Energy and Place Project
Essential Questions:
1. How does energy production impactplace? 2. How does your sense of place, environmental ethic and understanding of our energy needs influence your perception and decisions regarding energy production? |
Reflection:
For this project, we learned about energy, energy sources, conflicts with energy sources, and how they affect the environment. We talked about man's impact on the environment, and how it affected our sense of place. We also talked about the places we considered home, or where we felt we could be our true selves.
We read a lot about Environmentalism, and radical envrionmentalists like Ed Abbey. A lot of what we focused on is how sustainable our world's lifestyle is, and how we could be putting our ecology in ruin.
We were asked to write an essay about our sense of place, and articulate how that place made us feel. It took a lot of personal reflection to write this essay for me, because I had been feeling a great sense of placelessness at the time. I went through a lot of personal changes this year, which is why I wrote about running. Running takes you places. You go running somewhere, and it gives you a different perspective on that place. When the wind is blowing past you and all you can hear is the pounding of your feet on the ground, you see past the facade of the place you're living. Places, and people, can't lie to you if you're looking from a distance.
I'm really proud of the essay I wrote. I wrote about something really personal to me, which has been difficult in the past. I was really excited about the nature writing part of the assignment, but I had trouble incorporating my environmental ethic. I feel like I let a lot of myself out into this essay, and I'm really proud of it.
"I become a part of something bigger than myself as I float, unrestrained, deeper into its vastness."
For this project, we learned about energy, energy sources, conflicts with energy sources, and how they affect the environment. We talked about man's impact on the environment, and how it affected our sense of place. We also talked about the places we considered home, or where we felt we could be our true selves.
We read a lot about Environmentalism, and radical envrionmentalists like Ed Abbey. A lot of what we focused on is how sustainable our world's lifestyle is, and how we could be putting our ecology in ruin.
We were asked to write an essay about our sense of place, and articulate how that place made us feel. It took a lot of personal reflection to write this essay for me, because I had been feeling a great sense of placelessness at the time. I went through a lot of personal changes this year, which is why I wrote about running. Running takes you places. You go running somewhere, and it gives you a different perspective on that place. When the wind is blowing past you and all you can hear is the pounding of your feet on the ground, you see past the facade of the place you're living. Places, and people, can't lie to you if you're looking from a distance.
I'm really proud of the essay I wrote. I wrote about something really personal to me, which has been difficult in the past. I was really excited about the nature writing part of the assignment, but I had trouble incorporating my environmental ethic. I feel like I let a lot of myself out into this essay, and I'm really proud of it.
"I become a part of something bigger than myself as I float, unrestrained, deeper into its vastness."
Take Action Documentation:
Artist Response- Building a sculpture and displaying it
Project Proposal:
Our take action plan is to build a life size human statue out of plastic bags and copper wire, both which can be recycled, to display the effects they have on our environment. We are trying to solve the use of plastic bags in negative ways in the environment, as a smear campaign.
Why:
People don't realize what an effect something this seemingly trivial can have on our ecosystem. For me, (Keely), the ocean is a really special place for me and it's destroying tons of underwater ecosystems. For me (Aubree) seeing the trash that is on trails when I run makes me mad because that is my sense of place.
Vision:
We believe our town will be more educated about the effects that plastic bags have on our ecosystems. In the long term, we hope to see either a reduction in plastic bag use, removal of the pollution from Durango's land, or an increase in recycling.
Mission:
On average it takes anywhere between 10-100 years for a bag to biodegrade. This is why we want to create an art piece that will positively impact the community by shocking them into recycling more. We also to inform them that there actually are specific recycling bins for bags. We are inspired to take action in this way because we see how it affects the places we love and the life that comes with it, all in negative ways. We think that if we are going to continue to waste all of these natural resources we should use them in ways that won't permanently affect the environment.
Audience:
Durango community and future legislators who could pass laws, like in telluride, that could reduce plastic consumption.
Strategy:
Setting up a public art piece on the corner of Buckley park and presenting to people what it represents.
Link to Photo Documentation: https://www.haikudeck.com/copy-of-take-action-project-art-and-design-presentation-RARyi35qIU
Artist Statement:
THE FACE OF OUR FUTURE
For our art piece, we’re building a life-sized statue made of copper wiring and plastic bags. The thought process we had behind this started with our sense of place essays- both of our special places were drastically affected by pollution, especially plastic grocery bags. In the ocean, the effect it’s causing on the animals is ruining ecosystems and killing millions of creatures a year. In the mountains, trails are littered with plastic bags and pollute the rivers and streams; causing animals to ingest them and kill them.
Mission/ Vision:
On average it takes anywhere between 10-100 years for a bag to biodegrade. This is why we want to create an art piece that will positively impact the community by shocking them into recycling more. We also to inform them that there actually are specific recycling bins for bags. We are inspired to take action in this way because we see how it affects the places we love and the life that comes with it, all in negative ways. We think that if we are going to continue to waste all of these natural resources we should use them in ways that won't permanently affect the environment. We believe our town will be more educated about the effects that plastic bags have on our ecosystems. In the long term, we hope to see either a reduction in plastic bag use, removal of the pollution from Durango's land, or an increase in recycling.
Through our project we managed to make an effect on at least 25 people.
Reflection:
We took action by going to several different spots in our community and setting up a statue of a plastic bag man. Our reasoning behind this was because we wanted to make the citizens of Durango aware of the effect using plastic products have on our environment. We were hoping that even if it was only on a few peoples lives, we could change the way they use plastic products and find new uses for them. Uses such as recycling, packing lunches, using them for dog waste, or creating a new carry bag out of bags. When we waste plastic bags we are polluting the ocean and killing animals.
Our project answered the essential question because we took something that impacted our home places, also something that is a huge source of waste, and raised awareness about it. Because both our sense of places happen to be in the outdoors (ocean and mountains) we felt it necessary to research the true effects of plastic bag waste. Turns out that each consecutive family of 4 wastes 1500 plastic bags per year and the United States alone enough to build a ten foot wall from New York To LA. This changed our perspective largely because it is our future we are going to affect and we are not sustaining our environment.
Artist Response- Building a sculpture and displaying it
Project Proposal:
Our take action plan is to build a life size human statue out of plastic bags and copper wire, both which can be recycled, to display the effects they have on our environment. We are trying to solve the use of plastic bags in negative ways in the environment, as a smear campaign.
Why:
People don't realize what an effect something this seemingly trivial can have on our ecosystem. For me, (Keely), the ocean is a really special place for me and it's destroying tons of underwater ecosystems. For me (Aubree) seeing the trash that is on trails when I run makes me mad because that is my sense of place.
Vision:
We believe our town will be more educated about the effects that plastic bags have on our ecosystems. In the long term, we hope to see either a reduction in plastic bag use, removal of the pollution from Durango's land, or an increase in recycling.
Mission:
On average it takes anywhere between 10-100 years for a bag to biodegrade. This is why we want to create an art piece that will positively impact the community by shocking them into recycling more. We also to inform them that there actually are specific recycling bins for bags. We are inspired to take action in this way because we see how it affects the places we love and the life that comes with it, all in negative ways. We think that if we are going to continue to waste all of these natural resources we should use them in ways that won't permanently affect the environment.
Audience:
Durango community and future legislators who could pass laws, like in telluride, that could reduce plastic consumption.
Strategy:
Setting up a public art piece on the corner of Buckley park and presenting to people what it represents.
Link to Photo Documentation: https://www.haikudeck.com/copy-of-take-action-project-art-and-design-presentation-RARyi35qIU
Artist Statement:
THE FACE OF OUR FUTURE
For our art piece, we’re building a life-sized statue made of copper wiring and plastic bags. The thought process we had behind this started with our sense of place essays- both of our special places were drastically affected by pollution, especially plastic grocery bags. In the ocean, the effect it’s causing on the animals is ruining ecosystems and killing millions of creatures a year. In the mountains, trails are littered with plastic bags and pollute the rivers and streams; causing animals to ingest them and kill them.
Mission/ Vision:
On average it takes anywhere between 10-100 years for a bag to biodegrade. This is why we want to create an art piece that will positively impact the community by shocking them into recycling more. We also to inform them that there actually are specific recycling bins for bags. We are inspired to take action in this way because we see how it affects the places we love and the life that comes with it, all in negative ways. We think that if we are going to continue to waste all of these natural resources we should use them in ways that won't permanently affect the environment. We believe our town will be more educated about the effects that plastic bags have on our ecosystems. In the long term, we hope to see either a reduction in plastic bag use, removal of the pollution from Durango's land, or an increase in recycling.
Through our project we managed to make an effect on at least 25 people.
Reflection:
We took action by going to several different spots in our community and setting up a statue of a plastic bag man. Our reasoning behind this was because we wanted to make the citizens of Durango aware of the effect using plastic products have on our environment. We were hoping that even if it was only on a few peoples lives, we could change the way they use plastic products and find new uses for them. Uses such as recycling, packing lunches, using them for dog waste, or creating a new carry bag out of bags. When we waste plastic bags we are polluting the ocean and killing animals.
Our project answered the essential question because we took something that impacted our home places, also something that is a huge source of waste, and raised awareness about it. Because both our sense of places happen to be in the outdoors (ocean and mountains) we felt it necessary to research the true effects of plastic bag waste. Turns out that each consecutive family of 4 wastes 1500 plastic bags per year and the United States alone enough to build a ten foot wall from New York To LA. This changed our perspective largely because it is our future we are going to affect and we are not sustaining our environment.