This week brought so many different epiphanies and pondering thoughts. I really enjoyed the readings this week and beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So many weeks I left class with a heavy heart and feeling like such a burden to the planet. It’s nice to finally see (hear) of very intriguing solutions; including some of the really neat solutions my fellow students have come up with! First I will cover my epiphanies (or ah ha moments) from the readings. In Bradely Quinn’s reading, I was really impressed with so many solutions that have been devised! I am also incredibly impressed by the creative minds of human, such as creating shock absorbency qualities after studying how insect’s exoskeletons work. The information presented in both the reading and eco-view about the re-creating spider silk. Who knew something that seems so delicate, blows away in the wind, or can be struck down with a household broom could become something so sturdy! I enjoyed the Fletcher article as well. The title alone is such a good sum up of what sustainability is and should be; local and light. I know I find that when were having to brain storm solutions I think it needs to be something big and grandeur and yet the gentleman who pushes his ice cream cart around fixing holes and hems is being extraordinarily sustainable. Lastly, and not to beat a dead horse on this one, but I was REALLY surprised when it came to how many people said they would not be buried in a eco-pod! YOU WILL BE DEAD!! Really? If you are so opposed to eco-friendly products for your death, how do you all feel about them now, while you are alive? Why not try to preserve the planet even in our death. Not only that they are decorated WAY cooler than any coffin I have ever seen!
I think this week was very important to see the big and small solutions for our future! It definitely made sustainability seem much more obtainable! I think the importance of looking into the oldest user of self-reliance and renewal, nature, will be the most beneficial resource for the future! It offers the most knowledge and trial and error processes.
In the future, I hope to get a change to work on more sustainable projects and look into biomimicry to create long lasting designs. I will definitely keep the articles we have read this semester nearby. There are so many innovative products and ideas that are being created and implemented now it is sad that more of them are not being utilized, such as the shark like skin that is put on the bottom of boats! Not only that if we can run our OSU buses off of natural gas could we do the same with those ships and be even more eco-friendly?!
I would like to know more about the utilization of these “solutions”. Why aren’t more of them being implemented? I know some great ideas are just that, great ideas, or they have one great prototype, but that means to make the prototype was so much that they never mass-produced. Is that the case with many of these products? I once heard someone say that sustainability is just a fad. What will cause the shift from fad to true implementation and have sustainability become a classic design?