Visualizing Ecological Problems and Solutions; Using Global Warming as the Model
based on original work by Ecological Artist Aviva Rahmani (ghostnets@verizon.net)
This will allow students to visualize the relationships between intact and disturbed systems and their personal connections to those systems. They will be able to break down how those systems are impacted further by global warming. The task of connecting and analyzing the relationship between natural resources and built infrastructures surrounding personally familiar sites, will personalize ideas about city planning, demographics, they can begin to also identify what interventions are possible on both the macro and micro levels.
This class will help develop a skill set by introducing students to schematic thinking and analysis in an immediate way. It will give them an opportunity to consider how geomorphology relates to hydrology, city planning.
Day 1. PREPARATION
Give students urls's to google mapping from their homes to the site of the class.
A. Ask them to identify significant bodies of water and undisturbed green regions with highlighter between those two sites, using different colors for fresh and salt water, forests and wetlands.
B. Ask them to do research, where possible, to see where wetlands and other significant ecological features have been filled or fragmented; highlight those areas as well in a lighter version of the colors used for intact systems..
C. Using a dotted highlighter, noting the geomorphological features, connect the intact and destroyed regions to see what patterns will emerge.
D. Using a scale, indicate in a final color, a region of 600' buffer*1 around the pattern created to visualized how the pattern would appear with sufficient conservation protection.
E. Collect further research about whatever elements appear to be having the most impact on the break down of system integrity.
F. Consider how the natural resource patterns mapped will be affected by a sea level rise of 25' feet over the next decades.
G. Discuss.
Reviewer's Suggestions: May need to generalize the above activity a little more. The point is to identify relatively intact and disturbed areas along a corridor from students' homes to school. This corridor could be local or continental/global. MapQuest maps don't show the ecological features needed for this activity, so will need to learn about and access different kinds of maps. Perhaps frame Day 1 more generally in terms of goals and general approaches, let instructors and students figure out the details.
In a goals statement for Day 1 think about the 1or 2 "take home" messages for students from day and how those lead into Day 2. What kinds of discussion questions/topics would you suggest instructors consider?
Day 2. OVERVIEW
A. This day will be marked by a lecture on Ecological Art practice, siting it briefly within the trajectory of Art History, then giving examples of work, in slides/cd format, of about thirty practitioners, internationally.
B. Discussion with be about the conceptual and real (environmental) world impact of specific projects.
C. A bibliography will be provided:
<http://www.ecoartnetwork.org/reflist.htm>.
Students will be encouraged to review this library and do further research on any given artists whom interests them.
D. Students will be asked to relate the techniques and approaches of the artists they considered to their base research, to include further insights into the patterns that emerged in their original mapping.
E. Discuss
Reviewer's comments: How can an instructor explain the point of Day 2 by referring to what students did in Day 1? Can you suggest the connection between Day 1 & 2? How can you help instructors put together a lecture on Ecological Art? Could you provide a PowerPoint presentation, CD, or an online outline on which they can build?
Day 3. APPLICATION 1
A. Considering the site of the class, analyze the building and it's context to see where and how it is sited in terms of the natural resources they have already mapped. Does it sit on fill? How close is it to a body of water?
B. Consider the buildings context. How much impervious surface covers what should be buffer regions? What is the make up of buffer regions that do surround local bodies of water or green regions that could sequester carbon?
C. What immediate modifications to city planning, design could mitigate some of the adverse effects observed? List these options.
D. Do some research on architechtural and engineering experiments designed to address these questions with "green" design.
E. Sketch what the building and its surroundings might look like if such modifications were incorporated.
F. Consider how these approaches may need to be developed further to withstand rising sea level projections and storm damage.
G. List some aspects of human nature that may make implementation difficult: how do these become respectively personal, social or political problems? Where are the overlaps?
H. Discuss
Day 4. CLASSROOM SETTING
A. On the blackboard, instructor crudely draws the world in, in chalk on the blackboard, indicating the building that houses the class. On either side of the drawing, mount scrolls of paper with headings. On the right will be the heading: ACTIONS. On the left will be a rough diagram of the relationships between carbon emitting fuel, politics and information.
B. Using chalk, each student is invited in sequence to correct the geographies of their respective points of home origin on the map, draw in the lines of approach, means of transport and estimates of carbon emissions they took to arrive at the present site and indicate some of the hydrological features in between.
C. Observe and discuss the patterns and implications that have emerged from the additional drawing. Discuss the implications in terms of natural resources and increased global warming. Estimate how much personal emissions each student is responsible for in transport in a year.
D. Go around the room and in the right hand scroll under ACTIONS, write in the specific suggestions for what could mitigate the effects of global warming that have emerged from the previous days work & discussion, on the site they are now using.
E. Discuss and rate these suggestions for efficiency, realism and effectiveness.
Day 5. Application 2
A. Discuss and designate a trouble spot in the world that all agree represents significant secondary ecological impact.
B. Sketch in more detail for the geomorphological and infrastructure features of that
region.
C. Request two-three volunteers to analyze the region for aspects contributing to the situation that emerge from intuitive observation & consideration
D. Invite students to do additional research on the region to identify contributing elements.
E. Add those to the left hand list.
F. Discuss the prioritization of concerns
G. Invite each student to further modify the mapping for the region designated as well as its relationship to the larger global map and global warming
H. In a writing exercize, spend 15 min considering what personal choices each can make, based on the data & discussions, that will address the coming effects of global warming. I. Each student shares what they have written and adds any final touches to the complete map.
Reviewer's comments: The flow of activities suggests a 2-part instructional design: Day 1-2 are an introduction: they raise awareness, trouble assumptions, introduce unfamiliar perspectives or approaches. Days 3-5 then apply these tools in various ways. (Each of these may infact be a good deal more than 1 day…could easily be multi-day activities)
Can you describe in the document somewhat more explicitly what tools/perspectives are being mobilized in Days 1-2, explain those to instructors, and write simple instructional goals concerning the development of these tools/skills/knowledges? (Like "Students will learn to….) Then for each of Days 3-5, describe the 1-2 major concepts you are trying to get across and write simple instructional goals that describe what you hope students will learn. Then instructors could choose among Days 3- 5, depending on how much time they have.
Visualizing Ecological Problems and Solutions; Using Global Warming as the Model
based on original work by Ecological Artist Aviva Rahmani (ghostnets@verizon.net)This will allow students to visualize the relationships between intact and disturbed systems and their personal connections to those systems. They will be able to break down how those systems are impacted further by global warming. The task of connecting and analyzing the relationship between natural resources and built infrastructures surrounding personally familiar sites, will personalize ideas about city planning, demographics, they can begin to also identify what interventions are possible on both the macro and micro levels.
This class will help develop a skill set by introducing students to schematic thinking and analysis in an immediate way. It will give them an opportunity to consider how geomorphology relates to hydrology, city planning.
Day 1. PREPARATION
Give students urls's to google mapping from their homes to the site of the class.A. Ask them to identify significant bodies of water and undisturbed green regions with highlighter between those two sites, using different colors for fresh and salt water, forests and wetlands.
B. Ask them to do research, where possible, to see where wetlands and other significant ecological features have been filled or fragmented; highlight those areas as well in a lighter version of the colors used for intact systems..
C. Using a dotted highlighter, noting the geomorphological features, connect the intact and destroyed regions to see what patterns will emerge.
D. Using a scale, indicate in a final color, a region of 600' buffer*1 around the pattern created to visualized how the pattern would appear with sufficient conservation protection.
E. Collect further research about whatever elements appear to be having the most impact on the break down of system integrity.
F. Consider how the natural resource patterns mapped will be affected by a sea level rise of 25' feet over the next decades.
G. Discuss.
Day 2. OVERVIEW
A. This day will be marked by a lecture on Ecological Art practice, siting it briefly within the trajectory of Art History, then giving examples of work, in slides/cd format, of about thirty practitioners, internationally.B. Discussion with be about the conceptual and real (environmental) world impact of specific projects.
C. A bibliography will be provided:
<http://www.ecoartnetwork.org/reflist.htm>.
Students will be encouraged to review this library and do further research on any given artists whom interests them.
D. Students will be asked to relate the techniques and approaches of the artists they considered to their base research, to include further insights into the patterns that emerged in their original mapping.
E. Discuss
Day 3. APPLICATION 1
A. Considering the site of the class, analyze the building and it's context to see where and how it is sited in terms of the natural resources they have already mapped. Does it sit on fill? How close is it to a body of water?B. Consider the buildings context. How much impervious surface covers what should be buffer regions? What is the make up of buffer regions that do surround local bodies of water or green regions that could sequester carbon?
C. What immediate modifications to city planning, design could mitigate some of the adverse effects observed? List these options.
D. Do some research on architechtural and engineering experiments designed to address these questions with "green" design.
E. Sketch what the building and its surroundings might look like if such modifications were incorporated.
F. Consider how these approaches may need to be developed further to withstand rising sea level projections and storm damage.
G. List some aspects of human nature that may make implementation difficult: how do these become respectively personal, social or political problems? Where are the overlaps?
H. Discuss
Day 4. CLASSROOM SETTING
A. On the blackboard, instructor crudely draws the world in, in chalk on the blackboard, indicating the building that houses the class. On either side of the drawing, mount scrolls of paper with headings. On the right will be the heading: ACTIONS. On the left will be a rough diagram of the relationships between carbon emitting fuel, politics and information.B. Using chalk, each student is invited in sequence to correct the geographies of their respective points of home origin on the map, draw in the lines of approach, means of transport and estimates of carbon emissions they took to arrive at the present site and indicate some of the hydrological features in between.
C. Observe and discuss the patterns and implications that have emerged from the additional drawing. Discuss the implications in terms of natural resources and increased global warming. Estimate how much personal emissions each student is responsible for in transport in a year.
D. Go around the room and in the right hand scroll under ACTIONS, write in the specific suggestions for what could mitigate the effects of global warming that have emerged from the previous days work & discussion, on the site they are now using.
E. Discuss and rate these suggestions for efficiency, realism and effectiveness.
Day 5. Application 2
A. Discuss and designate a trouble spot in the world that all agree represents significant secondary ecological impact.B. Sketch in more detail for the geomorphological and infrastructure features of that
region.
C. Request two-three volunteers to analyze the region for aspects contributing to the situation that emerge from intuitive observation & consideration
D. Invite students to do additional research on the region to identify contributing elements.
E. Add those to the left hand list.
F. Discuss the prioritization of concerns
G. Invite each student to further modify the mapping for the region designated as well as its relationship to the larger global map and global warming
H. In a writing exercize, spend 15 min considering what personal choices each can make, based on the data & discussions, that will address the coming effects of global warming. I. Each student shares what they have written and adds any final touches to the complete map.