Week 5 – complex

MORE ENGAGING

19.10.2022

Reading group –

Cradle to grave?
Cradle to cradle?

In this reading, there was some new knowledge for me. Waste equals food didn’t really make sense to me until I read this chapter. Because most of my life I was so focused on what was meant for me – the more human part, industrial and technological. Rather than taking a look at how nature works.

It is in fact, so wonderful how amazing the system of nature is. Most of it is living to benefit others. It has thrived on the planet we live on, not making any damage. Additionally, nature is also a good resource for human beings.

Even looking back at products that were made back in the day, conventional shoes made from vegetable chemicals are considered safe as it is biodegradable.

But as the earth and population start to grow, is it really the human to blame for? Humans tend to develop products or a system that can be easily accessible and meet their demands. For example, shoes made from vegetable chemicals can be useful for people back in the day as they might not need heavy-duty shoes for daily life. Whereas now, lifestyle has changed, major differences in labor work, people heavily rely on transport and so on. Modern people would be doing things differently as we have resources differently.

It is very hard to consider every inch of a product or a system and whatnot. The earth is a massive place and it is impossible to predict how much impact a product will leave on this planet. It is seen as endless. One harmful article might end up on the other side of the world and we will never know about it.

Biological metabolism and technical metabolism could be having their own cycle. But the flows might be affecting one another. Sometimes the effects are just inseparable. It’s too complex to even talk about.

SOLAR PANEL – CRADLE TO CRADLE OR CRADLE-TO-GRAVE?

20.10.2022

Cycle of a solar panel – how electric is used

We had a workshop where we need to redesign a category – which for my group is ‘energy’. We chose solar panels as research and basically try to know what components are making the solar panel.

We look into the life before producing solar panel. It consist of different elements, from aluminum, glass, sheets, EVA and others. Which in fact, some of them are not from recycle materials because solar panels need high-graded materials to function well. However, we came out with a possible solution – which is to use recycled materials from landfill. It is a typical solution but it’s possible!

Another thing we looked at is the disposal cycle of solar panels. Usually, they will burn things such as contaminated glass as it is the easiest and cheapest way. But we know how non-environmental friendly are those things. So we thought instead of making heat from a fire. We can also be using renewable energy, to produce renewable energy (solar). If that actually makes sense.. it is. It’s a cycle after all right? It’s like renewable energy is working together to make them useful.

That was a very simple way to summarize what we were trying to do. However, there is always a more detailed thing to look at. The flows of each component. The dissembling works, and what chemicals are exposed to the environment. How is it harmful or harmless.. It’s just too difficult as we’re not a professional in this area.

Thanks.

Love, Aliah

One thought on “Week 5 – complex

  1. Great overview of the weekly activities. Following up on my comment to your previous post, while I agree that the complexity of the issues we discuss can at times feel overwhelming, there are many compelling resources out there that can help us not only imagine but also build different societies. And if you find reading challenging, as you mentioned in an earlier post, perhaps podcasts could be a useful tool for you?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *