Sustainable Design

Perhaps the most common reason sustainable living is so difficult to achieve is because it’s damn near impossible to achieve on your own, at least that’s what I’ve picked up through the course of the quarter. The key seems to lie in cooperative living or some kind of strong community effort to live sustainably. That appears to be the goal in both of the designs for Village Homes and West Village. Both designs encourage a strong community organization of some sort, from narrowing streets to eliminate traffic congestion and heating costs to encouraging biking as the main mode of transportation.

This sense of community and cooperative living can really only be achieved if everyone participates on an individual effort. The communities that were discussed emphasized a strong biking system, a natural draining network, and an interactive community area. One idea that I found interesting was house most of the homes face south to cut back on heating costs. The careful consideration for resources are hardly ignored on the basic of levels; which is more than one could say about the inner-city’s resource functionality. Pulling examples from last lecture, it’s difficult for cities to accommodate bike friendly lanes and cities also don’t share a community mentality that benefits the overall neighborhood.

The difference between the Village Homes and West Village to me is the overall goal of the house projects. After reading the Corbett article, Village Homes seemed to center around a democratic city organization determined to really make best use of their resources while West Village seems to be a “Commercial Green Town.” I’m not entirely sure what it is but the overall point of the design seems to be an attraction or as stated a “green city.”

Transportation

After the first reading by Seth Zeren I coincidently had to ride my bike and on my way to South Davis I realized that there really is a ton of “space” designated to cars when their not even being used. The title of the article speaks for itself, “Free Parking isn’t Free” I’ve heard the argument that the air we breathe isn’t free either but riding my bike around the residential area of Davis in comparison to urban areas of San Francisco really struck a cord. Anyone who has ever visited San Francisco should know how much parking really costs. On average it’s about 20 for a few hours and on holidays, such as new years, I have seen parking go up to $60 plus.

Virtually in all modes of transporting myself the biggest observation was actually realizing how much space we actually delegate to parking cars and the concept that most cars spend 95% of the time in a day parked was another surprising realization. I currently do not own a car and it doesn’t bother me on a personal scale because biking in Davis is relatively easy and commuting back to the Bay Area is also very convenient in the form of Amrtak. It’s hard to view the world in any other way than the current status quo but people are so reliant on their cars. It seems like the only way that people would eventually start caring and doing more would be by passing the expense onto the individuals who choose to park their car.

When I first came to Davis I rode my bike strictly because it was the fastest and easiest way of getting around as a freshmen. With this said it’s safe to assume I biked because everyone else did but this changed of the years because it’s just so easy to bike everywhere now I have no problem biking up and down this town. I embrace the community and then biking seemed like a way of life. To be honest I don’t see myself biking very much post Davis but I’ll see how that goes.

Storage and Sustainability

After calculating my Carbon Footprint from coolcalifornia.org I came to the conclusion that I use more than the earth can provide. This seems to be a common trend among the millions who consume the same if not more than me which may give reason as to why we’re in the hole we’re in. Sorry. The second calculation gave me a footprint of about 15 versus the 18 before and all I did was cut out some gas mileage and shopping expenditures. Seeing that I didn’t use the myfootprint.org I wasn’t sure how to calculate the “earth” unit but it would make sense that if I was using 503% of the worlds average I would need 5 earths to supply the amount of resources I’m currently depleting. Not sure on that one…

The other half of this post is in regards to how safe or what dangerous chemicals are in our daily hygiene regiment. Using cosmeticdatabase.com I researched some of the common products that I use on a regular basis such as shampoo, tooth paste, and mouthwash. The results showed that I was only getting a little bit of poisons. The products I researched head and shoulders, scope mouthwash, and crest tooth paste each had a mild score of about 5 out of 10 but the real point to notice is that the average has a few outlier. The head and shoulders had a number of variables that were all relatively low but there was at least one variable that was a big red 8 out of ten and on the side notes it added that this chemical has been known to cause “Developmental/reproductive toxicity,” which doesn’t sound like something I want on my head… or shoulders. The tooth paste and mouth wash also seemed to follow the same trend where the overall number was 5 out of ten but each of them had at least one chemical that received a 9 out of ten.

To be honest after researching cosmeticdatabase.com I wasn’t really sure how to feel about it. I shower everyday as do many people and the products that I use on a daily basis score relatively average but still my exposure to toxins is still there. It kind of goes against everything that I do, should I not brush my teeth? Where do I find shampoo that will not give me cancer?! I believe that toxins in these cosmetics have the ability to enter the body even at an insignificant amount but I still don’t want it. I guess looking into this exercise is to just give consumer/student a heads up and just to be aware of the chemicals and toxins that we may have not knowingly applied to our bodies.

Waste!

Contrary to what I have been taught in grade school I never really absorbed the idea of recycling. My feelings about recycling are comparable to that of flossing. Everyone says they do it but there’s only a select few that I would call dedicated participants. I feel in general people like myself only recycle if it’s convenient.

With this said I do believe recycling does and can make a huge difference to our decaying world and it’s obvious that the effort on an individual level is not enough. The general population simply doesn’t mind our oceans of debris and islands of trash.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the individual is solely to blame but the people responsible for creating the massive amounts trash as a form of income. Those in a high corporate position are just as responsible for not providing a solution for the waste they helped to create. Last lecture we mentioned in class how food at Trader Joe’s is just tossed away because it’s easier to throw it away than find something else to do with it.

The two clips that we watched seemed to use an effective ethos tactic that made my stomach turn with grief. Although the movies draw attention on the importance of responsible waste management, or lack there of, I couldn’t help but notice that absence of a solution.

I know it sounds far fetch but maybe the possibility of reducing the amount of disposable waste such as Styrofoam containers and using a better grade plastic on bottle caps so that it doesn’t just take up space till the world’s end. What if fast food restaurants didn’t have a drive thru and forced the customer to eat inside where the restaurant only served food on reusable trays. The idea that everyone has their own container for water would save so much on plastic bottle waste. Even a community water fountain funded by the city, similar to the convenient water station in Rome, would be a great alternative. Even though the change starts at the individual level if it’s not a pressing issue in the eyes of a nation or even a community it is going to be difficult road.

Garden Project

Kale

-This crop is available for harvest after 50 days

- With its deep green leaves and sturdy stalks, kale is loaded with a compound called xeathanthin, which has been shown to help prevent age-related loss of vision. It is a source of calcium and is rich in beta carotene, Vitamin K, Vitamin C, and lutein.

-It is advised to soak the leaves in water because the fibrous structure may cause the Kale to cook longer