Author Archives: Michelle
Posts by Michelle
Playing with Augmented Reality
As I mentioned in class, I tried to play with the idea of augmented reality, or enhancing the physical world with virtual overlays and images. Here I depicted a technology that would allow you to adjust the view from the balcony of your home or apartment, or even hotel room. I imagine it would require some sort of motion sensing technology and would not have a physical interface but would rather be reminiscent of a hologram. Not only could you select what you want to look at but you could also augment other senses. For example, you could choose what sounds you want to hear. You could also choose the temperature in your area and the strength of the wind. Perhaps you could even choose what you smell at that point in time. This technology would completely erase any geographic boundaries that exist today because it would bring the location to you.
Wake Up, NYC
There is something about these two articles that is deeply disconcerting about the real lack of preparation NYC has undergone for the next 100 years and about how blind we are to the problem of climate change. In the Executive Summary section of the NPCC Climate Risk Information Report, it states that Mayor Bloomberg convened the first New York City Panel on Climate change in 2008. It wasn’t until 2013 (FIVE years later!) that he convened the second panel, after Hurricane Sandy had occurred in October 2012. And while we have gathered data and come to the firm conclusion that climate change is occurring more and more rapidly, the only suggestions mentioned were to create more models and do more research. While there’s no denying the fact that scientific research and modeling are crucial to understanding how the next 100 years or so will unfold, it has no real value if it cannot be put into practice.
The MPRA study by Luca D’Acci really answers the question why do we wait until the problem has already occurred to do anything about it? “Societies and cities–their physical skeletons–are created by the constant game between private and public interest, personal and aggregate preferences/needs; and private and public interests depend on cultures, religions, politics, etc.” But this relationship goes both ways. People, too, are influenced by the physical cities they live in. This is why it’s so difficult to break the cycle once a city, such as NYC, becomes so deeply rooted in its ways. Because there is a lack of government initiative in terms of smarter urban planning, citizens do not feel the need to respond to climate change. Because citizens are not pushing for legislation, the government also occupies itself with more “urgent” legislations. The question is: who needs to make the first steps towards changing the way we prepare for the future?
Comments by Michelle
"I feel like the use of the word "greenwashing" is a little too liberal. While there's no arguing that companies are still engaging in practices that are not good for the environment, I am sure that both the government and rational consumers are aware of this fact. As Tom mentioned, the U.S. does employ a free market economy and the market does favor "greenwashing" over green practices. Big companies are under no immediate threat of regulation at this point because they are the biggest drivers of the economy. The real question, in my opinion, is should the government be seeking tighter regulation on such companies? I think it's not realistic at this point in time and the sad truth is it probably won't happen until we are faced with immediate environmental catastrophe."
--( posted on Mar 4, 2014, commenting on the post
To burn or not to burn? )
"I agree with my peers in that rapid radical change is not ever likely to work. As human being we are conditioned to fear change, especially when it directly involves us having to take actions to make that change happen. We definitely have to make a conscious effort to practice a "greener" lifestyle and we need to face the urgency of our situation. As we mentioned in class before, we really do need to "normalize" this way of thinking and living and we need to make it as convenient as possible for the average Joe. We would really have to make recycling, saving paper, installing solar panels, whatever it may be, something that is uniform across all socioeconomic classes, all ages, genders, occupations. Because as long as we see it as a big threatening change, nothing is going to get done. That being said, I still hold the opinion that it is the role of government to take the first steps to making these changes. In this way, they can set an example for individual citizens to follow."
--( posted on Mar 4, 2014, commenting on the post
How easy is a greener tomorrow? )
