sustainability - art, design and social practice » Uncategorized

Brandon Shores Power Plant Tour

eileentwold — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:57:28 +0000

Below is a link to a PDF with information on the Brandon Shores Plant. There are directions, pictures, and a recent press release taken off their website about the new scrubbers being put in. Please read this over before the trip next week.

(Click on link below to see PDF)
brandon shores

Climate Change and Art Examples

eileentwold — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:43:18 +0000

Here is a copy of my presentation from last week. If you want more information on a particular artist or project I can write up some notes for you.

(click on orange link below to see slideshow)
Climate Change and sustainability

“crude” film in baltimore

hpocock — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:04:03 +0000

emily’s carbon footprint

emilyemily — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:34:16 +0000

Living in the rolling Berkshire hills of Great Barrington, Massachusetts all of my life, I’ve learned love the natural environment–the easy access to hiking trails and cool rivers in the summer time and the piles of snow gathered in the yard in the winter. Downtown is a 10 minute walk from my house, yet everything else is a car ride away. Originally I lived with my parents and my sister, but more recently I’ve been living with only my mom in an oversized house. When I returned to Baltimore for the fourth fall in a row, I wanted a different experience. I moved into the Annex, a warehouse hastily converted apartment. There are three floors to the warehouse, two 5,000 sq feet apartments per floor, and interior design to your liking. I had to build my room from scratch when I first came down three days before school began. My dad helped put up three walls, buying all new materials seemed contradictory to the essense of the space, but the job was done within days and I began sleeping in my new room by the first week of school.
Currently, I live about 12 minutes away from MICA by foot, 5 minutes by bike, and 7 minutes by car. Occasionally it was tempting to snag a ride with Tom (a roommate) to class, but for this project I made it a habit of riding my bike or walking everyday. I realized that it is more convenient to walk or ride my bike around Baltimore anyway. I began going to Aikido with my friend Laurel a couple times a week down in Federal Hill. The first time we went we took the light rail to Camden Yards and walked the rest of the way, but ever since then we’ve been walking down Charles past the inner harbor and it feels so much better. I now rarely hop in a car, trying to avoid as many direct interactions with fossil fuels.
We don’t heat our apartment either. So far, we’ve been lucky: there haven’t been too many chilly nights. It is sometimes refreshing to come back to a cool home. Other times surprising to leave the house and discover it is far warmer outside. For the nature of this project I haven’t used a space heater for my bedroom either.
Over the summer there were four people living in this apartment, now there are eight. We have one large kitchen, with two refrigerators, one sink, and lots of shelves and counter space. Initially we only had one fridge and everyone was buying their own food. For the nature of this carbon footprint project and for the sanity of my living situation, I had a discussion with 5 of my roomates about buying in bulk together. On the weekends and random nights we began cooking meals together. Over the past month, I tried to maximize this custom.
Overall, I’ve made many changes to my carbon footprint by living here. I am on my way to a smaller and smaller footprint. By buying in bulk, we are creating less waste per person, cooking meals together creates less energy per meal per person, not heating the space reduced my oil consumption to zero, showering less uses less water, walking and biking everywhere omits the use of fossil fuels. Overall, I have lowered my footprint considerably. Here is a breakdown of the transition:

HOUSING

G.B.
1,600 sq. feet
2 people
4 bedrooms
Oil Heating – 900 gal/yr
Electricity – 380 kWh/month
190 kWh/month per person

B-more
5,000 sq. feet
8 people
8 bedrooms
No heat in house
Electricity – 1000 kWh/month
125 kWh/month per person

ELECTRICITY USE

G.B.
Always turn off lights when leaving a room
All efficient light bulbs
Use computer once/week

B-more
20hrs/day at least one light is on
Do not use the overhead lights unless necessary
All efficient light bulbs
Use Laptop 12 hrs/day
Use one light in bedroom at night

TRANSPORTATION

G.B.
CAR – small car 32 mi/gal
- mini van 24 mi/gal
- 96 mi/wk school
- 1.6 mi/wk work
- 14-68 mi/wk fun

BUS – 758 mi/yr = 14.6 mi/wk
TRAIN – 320 mi/yr = 6.2 mi/wk

Walk around town.
Rarely Bike.

B-more
CAR – do not own one
- hoursemates, 3 small cars
1) 45-50 mi/gal (vegetable oil)
2) 25 mi/gal
3) 30 mi/gal (don’t use)
- +/-5 mi/wk grocery
BUS – 758 mi/yr = 14.6 mi/wk
TRAIN – 320 mi/yr = 6.2 mi/wk

Walk and bike everywhere all of the time.

FOOD

G.B.
Eat at restaurant job 1-2 meals/day
Order/trade meal with local restaurants
Eat out 1 meal/day
5-7 meals/week
Cook 0-1 meals at home, mostly snacking alone
Mom shops for food at a grocery store once/wk
Famer’s Market Shares twice/wk

B-more
Cook at least one meal/day with 3-5 housemates
Eat 1-2 meals/day for myself only
Eat out 0-2 meals/week including coffee/drinks at a bar
I shop for food at a grocery store once/wk or less
Dumpster dive food once/wk or once/2 wks
Farmer’s market once/2 wk

CONSUMER HABITS

G.B.
Buy 1 pk of smokes/wk
Buy 2-5 local cups of coffee/wk
Buy 1-2 local pastries/wk

B-more
Bum 1-2 cig/wk or less
Buy 1 cup coffee/wk or less
Buy 0-1 bagel with cream cheese/wk

WASTE

G.B.
1 small grocery bag of trash/wk
Compost food for family garden

B-more
1 20 gal bag of trash/2 wk
Compost food for MICA garden

THIS PAST MONTH

TRASH
pop corn bag
cream cheese container
cigarettes x 7
honey sticks x 4
cheese bag x 3
bread bag
rice cake bag
seaweed bag
tahinni cookie bag
bread bag
chips bag
bagel wrapping from doris x 2

RECYCLED
beans can x2
mac and cheese box
cracker box
champagne bottle
beer bottles x3
iced coffee cup
tequilla bottle
Crispix box
soba noodles box
parm cheese container
hummus container
whiskey bottle
Autumn Harvest cereal box
Peanutbutter Puffins
OJ container
Pasta container

IN USE (TO BE RECYCLED)
Autumn Wheat cereal box
Soy milk container
Soy sauce bottle
Cheerios box
Whiskey bottle
Parmesan cheese container
Mushroom box

REUSED
Dried cranberry bag
chutney jar
peanut butter jar
almond butter jar
tomato sauce jar
raspberry jam jar x2
bulk hemp seed container
chocolate covered ginger container
chocolate covered raisons container
cottage cheese container
olive oil jar
spinach plastic container
macro sushi container

IN USE (TO BE REUSED)
walnut bag
trail mix bag
hummus container
olive oil jar
quionoa jar
cocoa box
cranberry juice bottle
honey jar
vegan butter container
coconut jar
maple syrup jar
milk bottle

COMPOST
apple core x12
tea bag x19
green tea leaves x3
zucchini ends
pepper innards x5
carrot peel x3
cuke peel x2
egg shell x5
tomato top
green bean ends
potato peel
ginger peel x3
onion peel x5
cheese ends

Rigo 23 and Peruvian Fog Nets

danallende — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:37:03 +0000

Hey Guys,

This is not a carbon footprint project but some might be interested.Two things. I saw this amazing video of an artist named Rigo 23, spent two years interacting with remote villages in Brazil, and they re-interpreted the nuclear submarine. It’s an interesting take and it re assesses the current state of affiars, and what is really important. Beautiful. http://www.artistsrespond.org/artists/rigo23/ The video in in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

Secondly, People are harvesting the fog that comes through the dry mountains of Peru. Here

-Dan Allende

Andrea Dombrowski’s Carbon Foot Print #2: Biomimicry Research

adombrowski — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:58:50 +0000

Personal Consumption of Food Packaging over the course of 1 month:
Plastics (water bottles, soda bottles, milk, clamshells, bags)= 30 units
Cans (coke, soup, beans)= 13
Paper-based (paperboard boxes, cookie bags, cartons)= 32
Glass (bottles, jars)= 4

“The simple truth is that all of our major environmental concerns are caused by, or contribute to, the ever-increasing consumption of goods and services.”
-Cradle to Cradle

1. How can we limit the use of and even prolong the life of a product’s packaging so it does not automatically become waste?

2. How does nature achieve successful packaging? How can we translate elements of nature into design?

Our new design assignment is to create “products that when their useful life is over, do not become useless waste but can be tossed onto the ground to decompose and become food for plants and animals and nutrients for the soil; or alternately, that can return to industrial cycles to supply high-quality raw materials for new products.”

FURTHER RESEARCH: BIOMIMICRY:

Biomimicry= the process of looking to life for sustainable design advice

Nature’s packaging performs the same functions (contain, protect, communicate) as our modern day packaging without causing harm to themselves, the contents, or the environment.

DESIGN IDEAS:
A water bottle that could easily fit in your pocket when dry, but holds several liters of water when full (like the pouch of a pelican)

Build matrices inside packaging to avoid leaks and to save on material (like the internal structure of lettuce)

“Trigger” packaging that opens or changes shape and adjusts itself for the product it contains (like the opening of a seed of the spreading of a virus)

Packaging that disappears as its being shipped (similar to how horses slough off layers of their hooves)

Ketchup bottles that clean themselves with very little water (similar to how leaves clean themselves)

CONCLUSION:
Biomimicry provides us with the opportunity to compare how life works with how our designs should work. Life has been creating packaging on earth for 3.85 billion years, leaving behind no landfills, no wasted materials, and no toxic sludge. Life is responsive—why can’t our packaging be too? Could our packaging be made from local materials to fit local conditions rather than the “one size fits all” approach?

Veggie Trader

eileentwold — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:37:12 +0000

Even though the growing season is coming to an end I thought you all might like to know about this website.

www.veggietrader.com

“Wish you could turn your excess plums into lemons, or maybe even a little cash? Use this site to find neighbors to swap with or sell your excess produce to. Or if you specialize in growing tomatoes, find neighbors who specialize in other produce and form networks to share in the variety. Even if you don’t have a garden, Veggie Trader is your place for finding local food near you.”

CO2/Weeds/Baltimore

hpocock — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:51:45 +0000

Her is an article on the work of Lew Ziska. He will be visiting class 11/11. Please read this in order to be prepared.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/magazine/29weeds-t.html?_r=1

toxic tour of baltimore

mimicheng — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:30:37 +0000

“Bus tour of toxic sites in Baltimore City; Community Activist Glenn Ross explains how the environmental health of poor, minority areas are disproportionately affected urban redevelopment.”

really long, but quite good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iHW1om0h4k

Solar prototypes in DC

hpocock — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:23:32 +0000

This weekend is the Solar Decathlon in DC.

http://www.solardecathlon.org/