When I wrote my first post for this class, I wrote what I felt. Edgy, sad, I thought that portraying New York City as anything other than the glamorous city it’s seen as by the world would accomplish something. Trigger a reaction, make me reconsider my own perspective, perhaps just make me seem cool. But I quickly realized that many of my classmates echoed the same sentiment, the things I pass every day that cause me to quicken my pace and avoid eye contact was something every New Yorker was experiencing, and it was relieving to know that I was not alone. It made me wonder what it was that gravitated not only me but others towards the trash on the streets rather than the countless beauties hidden between the building walls.

I found my wondering satisfied only when I left the city. The picture I took was really interesting because the beautiful skyline that is marveled worldwide looked like its caged inside. Of course it was just a coincidence that the picture lined up in the way it did, but I felt it symbolic. A lot of people grow up in NYC, go to school here, and build their career. In a sense, the city is the world to some people, not only in a metaphoric manner, but quite literally in scale. And when your world is always full of dirty trash and the trees are always fading, it can make a person pessimistic. This relates to the subject of this IDC course. It’s the ‘future of NY’ yet rather than fantasizing about fantastical possibilities, we’re stuck with very real problems that seem very hopeless to solve. World hunger, climate change, loss of biodiversity, we keep asking “what’s the solution”, well knowing that such a question simply invites pessimism. In a sense, we cannot solve such problems. Not by ourselves in such a large scale. We try to tackle on the world’s problems not knowing how big our world is to begin with, nevertheless how monumental and complex its ailments are. In the same way, how can we expect us to believe in ourselves to save NYC when it is, in scale, the world to us? Suddenly one city seems like a thousand webs intertwining with a thousand others, each thread a problem to solve, and the more you try to unweave them, the more they get tangled.

It helps to take a step back then. Like I did on the shore of New Jersey looking out at the NYC skyline, it made me realize how my mentality had caged itself in, making the city my world and its problems seemingly endless. But once I realized that it was but a city that could be observed so easily from just a short distance away, it made the city smaller, its problems more manageable, and myself a bit more optimistic. And this is how I think we can find a solution. Not by trying to overwhelm ourselves from the beginning and become discouraged, but to take things little by little, until one day we really do end up solving the world’s problems.

The last thing you expect to see when you visit a zoo are a bunch of dead animals. Rather, you expect to see animals. Lively and spright, and definitely not dreading the enclosed environment that keeps them from ever being able to freely run and roam. My mother mentioned how many zoo animals have gone insane from being in the same small room for their entire lives, kind of like how patients of insane asylums become. I don’t know how true this was, but it brought a bittersweet taste to our visit to the Bronx Zoo, and it definitely was a cherry on the top when we saw a field full of tombstones in the middle of the zoo.

The image you see is an animal cemetery. But the tombstones aren’t for specific animals, they’re for entire species that have gone extinct. If a cemetery for entire species does not scare you, I don’t know what’s up. As we discussed in class, we are currently in our 6th great extinction, our last one being the extinction of most life from meteors. The problem only gets juicier as we learn that anthropologic emissions have only helped to accelerate the process. Fluctuations in climate, geography, and biodiversity is normal. But we have severely sped up the loss of biodiversity, especially from the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest that holds over 50% of Earth’s biodiversity. These facts don’t normally impact us, the consumers at the end of the long chain of resource-gathering, processing, and selling. All we see are neatly-packaged goods that are conveniently priced, in conveniently-placed stores, for our convenient use. And I’m guilty to say that when I went to visit the Bronx zoo, this is exactly what I expected. Neatly-packaged animals living in neat and clean boxes so I could watch them as they kind of just… stood there. Gripping aspects of the inconveniences of our reality often come when we least expect it. And seeing the lifeless animals wander around, with a cemetery that spelled every species’ inevitable fate sure put me in a morbid mood. There must be more ways to connect the common public demographic to these realities. Scary because its real, the destruction of our Earth and its inhabitants is reaching a tipping point and we as individuals must do our best to spread awareness and do our part.

Not only as students but as human beings, we are constantly striving for more. We want better things, we want to improve things, and therefore our eyes are always set on the ongoing horizon. A destination that can’t be reached but a goal that we keep going for. We are trained to be competitive and to look forward only at our goals, going full speed ahead and stopping for nothing.

Ever since high school, I’ve felt troubled by this notion. I am privileged enough to receive high quality education and I almost felt brainwashed into a mentality of ignorance. I was like a competitive animal, scrounging to secure a future in a world I knew nothing about. So when I came to New York City to attend college, the real world showed its ugly face along with the bright and polished shops filled with exquisitely useless trinkets. I used to always be as considerate as I could. Give money to those on the streets, help those that are lost, give my time to those people who claim to be from Greenpeace but then ask for your credit card information after a 20 minute talk. But after several scams, racist remarks, and other unpleasantries, my 15 minute walk from my station to Baruch became a 10 minute walk. Subtle, but it wasn’t like I was going any faster. My perspective had become a straight line, to Baruch and back. I no longer looked at those sitting on the streets or people needing help with this or that, I looked forward. Determined to reach my goal and achieve my dreams, whatever they were.

I find it sad how busy student lives can be. While I feel guilty for not being a good samaritan, the student life barely allows any flexibility (in between studying, interns, jobs, clubs, etc). This picture kind of portrayed the sadness I felt, it felt representative of the emotions that stirred every time I passed a homeless man, woman, or child. Our world wants to seem polished, organized, someone spent time designing that trashcan so it could be used. But what we end up is trash still on the streets. This photo may not impact you the same way it does, but a homeless woman used to always sit here. I don’t know where she’s gone but sometimes, I wish I had stopped to say hello. New York City boasts its technological and cultural prowess, but progress must be made as human beings, not machines. We need to look left and right and see the people and trash, sometimes indistinguishable, and understand that in our journey to the future, we are leaving some behind.