Part 1: Visioneering Project

Do the stories you tell yourself contribute to the optimism or pessimism?  What might you need to change to enable you to envision a sustainable future?

Before taking this course I thought I was fully aware of what being eco-friendly truly meant.  However, I have learned more through these seven weeks by reading the articles and doing a little extra research to find out that we are the ones causing the harm to our environment.  Of course I have always been pessimistic and never really thought that I could make a difference in our environment.  I have always felt that I needed to do more in order to make a difference. However because of being pessimistic I never realized that I could make a difference as an individual.  It only takes one person to make an impact on a group of people to make them see your views and how we can make a change in our environment.   Mahatma Gandhi saying, “Be the change you want to see in the world” is exactly what we all need to be doing.  If we want things to change we have to learn as individuals to change and adapt to new circumstances. 

In order to envision a sustainable future, I need to be able to change the way I live and they way I think about our environment. 

What are the key tenets or characteristics that define your vision?

• ·      Education on a sustainable environment
• ·      Limiting consumption
• ·      Utilizing local product
• ·      Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

What are the mental modes, which will be required to create that future? What would one have to believe to bring about your vision?

• ·      I feel like everyone should be required to take a sustainable course in order to be educated on the environment and the impact we have on it.
• ·      I feel that in today’s society people value having more than what is necessary but over consumption isn’t doing anything for their well-being or for our environment. 
• ·      People don’t realize how much domestic products have an impact on our environment.  By using domestic products, results in air pollution emissions from the transportation of imported goods can be reduced.
• ·      By reducing, reusing and recycling products we can meet the needs that we require to live and more towards a sustainable environment.

What are some habitual beliefs, which may present barriers to your vision?

In order to bring my vision of the future people must give up the way they think it is expectable to live in today’s society.  In other words people need to learn how to live their lives with only utilizing what they need to survive.  Educating people about the environmental impact we have on it, is were we need to start. If we want to see a change in our environment we need to educate people.   As mention by Kim and Oki, authors of Visioneering: An Essential Framework in Sustainability, “visioneering requires the synergy of inspiration, conviction, action, determination and completion”.  We need to be able to believe that we can make a difference in our environment and take action towards become a more sustainable environment. 

How might you communicate and engage other in your vision that will compel them to follow?

In order to engage my vision to others I would have to educate them in a simple matter.  When I read something for the first time I always read the bullet point first.  People don’t have time to sit and research everything they consume, so in order to compel people to follow my vision they must be educated in simple matter in order to help them understand how they can become an impact to our environment.

Miracle Fibers

 “Why use up the forest which were centuries in the making and the mines which require ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp field?” – Henry Ford

The argument towards politics and hemp advocators has been going on for years whether to legalize industrial hemp.  Currently hemp is not legal to be cultivated in the United States under Federal law for the reason that of its relation to marijuana and any imported hemp products must meet a zero tolerance level.  Hemp is considered a controlled substance under the Controlled Substance Act, which regulates farmer’s form growing this crop. 

In the video Hempster: Plant the Seed, three arguments are made to why industrial hemp should stay illegal.  The first argument is that law enforcement officials won’t be able to distinguish hemp from marijuana. The second argument is that farmers could conceal illegal marijuana in legal hemp fields. And the third argument is that legalizing hemp would send the wrong message to children.  Theses arguments make since until you realize how beneficial industrial hemp is to our environment.

“Hemp is one of the faster growing biomasses known and can produce up to 25 tones of dry matter per hectare per year”.  Not only is hemp used for biomass but it is also environmentally friendly because it does not require pesticides.  Hemp can produce paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel.  As seen hemp is a diverse plant that can be used in many forms and can produce numerous products that would help us achieve a sustainable planet. Hemp is sustainable in many forms.  Because hemp can be cultivated in as little as 100 days it can produce more products and help save forests. Hemp also slows ozone depletion because hemp fuels derived from the plant itself.  These are some of the arguments that hemp advocators are making to make industrial hemp legal. 

Both of these arguments hold valuable points.  The arguments that the politicians are making are addressed for the best interest of the people and the arguments that the hemp advocators are making are addressed for our environment.  The issues that surround both arguments are whether to look after the people of the United States or our environment.  The argument of not be able to distinguish hemp from marijuana can be easily settled.  The two plants come from the same species but they do not look alike.  Because hemp is used in a different form than marijuana it is cultivated differently.  Secondly, if farmers where to farm marijuana in their legal hemp fields they are running the risk of losing their farmer’s license and their business.  As for the third argument, I find that it is important not to send a wrong message to our children about the growth of hemp.  However, I believe that children can be educated to know the difference between the two plants and how industrial hemp is used as a resource to help our environment become sustainable.

In order to counsel consumers about the legalization of industrial hemp I would provide them with the same information that was given to us and inform them how industrial hemp will be more beneficial to our environment than harmful.  The truth is that most people are misinformed about the process of cultivating industrial hemp.  I believe that if more people were educated about industrial hemp, we would be able to achieve a sustainable planet.  The quote from Henry Ford says it all, why destroy our planet when there are other valuable resources that can be used to produce products.    

Natural versus Synthetic Materials

Many people have been contemplating the benefits of natural fibers and how much less destructive they are for the environment. However, when it comes to building materials one needs to take into consideration the entire life cycle of the material, the energy use, the pollution and toxicity impact, the manufacturing phase, the packaging and transport phase, the installation and the end of life phase.   The entire process needs to be taken into account before wide assumptions are made about which materials are better for the environment.  While natural materials are more harmful to the immediate environment (meaning the water and soil) while synthetics take a larger toll on the air and non-renewable resources.  It is up to the consumers to demand that manufactures take a closer look at the process to produce product and find the best way to make it healthier for everyone involved.

From our pass readings we have learned that organic growth is much better for the environment it terms of less toxicity during the growing and materials phase, but it is more harmful to the environment than conventional growth in the production phase due to the dyeing and finishing of the materials. 

When discussing building materials in form of natural versus synthetic materials, the Sustainable Commercial Interiors articles suggests several factors that should be taken into account when selecting materials.  These considerations can be taken into account towards interior finishes, flooring, cabinetry and trim and insulation materials.

• ·      Select products with low or no VOC content (Volatile Organic Compounds are a class of chemical compounds that can cause short or long-term health problems.  Low or zero VOC paints and coatings improve indoor air quality and occupant health), and choose water based finishes.
• ·      Consider materials and finishes with out acetone, formaldehyde or ethylene glycol
• ·      Consider materials made with recycled content
• ·      Avoid using tropical woods.
• ·      Choose products based on their total life cycle cost
• ·      Use products that consist of naturally renewable resources

When taking these factors into consideration when designing a product or structure, natural versus synthetic materials can either be beneficial or harmful to the environment.  While most building materials contain formaldehyde, which can cause health problems there are other building materials that can be used in order to have a more sustainable design.

During Charline Ducas video, she mentions how the industry is moving towards sustainability by being eco efficient.  In this video she talks about how there are six ways to be more sustainable.  The six categories are:

1. Reducing recycling and up cycling
2. Renewables
3. Re-exploring naturals
4. Doing more for less
5. Water less
6. New ways 

She later goes into detail on how each one of these six steps could help the textile industry move towards a more sustainable environment.  There a innovations that are coming out in order to reduce the usage of water, producing bio degradable products, exploring other fibers besides cotton, and finding new ways to print textiles with out using dye form. 

If learn the ways we can prevent from using harmful materials our environment could move towards a more sustainable environment.  However we need to learn what is more harmful to the environment in their entire life cycle.  As mentioned before both natural and synthetic fiber have there advantages and disadvantages but one needs to take into account what the end life cycle of the material will be and how it can be biodegradable.