Friday, December 12, 2008
Sustainable Cities
Why are sustainable buildings so weird. I have researched this over and over again and one would think that buildings that are meant to last would be larger and a little more simpler. Is it something about the design that makes these buildings built better to last longer? I can see the greater use of trees and shrubs to promote a healthier breathing environment. Can anyone answer this question? When I think of something lasting forever I think of a strong structure without many pieces to it. I know these are all just depictions of buildings but one needs to ask.
What I also want to know is if there are already blue prints for these buildings, why are they not being built already. Sustainable designs seem to more costly at first I suppose. Building green is not the cheapest thing to do. This is where my research project came into play. Trying to find funds to help support sustainability is not the easiest thing.
It would be so amazing to attend a school like this. To be able to go to a school that was independent when it came energy uses and other such things. This does seem to look expensive and the materials that would be needed to make this school would not be easy or cheap to find.
Another example of weird looking buildings of the future.
An idea that would work, however building on water would only pollute water in the end I think. There is a lot more space available on water. One problem that would be faced would be weather, like storms and tides.
Searching for a Utopia
Planning
I am very organized when I want to be. When I am organized I typically plan for myself, and what I can guess, as my today’s day needs. But when I find Utopia, I really don’t know what to expect. If the place is perfect then why do I need to plan? Why am I anxious that I even have to plan for a perfect place? OK, I did plan to have a perfect single day, but it was only for myself. I forgot that even Utopia will have a lot of other people who have their own plans and they were also well organized. There is the difficulty. No amount of planning is helping me in search of my Utopia. It seems the more I plan the more conflicts, and when you have conflicts how do you have a perfect place. So planning to the tee won’t bring me to my Utopia.
Transportation
I drive, I walk, I take a plane, I take a train, and I simply travel. Destination sometimes know and sometimes unknown. Let me say I am looking for an ideal place and I just go there. I get there, and it is ideal but I don’t know anyone. I have to work. I have to eat. I have to make friends. I have to live there. Perhaps many more things I have to do to be in a new place, although it is ideal. How do I do it? Who do I find to make it ideal? Even when I travel to an ideal place, the only thing that is simple is getting there. Our roads make it easy and airlines make it simpler. But how do I not feel tired? How do I erase the newness? How do I begin an instant transformation? What do I do if I only find an ideal place but may not be ideal to live in? Just because I am able to make the journey doesn’t get me to my Utopia.
Technology
I am quite savvy with technology. I like to be available and I like to find people. I am mobile. I am connected. I am most times available. Here is the problem. If everyone else is doing the same thing, how can we find each other? If someone will not respond how do you deal with it? We perhaps need to invent transporters so you can be bodily transported to them, find them. Sure thing, this is not going to happen in my lifetime. So, my surrounding myself with my gadgets perhaps is no way to find Utopia. Some times it could well be I am trying to find someone who don’t want me to find them. Sometimes I may be trying finding someone who doesn’t want to be found. Sometimes I am trying to find someone who doesn’t want to respond. So, my technical abilities will not lead me to my Utopia, as an ideal place for one is no place to live.
Money
I am not referring to wealth or Lakshmi. I am simply speaking of money. It runs out, and needs to be made. I am sure we all know. If I am in Utopia I don’t need it. The trick about money is it does deliver most of the worldly needs. Place to live, car to drive, clothes to wear, food to eat, tuition to pay, families to take care of, things to buy, smoke, drink, travel, tour the world, hire others to do your work, build, destroy and what ever we can think of it buys them for you. But why do I need money in Utopia where I have peace of mind and love. How can an ideal place to exist, we must need money. It needs to be built, it needs maintenance and it needs nourishment. Then again if I am going to work to make so much money to nourish an ideal place, for god’s sake how can I be peaceful? Do I have enough days in this life to undertake such an idealistic plan? No way.
Waiting
I spent a lot of time in waiting. I just do. I don’t mind waiting. My mind is trained to wait. It doesn’t get tired of waiting. It simply waits. While I am waiting for my Utopia, my mind doesn’t think of consequences. It simply believes I am going to find it. When I fall asleep each day like I did (perhaps I did not) yesterday, it ignores the time that has elapsed. Perhaps it too knows the trivial pursuit of finding Utopia, and it is conditioned to wait. Goodness it has no memory of yesterday but it begins fresh everyday waiting, and wanting to find Utopia. If I tell it not to wait, it says why not? What other alternatives you have? As it is my mind I have no choice but listen to it. It always wins. So I add waiting as probable cause to finding Utopia.
Society
Even Utopia has rules and regulations. Our societies are full of things we made up to conform the people who live them. Generally they are good to follow, but doesn’t support idealistic life. To be ideal there will be no conformity. So, when I live in conformity how can I be in Utopia?
Myself
Hummm.
What can I say? I am a normal person. I don’t think I am very simple, but I know I am uncomplicated. I think, I write, I work, I live, I love, I play, I plan, I travel, I organize, I sometimes can be charming. I also know each of these good things I imagine doing are for myself and they may not be the same for anyone else you wish to join in Utopia with. That’s the major problem. Hey why me? Even communists failed to live in Utopia. Plato just imagined it, and Atlantis is under the sea and I can’t live there. With all the daily pondering I am having a tough time finding Utopia on earth, so why would want to be a fish?
No doubt when I go through today, I will be traveling, I will be looking, I will be waiting, and I will be wishing to find my Utopia. What is life for except to find a perfect place to live in? I am sure I will find it. But if I don’t how would I know?
This article on trying to find a utopia poses very many interesting questions and topics. I enjoyed how this spoke it gave the reader questions to ask himself or herself to see if they are truly finding the utopia that they are trying to find. In my research paper i mention many of these different aspects such as not knowing a destination or what he is about to do next. That leaves things without endings so the person can expand or do whatever they want at that point. This process of not knowing what is next takes so much stress off the normal human being in today's society. Everybody is always in a rush and thinking "Oh, I have to do this or I have to do that." The article speaks about how he can get wherever he wants via plane or car but what if he doesnt want to travel in that way because it is not his ideal way to travel which then would not be his utopia.
I am very organized when I want to be. When I am organized I typically plan for myself, and what I can guess, as my today’s day needs. But when I find Utopia, I really don’t know what to expect. If the place is perfect then why do I need to plan? Why am I anxious that I even have to plan for a perfect place? OK, I did plan to have a perfect single day, but it was only for myself. I forgot that even Utopia will have a lot of other people who have their own plans and they were also well organized. There is the difficulty. No amount of planning is helping me in search of my Utopia. It seems the more I plan the more conflicts, and when you have conflicts how do you have a perfect place. So planning to the tee won’t bring me to my Utopia.
Transportation
I drive, I walk, I take a plane, I take a train, and I simply travel. Destination sometimes know and sometimes unknown. Let me say I am looking for an ideal place and I just go there. I get there, and it is ideal but I don’t know anyone. I have to work. I have to eat. I have to make friends. I have to live there. Perhaps many more things I have to do to be in a new place, although it is ideal. How do I do it? Who do I find to make it ideal? Even when I travel to an ideal place, the only thing that is simple is getting there. Our roads make it easy and airlines make it simpler. But how do I not feel tired? How do I erase the newness? How do I begin an instant transformation? What do I do if I only find an ideal place but may not be ideal to live in? Just because I am able to make the journey doesn’t get me to my Utopia.
Technology
I am quite savvy with technology. I like to be available and I like to find people. I am mobile. I am connected. I am most times available. Here is the problem. If everyone else is doing the same thing, how can we find each other? If someone will not respond how do you deal with it? We perhaps need to invent transporters so you can be bodily transported to them, find them. Sure thing, this is not going to happen in my lifetime. So, my surrounding myself with my gadgets perhaps is no way to find Utopia. Some times it could well be I am trying to find someone who don’t want me to find them. Sometimes I may be trying finding someone who doesn’t want to be found. Sometimes I am trying to find someone who doesn’t want to respond. So, my technical abilities will not lead me to my Utopia, as an ideal place for one is no place to live.
Money
I am not referring to wealth or Lakshmi. I am simply speaking of money. It runs out, and needs to be made. I am sure we all know. If I am in Utopia I don’t need it. The trick about money is it does deliver most of the worldly needs. Place to live, car to drive, clothes to wear, food to eat, tuition to pay, families to take care of, things to buy, smoke, drink, travel, tour the world, hire others to do your work, build, destroy and what ever we can think of it buys them for you. But why do I need money in Utopia where I have peace of mind and love. How can an ideal place to exist, we must need money. It needs to be built, it needs maintenance and it needs nourishment. Then again if I am going to work to make so much money to nourish an ideal place, for god’s sake how can I be peaceful? Do I have enough days in this life to undertake such an idealistic plan? No way.
Waiting
I spent a lot of time in waiting. I just do. I don’t mind waiting. My mind is trained to wait. It doesn’t get tired of waiting. It simply waits. While I am waiting for my Utopia, my mind doesn’t think of consequences. It simply believes I am going to find it. When I fall asleep each day like I did (perhaps I did not) yesterday, it ignores the time that has elapsed. Perhaps it too knows the trivial pursuit of finding Utopia, and it is conditioned to wait. Goodness it has no memory of yesterday but it begins fresh everyday waiting, and wanting to find Utopia. If I tell it not to wait, it says why not? What other alternatives you have? As it is my mind I have no choice but listen to it. It always wins. So I add waiting as probable cause to finding Utopia.
Society
Even Utopia has rules and regulations. Our societies are full of things we made up to conform the people who live them. Generally they are good to follow, but doesn’t support idealistic life. To be ideal there will be no conformity. So, when I live in conformity how can I be in Utopia?
Myself
Hummm.
What can I say? I am a normal person. I don’t think I am very simple, but I know I am uncomplicated. I think, I write, I work, I live, I love, I play, I plan, I travel, I organize, I sometimes can be charming. I also know each of these good things I imagine doing are for myself and they may not be the same for anyone else you wish to join in Utopia with. That’s the major problem. Hey why me? Even communists failed to live in Utopia. Plato just imagined it, and Atlantis is under the sea and I can’t live there. With all the daily pondering I am having a tough time finding Utopia on earth, so why would want to be a fish?
No doubt when I go through today, I will be traveling, I will be looking, I will be waiting, and I will be wishing to find my Utopia. What is life for except to find a perfect place to live in? I am sure I will find it. But if I don’t how would I know?
This article on trying to find a utopia poses very many interesting questions and topics. I enjoyed how this spoke it gave the reader questions to ask himself or herself to see if they are truly finding the utopia that they are trying to find. In my research paper i mention many of these different aspects such as not knowing a destination or what he is about to do next. That leaves things without endings so the person can expand or do whatever they want at that point. This process of not knowing what is next takes so much stress off the normal human being in today's society. Everybody is always in a rush and thinking "Oh, I have to do this or I have to do that." The article speaks about how he can get wherever he wants via plane or car but what if he doesnt want to travel in that way because it is not his ideal way to travel which then would not be his utopia.
Did you know about human rights day?
Why is it that I have never heard of this? Why didn't anyone on campus talk about it? Or did i merely miss the memo? Why does it seem like we remember Christmas, Birthdays, and Party times but not a national day devoted to human rights? Are we that de-sensitized that we don't even know what's happening in our own world? I think it's unacceptabel that a national day of recognition goes unrecognized. It's the same attitude that caused some to believe that the holocaust never happened. If we don't give honor where it's due then we aren't helping our society, we're ignoring it.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Sustainable Buildings
I thought that this video was really cool, not because of the buildings, but because of the Albert Einstein quote. It says "A problem cannot be solved on the same level of thinking that caused the problem." I thought that this quote just summed up everything that we have been talking about. It goes along with what Bill McKibbon said about how we need to change the way that we think if we want to change the planet. The people in the video are trying to do just that. While I do not think that the building style in the video is the way of the future, it is nice to see that someone is trying to think outside the box. We need to do more of this in every area of society so that we don't end up with a world like that of Oryx and Crake.
Sustainable City Design
This video is part of a series of videos on YouTube about sustainable city design. I believe that city design is going to be one of the keys in determining whether or not we can turn everything around. This talks about how the city has a high population density is in the center of town and along transit lines. This is very important in designing a sustainable city. What needs to happen is that we need to shorten the distance that people and things have to travel to get where they need to go. Travel and transport are two of the main contributors of carbon to the atmosphere. By designing our cities more effectively and with the environment in mind, we can make a major difference.
Thank You Sweatshops
From the clothing we wear to the toys our children play with, store shelves are stocked with goods made in sweatshops. Workers labor in unsafe conditions and are paid wages so low they must struggle to feed and shelter their families. The aisles we shop are lined with products made in factories that exploit child labor and fire and harass workers when they try to improve their lives by forming unions. This video reveals the harsh reality of how many stores that we shop at and trust, are victimizing innocent people and children. The worst part is, when we buy a new sweater or pair of tennis shoes, we do not think twice. We are not aware of the situation. We must research this issue so that before we make our next purchase, we are fully aware of the consequences.
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