Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
73 lines (61 loc) · 6.36 KB

p3-carbonCapture.md

File metadata and controls

73 lines (61 loc) · 6.36 KB
Raw

How Might An Art or Design Practice Drawdown Carbon???

There is no time left. We can no longer just achieve net-zero emissions -- meaning produce no more additional CO2 and other greenhouse gases -- we must start to remove greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere. How can we create work that recaptures; reseuqesters; that puts greenhouse gasses like CO2 back into the ground, into carbon sinks?

We aren't scientists, we aren't engineers -- we are artists and designers. How can our symbolic gestures and individual creative voices get greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere?

For this project you will read about a number of potential solutions and then we will think about how an art or design practice might utilize those ideas. Either as part of a work; or make a work that helps our fellow citizens better understand how they might aid in realizing the available solutions.

Global warming and Climate Change are the ultimate creative prompts -- let's do something. Create a real or speculative work that envokes at least one solution from Drawdown.org or The Climate Mobilization's vicotry plan.

Case Studies.

  1. Graham Coreil-Allen Graham's work focuses on walking tours and politicing for better bike and pedestrian access. One of his ongoing projects are his "Reverberations Crosswalks," which aim to enhance pedestrian safety. You could map his work -- crosswalk designing; bike path advocacy; etc. -- as part of Drawdowns "Walkable Cities" solution, #54 on their list...
  1. Patricia Johanson Johanson has a lifetime of work investigating better water collection and conservation. Modern projects like "Echo Canyon" provide an artistic and ecologically connected way to handling rain, water distribution, etc. Johanson's work could easily be connected with Drawdown's solutions #71, water distriution, #67 Farm Irrigation, and #52 Coastal Wetlands,
  1. Bjarke Ingels Group / Project ARC Amager Bakke BIG designed this waste-to-energy plant... that alone fulfills Drawdown's #68... it also provides power and heat locally (district heating); which is #27 on the drawdown list. My favorite part of the facility is the smokestack though -- and while this doesn't fall on drawdown's list, its just such a great symbolic gesture. The smokestack collects CO2 until it has 1 ton. It then puffs a ring to try to help people start to visualize what we are sending up into the sky...

Obviosuly, projects like the waste plant and Johanson's gardens aren't creatable by us in the few weeks we have for this project; however we can still take them as ideals to shoot for. Many of Johanson's projects started merely as speculative sketches. All architecture is just graphic design until its built. And the gesture of the energy plant, thats definitely the kind of thing we can work towards.

Success?

I want us to really think about these prescripted "solutions" and think about how we could make art that does something with them. If we can think about actions on MICA's campus or in Baltimore specifically, even better. Also notice that many of the solutions from Drawdown.org and TCM's victory plan have nothing to do with technology. There is way more about land use and social structures than merely building more and newer tools/technologies. Other places one might look for help or ideas are things like the whole earth catalog or low-tech magazine.

We'll have the luxury of being able to talk to Peter Griffith from NASA about our ideas as well as Graham Coreil-Allen.

Schedule.

  • 10/02 Project introduction
    • Read through solutions on drawdown.org -- Browse through all of them, but examine at least one energy, food, social solution in detail.
    • Read through The Climate Mobilization's Victory Plan
  • 10/09 What ideas do you have?
    • What stood out to you?
    • What questions do you have? Where might answers lie?
    • What else do you need to know?
    • Do you see a way to make work through one of these outcomes from Drawdown.org?
    • Homework:
      • Find an artist/designer whose work you feel could be shown as an example of something you've read/we've talked about in the context of this project.
      • Listen: Cybernetic Forests / https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0004sdb
      • Read: Sue Spaid /
  • 10/16 What are you going to do?
    • What "prompt" are you going to use?
    • What kind of project do you want to make? (speculative, actual, local, global, actionable, symbolic, etc.)
    • Potential Visitor
    • Homework:
  • 10/23 Work!
  • 10/30
    • Keep working on things. Meet in small groups to discuss progress.
    • Potential visitor.
  • 11/06
    • Keep working on things. Meet in small groups to discuss progress.
    • Potential visitor.
  • 11/13
    • Project presentations/critique.

Other Resources

  • Breakthrough institute: https://thebreakthrough.org/ They offer some similar and some alternative views to those provided by Drawdown and TCM. In figuring out your own opinions and ideas about climate change, it is useful to get a lot of expert input, and often nice to see when there is intellectual conflict to help you discern what you really think might be best. (For example, the Breakthrough institute does not agree with The Climate Mobilizations "Half Earth" idea in regards to wilderness conservation.)
  • UN Sustainable Development Goals: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/ The UN's goals for SD are focused on trying to end eco and social oppression; focus on environmental and social equity -- they can easily be matched w/ drawdown ideas/targets if necessary. They also provide a different much more "improve the life of all people" focus if that appeals more to you.