ED

Yes, I have a dream but different than of King’s. It’s about transforming the UMN campus into an exemplary sustainable environment. This is the way I think I could help the environment. I could see this happen by making drastic changes in our campus to make it one of the best campuses in the world helping the environment.

First, we could start with a collaborate work of all architecture students, engineering, management, etc and faculty members to make changes in all buildings in campus, to support the environment.

Second, all UMN students should engage in planting vegetation all over campus, in every small area with trees, shrubs, etc to minimize our ecological footprint.

Third, changing the architecture program in the UMN to support the production of real life solutions as a result of architecture undergraduate students and graduate students cooperation instead of investing much of the students’ time in a project that expires as the semester ends. Just think of the amount of paper or materials used to produce your final draft of any project you worked on. Thus, I believe if the architectural program faculties changed their projects to real life problems and letting students involve and collaborate in the solving those problems will results in real production.

Forth, I would transfer all this knowledge and experience to my country Saudi Arabia which in serious need to such knowledge. Saudi Arabia is a developing country moving to modern urban design with great ignorance to the environment. Transferring the UMN will help me to transfer this knowledge a cross seas which will hopefully make bigger and bigger changes for the sake of the environment. This is the way I can help the environment.

Posted by elmoi001 at 3:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

SlideShow:

Quotes:
"For nearly 11 years, now, we have been on this mission; we call it, “climbing Mt. Sustainability�, a mountain higher than Everest, to meet at that point at the top that symbolizes zero footprint—zero environmental impact. Sustainable: taking nothing, doing no harm.� Ray Anderson

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi

"Sustainable development is...development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of further generations to meet their own needs." World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, 1987

"There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed." Mohandas K. Gandhi

"I change myself, I change the world." Gloria Anzuldua

"Oh! Much may be done by defying
The ghosts of Despair and Dismay;
And much more may be gained by relying
On "Where there's a will there's a way." Eliza Cook

Song:
First Choice is : Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green, I choose this song as a reflection of how few we are those who care and carry an enormous Burdon on issues of sustainability.


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My second song in the list is: The Sustainability Song by Nemser, I choose it because I found the lyrics of this song very relevant to the issue of sustainability.

Lastly, I want to comment on the collection of images and quotes I choosed to share with all of you. I notices one thing that I did unconsciously while choosing the quotes, which is that a majority of the selected quotes emphasized change. Then, I realize that we need an inspiration for change, a change that start by changing ones self in order to make bigger changes. All the quotes mentioned above had a special impact on me in one way or the other, and I hope you find them inspiring too.
The selection of images was a reflection on the different views I have about sustainability, some images were about nature which we afraid to loose, some were about ideas on sustainability, and some an attempt to define the purposes of sustainability.

Posted by elmoi001 at 5:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

What’s next? I found in the tragic incident of 35w bridge collapse an example of a critical social design issue which is the bad quality of design. . In 35W bridge case, the problem was a structural deficient called “Fatigue fractures� as released by Tim Galarnyk from Construction Risk Mong, Inc. As designers we should all strive to get the job done with the best quality possible. Designers nowadays tend to choose to do the job with one top goal which is to minimize the cost of materials used instead of striving for a high quality and a job well done. I think that the bridge collapse incident was avoidable if the materials used to build the structure were high quality ones. The way I see it, human life is no gamble and not comparable with any amount of money.
I start to think what next, what bridge or building, how many will be the victims of the bad quality of design!!!
Last but not least, I came through a shocking fact listed on MYFox web site that I would like to leave you with:
“In Minnesota, there are 1,097 bridges that are considered structurally deficient and that have a sufficiency rating less than or equal to 80. Of these bridges, 106 are on the state trunk highway system and 991 are on the local system. “

The causes behind 35w bridge collapse:
http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1920373&vw=g&b=0&pos=6&p=35+w+collapse&fr=slv8-mdp

Posted by elmoi001 at 3:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)