sure will be widely used among athletes.
Sleep Mining
This could be such a good early preventative way to find diseases in people. I really hope this is widely used, maybe targeting people who are more likely to have genetic issues or something
The constant gardener
People love their front yards and grass as it is like a statement to the whole street. Therefore if people could have an easy way of knowing how to improve their grass with technology such as this, it would sell very easily. A whole street could be full of lovely front yards making it seem much nicer than it may be.
I truly cannot wait for a lot of these inventions to hit the shelves. I'm sure once they do, life will be much simpler and the quality of life could be improved for many people.
It is often very difficulty to think back to things when they were first invented and realize just how long they took to succeed. These days everyone wants everything done so quickly that it is hard to imagine that inventions back in the 19th and early 20th centuries actually took more than one persons lifetime to make possible.
I have only been alive for 23 years, but the inventions, or rather advancements that have occurred in this time have been enormous. We have gone from no computers, to slow computers that do little, to supercomputers that can basically do everything for us. Cars these days are developing in luxury, speed and every other factor in just one year. Advancements back in those times came along very slowly, just like the light bulb. Where as the light bulb is at a point where it can't really be improved and is now inefficient. Now we need to create new paths like they did back in the 19th century, which is going to take our geniuses a long time to figure out like it did Edison and all those before him.
I don't think in any way that people are smarter these days, I just think people in the day had to figure things out that have never been done before. Those people created new paths which people today continue on and improve. Now as we have developed the old ideas to that maximum potential, we look to other things which are more efficient and better for the environment.
Those people back in the 19th and 20th centuries also had different responsibilities to what we have today. They were looking to innovate and create things no one had ever thought of. Now we are looking to improve those things or create new things that are better for society and the environment. Things created back in the day were potentially harmful to people and the environment (to nobodies knowledge). The advancements in recent years in the medical field has discovered many of the potential harms that we face from these things. Now we look to improve the quality of the world which we have degraded over time and make it a safer place in every aspect.
The inventions that I like the most or that I think will be the most widely used
The morning multi-tasker
How much simpler would this make every bodies life. Rather than keeping everything stored in books, which take up physical space, it is stored digitally and can be viewed and worked out in front of you for your benefit. This is something that I know will be in every bodies house in a few years. Whilst it will start out expensive it will soon become affordable for everybody.
Nice little cabin in the sky
Who wants jet lag? you want to get to a new place and experience it rather than spending the first 2 days in bed. Seriously we have the technology to create better flying environments, so why don't we upgrade already and improve productivity. If you measured the loss of every bodies productivity from jet lag I'm sure it would outweigh the cost of upgrading some planes.
Terrifying Playgrounds
I think a major problem in society today is that people are too soft, and don't let their kids do enough stuff or experience enough things to toughen them up. Kids are suppose to get hurt, that's how they learn and experience and know what not to do in the future. By hiding kids from these things you make them weaker all through life. If you increase the difficulty of activities you make problems for kids that they need to think about before they do it which provides them with better skills in working out situations and better coordination.
The liar's workout
Everything restricting us is in the mind. We only perform that well because that's what our brain is telling us is our limit. Your brain cant differentiate between a slight difference in time unless it is right in front of you. I think this is a brilliant way of improving peoples performances and I'm sure will be widely used among athletes.
Sleep Mining
This could be such a good early preventative way to find diseases in people. I really hope this is widely used, maybe targeting people who are more likely to have genetic issues or something
The constant gardener
People love their front yards and grass as it is like a statement to the whole street. Therefore if people could have an easy way of knowing how to improve their grass with technology such as this, it would sell very easily. A whole street could be full of lovely front yards making it seem much nicer than it may be.
I truly cannot wait for a lot of these inventions to hit the shelves. I'm sure once they do, life will be much simpler and the quality of life could be improved for many people.
Week 2 - Reading by Revell (3)
88.7 : stories from the first transnational traders
In the early 2040's an ex-Soviet Arktika class icebreaker was recommissioned to act as an experiment in global finance at 88.7 degrees latitude - the heart of the arctic sea ....
In the early 2040's an ex-Soviet Arktika class icebreaker was recommissioned to act as an experiment in global finance at 88.7 degrees latitude - the heart of the arctic sea ....
I cannot understand how it could possibly circumnavigate the world in 24 hours. Does it mean that it circumnavigates a curtain portion of the world (like around the north pole) allowing it to stay in contact, or it can actually go that fast around the world? Could be kind of difficult if there is ice in the way like in the photo.
I think as soon as there was any known risk of mutation, the test (no matter how successful) would be stopped. That is based on societies actions in the world today, where if anything is slightly dangerous, it should be shunned or occupational health and safety gets stamped all over it, meaning that processes become sooooo much more complex than they need to be. Saying that however, there has always been an idea in movies where society turns into some animal like perverted being. Could we actually turn out like this?
It is very noticeable that in society today everyone seems to be getting more and more frightened of speaking their thoughts or doing anything that comes even close to being politically incorrect. Traditions that have been long standing like Santa saying 'ho ho ho' at Christmas time, is apparently offensive now. But could this eventually crack and society goes crazy? Where peoples lives are no longer valued so highly, but turn into a form of entertainment for the rest of society. If the world turned out like this, the safety of the people on board that ship would not matter to anyone else, as long as the trading market and all to do with it is running smoothly.
the growth of a uniquely North Korean economic solution in the broadcast of its mass games and the legitimisation of a highly competitive, individualistic way of life...
If North Korea starts saving our economy, you know we are in trouble. With such a private and self righteous country in power and the rest of the world in their pockets, what happens? Does North Korea start trying to influence the way other countries work? Do they start invading other countries to spread their ideas further?
If we legitimize a highly competitive, individualistic way of life we will do just what I said before. Competitions will start to grow wilder and in new fields that we would have never considered in today's society. Those ideas (the ones that are currently in the movies and are just way too crazy to ever happen) become reality and peoples lives become an entertainment. Prisoners in jail's will be forced to compete with each other for the entertainment of the public, and this sport becomes an extra money earner and a way to add to the economy even more.
The sheer volume of trade made possible by the continuous, rapid and deregulated system of the Arktika’s movements and its elite traders invalidated economic theories of zero-sum growth in the eyes of the Equestrian Councils and business leaders - encouraging decades of power shifts throughout the financially developed world...
So a stronger overall economy, yet no one economy can hold all the power for very long. That seems like a more viable system to me. It allows more countries to be super economies rather than just the u.s. Saying that however, in the near future we will possibly have one of these shifts where the power will change to china. I think it could be better off overall if more countries had the power. It would probably lead to less overall poverty, and could lead to the rising of some third world countries like Africa. All they need is the initial boost and the removal of the vast amounts of corruption in their countries.
This is a very 'out there' scenario. Whilst some of these ideas could very well be possible and logical for the trading systems, I'm quite sure any effects on human behaviour (no matter how much they increased profitability) would become illegal. I'm sure if there was such a practice that could improve trading, it would be studied and improved so that traders could have a normal life whilst working, with no physical or mental side effects.
Week 2 - Reading By Sadler (2)
Beyond Architecture
an indeterminate world... not of fixed extent or character, vague, left doubtful
Modernism is a contradictory idea
The reading is about the Archigram magazine or newsletter, containing different issues.
is a composition ever complete? Mies and Mondrian
Llewellyn Davies and Weeks - Hospital project
Brought in-determination into architectural discourse
Archigram was looking for the newest coolest designs in not only architectural but all art forms
Indeterminate structures (1940's), for artistic events. Experiments in arts and technology (EAT)
Imperative to create open ends. Desire for continuous change
Heisenberg s, 1927, Uncertainty principle (indeterminacy principle)
1966 - Buildings with no capacity to change can only become slums or ancient monuments
Modernists were forced to consider 'how communities might actually function rather than how they should function'
Architects seek out existing structures and allow structures to develop in positive directions instead of deductions
life is negotiated not pre-programmed
there were no limits
From the mega structure to the kit-of-parts
Archigram with allies pieced together an architecture of in-determinism from other pieces of modern architecture to compete more with the international style
Became about flow - but then seemed deterministic
mid 60's Archigrams attention shifted from slumbering mega structures to the kit of parts 'clip on' and 'plug in'
didn't just talk about architecture
the tuned suburb - not standardized - a whole mixture of types, totally different to how it actually turned out
an indeterminate world... not of fixed extent or character, vague, left doubtful
Modernism is a contradictory idea
The reading is about the Archigram magazine or newsletter, containing different issues.
is a composition ever complete? Mies and Mondrian
Llewellyn Davies and Weeks - Hospital project
Brought in-determination into architectural discourse
Archigram was looking for the newest coolest designs in not only architectural but all art forms
Indeterminate structures (1940's), for artistic events. Experiments in arts and technology (EAT)
Imperative to create open ends. Desire for continuous change
Heisenberg s, 1927, Uncertainty principle (indeterminacy principle)
1966 - Buildings with no capacity to change can only become slums or ancient monuments
Modernists were forced to consider 'how communities might actually function rather than how they should function'
Architects seek out existing structures and allow structures to develop in positive directions instead of deductions
life is negotiated not pre-programmed
there were no limits
From the mega structure to the kit-of-parts
Archigram with allies pieced together an architecture of in-determinism from other pieces of modern architecture to compete more with the international style
Became about flow - but then seemed deterministic
mid 60's Archigrams attention shifted from slumbering mega structures to the kit of parts 'clip on' and 'plug in'
didn't just talk about architecture
the tuned suburb - not standardized - a whole mixture of types, totally different to how it actually turned out
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