"Well done is better than well said"

Reduce Child mortality.

This presentation was very powerful. The images that they used in their PowerPoint presentation were simple and provocative. They succeeded in getting me to think about something that I have never really considered. As in all of the presentations the facts are breathtaking. The shear magnitude of some of the numbers makes me stop and wonder where we are putting our effort. Are we really so self-centered that we try to develop new technologies that we will never really need when children and mothers are suffering all around the world. I think this is a question that is prevalent especially for us as college students. We are probably some of the most privileged people in the world. The education and practical knowledge that we are being fed cannot be neglected. We need to be motivated and care enough to do something about the issues in the world. We only get one shot to live our lives, in the end I want to look back and know that I did not waste my life on material and insignificant things. It is my hope that I will be able to look back and see that we as Americans used our great gifts to reach the world and sustain it for generations to come.

Eradicate poverty and world hunger.

I choose this presentation because it is also very powerful and induced a similar reaction as the other goal. Again, as in all the presentations the facts are overwhelming. This is tempered by the fact that we do have the resources and strength to solve many of these problems. So why don’t we do it? I am not knowledgeable enough to answer that question. The more I think about the things that are happening around the world I cannot help but be slightly discouraged. I have never even been outside of the country. I’ve been in my little American school system bubble ever since I was little. All I can rely on is what I’ve been told and sometimes I don’t know how much I can trust. Nevertheless, there are important issues in our global society and it will take a world effort to solve them.

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Below are the three concepts that I came up with for possible title page layouts. I tried to keep them simple, including only the title of our goal and some of our main focus areas.

Title Page #1

Title Page #2

Title Page #3

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Now that we have begun to brainstorm about our individual paper topics, we now have started to wonder how we can best present our findings. With the logistics of the paper hammered down we need to find an effective, simple, and efficient way to present. As a group we have come to the unofficial conclusion that we will try to use Microsoft Power Point to create a set of slides that will complement what we have to say. This however, is not the only option we have been thinking about. We could write a paper, which would be boring and tedious to write as a group and convey our findings in a compelling fashion. We could create a poster but with the amount of information that we have already gathered it would be difficult to accommodate it all. Power point seems to be the simplest and most effective way of communicating the amount of information we have. Now we are faced with the task of putting the presentation together. How do we set up pages, diagrams, pictures, and facts? I thought that this picture was clever and a good base rule to follow.

Through our design we must enhance the presentation. One aspect of this is obviously visual appeal. We must first make of paper or information look appealing if anyone is going to read it. Second we must make the information easily to follow and logical in its layout, so that someone with no prior knowledge of our topic will be able to learn quickly and easily. I explored online for design schemes and here is some of the things that I found that our presentation could be derived from.

In this example I like how the pictures are laid out. How they are place side to side gives you the impression that they are making up something larger, and does not give your eye time to rest.

I’m not really sure why I choose this one, except that it catches my eye.

This image gave me the idea that we could present our final paper in a nice presentation folder.

I think this design really shows how a strong graphic can draw you in.

I could probably go on like this for quite some time, but I think that these images and concepts are going to serve as a jumping off point for our presentation. We will have to come up with something new and engaging for our project to be worth remembering.

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Human existence is manifested in the presence of oppositions. When the human domain and the physical domain come together you find the struggle that is human existence.

An opposition is defined as any time the ideas of the body, mind, individual, or collective come into contact with the empirical and metaphysical characteristics of the physical realm. The physical realm consists of materials, chemistry, climate, electricity, biology, time, optical phenomenon, and physical phenomenon. It is up to the designer to dream up ideas that somehow bring the two opposing sides together. The basic manifestation of this is the built environment. With this mindset, the built environment becomes a beautiful balance of opposites, someplace where humans and the physical realm have come together to form something unique. For example, gravity is a physical force that continually pulls us toward the center of the earth. When humans and gravity come together you get stairs. The stair allows the human domain to interact with this force. Creating a balance where the physical realm can be respected and the human domain can move to new levels.

So how does this affect my identity? First we must look at the built environment that I am a part of, currently the University of Minnesota.

I interact with the built environment of the University on a daily basis, and I think that its characteristics and my lifestyle have become very similar. The university is designed to be a place of learning and that is what I am here to do, what I’m learning I haven’t quite figured out yet, but I hope that it will all make sense someday. It is also a fast paced campus, where there are countless things to do and be a part of that sometimes it feels like things just don’t stop coming at you. It has been designed to be like this. The campus was created to accommodate thousands of people from all over the country and all over the world. This opposition of distances has come together to form the university, where we can all come together to share ideas and learn. I feel as if I am part of something bigger here. There are major research facilities and big ten sport teams all around me. It is hard not to feel connected to or even proud of that legacy.

Along with the University, the other built environment I have been a part of is my home in Madison Wisconsin.

The house my parents still live in today was where I had lived for the first eighteen years of my life. We never moved, so this place has a certain permanent quality in my life. Moving away to college was my first out of home experience, so my house and the surrounding area still have a very tight grip on me. Life was so familiar there, the sights all the same the people and activities always right at my fingertips. This was an environment where al l my needs were provided for, I was left with time on my hands to explore things that interested me and gave me pleasure. Now that I am a college I have those same opportunities, but now there are on a much deeper level. The new environment has given me a sort of reality check, questioning my feelings and concepts of life as I knew it. Since I arrived I have been challenged to differentiate between what I find to be worthwhile and what will satisfy me here and now. This has not always been easy, and I constantly find myself trying to slow down my busy lifestyle to think about the important questions in life such as my major, what really matters to me, religion, faith, friendship, school, my family, and my ideals. The wonderful thing is that this campus provides me with the opportunity to develop all of these things. There is always a place where I can go to explore and research new ideas. This comforts me and gives me hope that one day I will know where I am going and how I’m going to get there. But until then I am content to just wait, question and explore, confident that whatever I am searching for will become clear.

Pictures:
http://edynblog.wordpress.com/2007/05/17/madison-wisconsin-rated-10/
http://outside.away.com/outside/destinations/200608/best-outside-towns-2006-6.html
http://www.december.com/places/people/cases.html
http://www.sjmc.umn.edu/aboutus/sjmc_mission.html
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/amerst/MallsDef.htm
http://www.askmen.com/sports/fitness_top_ten_100/113c_fitness_list.html

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I finally had the opportunity to return to my volunteer site last Wednesday, took me long enough. I had some difficulties getting in touch with the organization and a little trouble finding out how it would fit into my schedule. Now several weeks into the semester, I finally received a message from the Plymouth Christian Youth Center saying that I could come in any time I wanted.

First a little about the organization, the PYC is an alternative elementary and High School in North Minneapolis. It is located just off of Broadway, a thirty minute bus ride from the U. The students enrolled are mainly African Americans who live in the surrounding community. In the rather large building, there is space for a complete elementary school and a High School, including computer labs, a library, a gym, and office spaces. The people are what make it special. Ever since my first day there last semester I was immediately accepted by the staff and the students. There is so much love and patience in this building that it is hard not to be happy while you’re there.

I had the opportunity to work with the after school program. This included kinder-gardeners, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. It was my task to work with the students who stayed after school. We would do anything from read stories, color pictures, do homework, fold paper, watch movies, or play outside or in the gym. To be honest I wasn’t sure I was up for the task at first, but I was presently surprised at the challenges and rewards of working with the kids.

My last visit there was, yet again, a positive experience. I was surprised to find that some of the kids recognized me from last semester (that was over two months ago). It was defiantly rewarding to interact with those kids again. When I first arrived, I was a little disappointed to learn that this Wednesday was going to be like their Friday. I shortly found out that this was because the Minneapolis Public Schools had Thursday and Friday off this week. On these days they usually get out of their classrooms to play in the gym and watch a movie. Unfortunately, when they watch a movie there isn’t a lot for the volunteers to do so I usually end up leaving. However, this time there was a delay in the movie and we had some time to first hang out in their common area and then we went into the gym to play. These experiences have shown me how much you can learn from taking part in volunteer opportunities. Not only do you get the chance to interact with and help kids younger than yourself, but you have the valuable opportunity to learn life skills and really challenge yourself to do something actually worthwhile.

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To begin I was a little confused with the blog prompt for this week. “If you were completely released from the constraints of the ‘architecture school program’ what would you do architecturally, artistically, boldly, lyrically, etc, that would have an impact on the environment. Describe a real or imagined place that might allow you to do this.� I’m going to take this as meaning two things. First, I have just been kicked out of school, but this is not a bad thing apparently, I am now free from restrictions. Second, I am given anything and everything I want. Then we can just add on that I am told to go out and make an impact on the environment. So I am going to stick with what I think is important, service. Service can manifest itself in many forms, service to yourself, your college, your neighbors, your state and your country. Along with this I have recently been exposed to an idea of servant leadership that I find very interesting. Servant leadership is when a leader leads by doing acts of service. While taking on roles of responsibility it is always realized that the work you are doing is not purely for your benefit, but for the benefit of others. In a company this could mean being deliberate in serving your peers. Asking them what you can do to make their job easier. We have to realize that without clients or employees we would have no way work to do any work. We must realize that what we do is for the client, and all decisions should be based on this simple truth.

So how do I change the world with this philosophy? Well, I also happen to be an engineering major, which leaves me with a very distinct way of looking at things. I like see a problem, try study it, and solve it in a practical fashion. Abstractions are good, but when it comes do to it your actions are what make a difference. One of the main things we need to do is interact with a community. I America I think we sometimes lose sense of the place we fit into society. With the advancement in technology we can live more and more isolated lives. We can in effect tune out the world, and live in our own little bubble. So what do we do? A start for me would be to be actively involved in other people’s lives. It is really easy for me to get wrapped up in school work and forget about all the things that are going on around me. Spending hours on my homework assignments takes me away from the world I live in, and gives me a very self-centered mindset. One of the first things I would need to do before attempting to better the environment around me would be to talk to the people who inhabit this space with me. I would have to ask them what they want and need out of this space. Only than can we get down and dirty in designing a better environment. The environment we create as a team would then be something beautiful and 100% functional.

To sum up, the way that I would want to have an impact on the environment would to become a servant to it. It is in this way that you can discover and accomplish something that is in the best interests of a group of people. To put yourself first, and design the building that you want to see would be a mistake. To creatively design something that the community wants you to would be a true act of architecture.

Pictures:
http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2007/10/thinking_man2.jpg
http://www.toycon.com/bruder/bruder.html
http://www.cityfarmer.org/Napa.html

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When I look at the UN development goals I go through the same thought process: “Wow! We should really be doing something about this, why are all these people suffering�. Tthen I continue to think about it and realize the true scale of all of these issues. They’re HUGE and they require nothing less than a world effort to solve (most the countries in the world don’t even get along). Then you have to realize how fortunate we are to live where we do and have the technology and resources to provide for our everyday needs. At that same moment you look at an issue like environment sustainability, and see that because we are so ‘blessed’ to have all of these resources we have become one of the major contributors to the problem. Hopefully, over the next few years we can come together as citizens of the Planet Earth and do something to help each other, help the only home we know.

Enough of that. I picked environmental sustainability for my UN Millennium Development goal. I have been very interested in it for the past few years and this comes at a cool time in my academic career because I am just now taking a class entitled “Environmental Engineering�, which we have just begun to discuss climate change, and sustainability.

Moving right along to quotes; when I was looking at quotes online I settled on two that I think had the potential to motivate me to do something.

“Environmental sustainability is not an option - it is a necessity. For economies to flourish, for global poverty to be banished, for the well-being of the world's people to be enhanced - not just in this generation but in succeeding generations - we have a compelling and ever more urgent duty of stewardship to take care of the natural environment and resources on which our economic activity and social fabric depends. ... A new paradigm that sees economic growth, social justice and environmental care advancing together can become the common sense of our age.�

Gordon Brown
http://www.allgreatquotes.com

There are two things that I really like about this quote. First, how he says that environmental sustainability is not an option – it is a necessity. We have this tendency to ignore or not take seriously anything that doesn’t affect us right here and right now. Second, he says that we have a ‘duty of stewardship’. Right here he is appealing to a natural responsibility that we have all inherited, to care for the earth.

The question is...whether we shall, by whatever means, succeed in reconstituting the natural world as the true terrain of politics, rehabilitating the personal experience of human beings as the initial measure of things, placing morality above politics and responsibility above our desires, in making human community meaningful, in returning content to human speech, in reconstituting, as the focus of all social action, the autonomous, integral, and dignified human "I,"...

Vaclav Havel
http://www.allgreatquotes.com

The one thing I appreciate about this quote is that Vaclav Havel is calling us out. He says ‘placing morality above politics and responsibility above our desires’. Throughout this process we are going to have to make sacrifices, I’m not too excited about it, and I don’t think the rest of the word is. In both of these quotes, there is an emphasis on the responsibility we have in caring for our planet.

Moving on to photographs.

http://www.resourcesystemsconsulting.com/blog/

http://climatex.org/media/images-image-image/Garbage_landfill.jpg

These are both images from landfills. I think it is pretty well accepted that a landfill is bad for the environment, and not remotely close to upholding the idea of sustainability. I had the opportunity to do a little research and here is what I found out.

The purpose of any landfill is to cover up waste in such a way that it will be isolated from the groundwater around it. Care is also taken so it remains dry and does not come in contact with the air. Under these conditions the waste will decompose very slowly. To put this in perspective, when old landfills have been excavated and sample there have been 40 year old newspapers found that are still legible. Along with that, a portion of the earth’s raw materials are dropped into landfills, this is why recycling is important.

On the other end of the spectrum you have projects like the Ecocity. During Earth Week (April 22-26), The Ecoctiy World Summit will be meeting in San Francisco, California. This is a worldwide meeting of professionals desiring change. They meet to discuss long term sustainable solutions that are healthy and socially just. I found a few more drawings on the web by just searching Ecocity on Google. I found myself wondering what if……..

http://www.ecocitybuilders.org/downtown.html

http://malaysiacity.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/ecocity-mid-valley/

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/ecocity_propose.php

http://managingthedragon.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/dongtan-east-village-and-east-lake.jpg

Lastly, I brought together a selection of songs that dealt with the problem of the environment and our negative effect on it. I’ve included small portions of the lyrics for each song.

“Don’t Go Near the Water�- The Beach Boys

Oceans, rivers, lakes and streams
Have all been touched by man
The poison floating out to sea
Now threatens life on land

Don’t go near the water
Aint it sad
What’s happened to the water
Its going bad

“Wond’ring Again� – Jethro Tull

There’s the stillness of death on a deathly un-living sea,
And the motor car magical world long since ceased to be,
When the eve-bitten apple returned to destroy the tree.

“Waiting on the World to Change� – John Mayer

So We Keep Waiting
Waiting On The World To Change
We Keep On Waiting
Waiting On The World To Change

All song lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com

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Before answering the question poised in the blog prompt I thought it would be interesting and beneficial to think about design in general.

Design:
1) to prepare the preliminary sketch or the plans for (a work to be executed), esp. to plan the form and structure of: to design a new bridge.
2) to form or conceive in the mind; contrive; plan

This started me thinking about how every aspect of our world has to go through some design process before it can be implemented. Our pencils, backpacks, computers, buildings, walkways, buildings, schools, and even cities are conceived and edited by a team of designers before it even comes close to you, the consumer. Without designers we would have no organized system within our society. No efficiency. For example, I started looking at my ipod. I noticed how it felt in my hand, how much it weighs, how it was colored, and how easy it was to use. On a larger scale I could look around my campus, how are the different buildings connected, how are they oriented and placed with respect to each other, how are roads placed in a city so you can get from point A to point B, what about the placement of trees.

The more I looked the more I saw a distinction between good and bad designs. You begin to see what had been constructed haphazardly only to provide for an immediate need, and what had been constructed carefully. Often the things that have been designed carefully have taken into account the big picture around the object. Let’s move back to the design issues within our lives. Some are more serious than others. The less serious only inconveniencing us as we go about our daily activities, while the more serious issues can go as far as to threaten our very lives.

For a design issue I would like to talk about obesity in America. I found this chart at the Obesity in America website.

http://www.obesityinamerica.org/trends.html

It is certainly clear in all age groups that the percentages are increasing from year to year and we need to stop and ask ourselves why this is happening. There are several different ways you can approach the problem. Some stand by the research that shows that obesity is a result of genetic makeup, one example would be the hormone lepton. It is secreted by fat cells to help control food intake. In short, research has shown that obese patients do not respond to the lepton in their blood, suggesting that something in their genetic makeup prevents them from responding to the hormone. On the other hand, the environment that we live in today has a major influence on obesity. First off we live in a fast paced society. In our food, we are sacrificing nutrition for speed. Our fast growing cities eliminates the possibility of walking or biking as a major form of transportation. Our children no longer partake in physical activity. In our technological age we can now meet all our needs by going on the internet, playing video games or watching TV. There are 200,000 deaths in a year that are attributed to physical inactivity. The medical cost associated with physical inactivity and its outcomes is approximately $76 billion. This is a major design issue and we cannot just let it go. We need to be actively engaging the problem as we design and expand. One interesting solution is to build a new type of community where all the necessary services would be within walking distance. This would result in more physical activity and a tighter nit community.

To conclude I would like to take a step back and look at the issue as a whole. You can see that there is a certain amount of responsibility for people to maintain an active healthy lifestyle. However, after analyzing the environmental factors associated with obesity, I think there is something to say there. The way we live our lives is converging toward this result. If we continue to design the way we have been we will only see the percentages in America rise. This leaves our generation with a choice, we can either choose to change or continue on the same path and hope it would go away.

references:
-http://www.obesityinamerica.org/trends.html
-http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/design
-http://www.lgc.org/freepub/land_use/presentations/zykofsky_denver03/index.htm

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When I think of energy the first word that comes to mind is dynamic. I like the word dynamic because it embodies energy with an ever-changing quality. It is true that energy can be stored and held still, but it is always with the intent of letting it loose later. Energy is a constantly changing entity; it is transferred, accumulated, discharged, and magnified. It is such a unique substance that it cannot actually be destroyed or created; only transferred between bodies.

When you walk through a city the presence of energy is undeniable. Not just the physical energy that powers our buildings and cars, but a more surreal energy that connects everything. I would like to define this energy as the energy of opportunity, and any city is overflowing with it. A city is a center of thought and activity. People are living and working in such close contact that their lives begin to intertwine. These people are the bodies that accumulate and discharge energy. Their everyday actions and decisions create an environment that allows for the free flow of energy. One person may use energy to do something that will transfer energy to another person who, in turn, will use that energy to influence someone else. I believe opportunity is a good way to define city energy, because in order for it to be used it must first be engaged. It is a conscious decision to actively seek it out and see how it will change your life. In this sense a city becomes an endless series of possibilities that are waiting to be discovered.

When it comes to capturing energy, I think that Andy Goldstein and his sculptures did an excellent job. All of his works seemed to spring right out of nature. It was in nature that he discovered an energy that we can never really understand. I think that his sculptures capture energy for two reasons. First, they are rooted in and interact with nature, which is an abundant source of energy. Second, many of them are not made to be permanent. This characteristic makes his sculptures literally dynamic. His creations move through the environment, continuously changing until they are eventually absorbed back into what they came from.

I think that Goldstein’s manifestations of energy can serve as a starting point to understanding the energy within a city. From seeing him work with his materials and create something unique I think we can begin to understand how energy flows. Whatever we choose to do with the energy that we are given will ultimately be up to us, and the consequences both good and bad will effect everyone around us.

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