Essential Questions for the Energy and Place Project:
1. How does energy production impact* place?
*In defining “impact” you can think about it in terms of the impact on the culture, the health of individuals, the land, the economy, technology and scientific progress, future generations, and/or the sustainability of the resources of a specific location or the planet as a whole.
2. How does your sense of place*, environmental ethic and understanding of our energy needs influence your perception and decisions regarding energy production?
*“Sense of Place” is a concept that describes the quality of people’s relationship with a place. However, you will develop a definition of sense of place that most resonates with you. Some questions you may consider include: Does sense of place include a connection to the natural world separate from people? Does it include people? Does it include a local sense of place or global? Do you define your sense of place as one of economic positioning, social class, geographic location, and/or connection to community and people? Do you define it as very particular spot that holds special meaning to you? Does your connection to land shape your identity? Do you feel rootless or disconnected from community and/or place?
*In defining “impact” you can think about it in terms of the impact on the culture, the health of individuals, the land, the economy, technology and scientific progress, future generations, and/or the sustainability of the resources of a specific location or the planet as a whole.
2. How does your sense of place*, environmental ethic and understanding of our energy needs influence your perception and decisions regarding energy production?
*“Sense of Place” is a concept that describes the quality of people’s relationship with a place. However, you will develop a definition of sense of place that most resonates with you. Some questions you may consider include: Does sense of place include a connection to the natural world separate from people? Does it include people? Does it include a local sense of place or global? Do you define your sense of place as one of economic positioning, social class, geographic location, and/or connection to community and people? Do you define it as very particular spot that holds special meaning to you? Does your connection to land shape your identity? Do you feel rootless or disconnected from community and/or place?
Visual Piece
Artist's Statement
In the picture above, I put together the Colorado flag using scrap images, by printing them off on multiple pieces of paper, as well as using photoshop, in part, to make the red C in the middle, as well as the sun that appears to be flaring inside it. The two blue stripes of the flag I created using the same image of little emerald Lake, a lake which I've visited multiple times, not only for its beauty, but for the fact that it never seems to be populated, despite being such a serene environment. I, myself never took a picture of little emerald lake, but was fortunate to find one online. Lucky for me, the picture featured not only the blue lake, but the blue Colorado sky, as well. On the actual Colorado flag, the blue striped represent the blue Colorado skies, and I ended up going with the picture of little emerald lake, because my environmental ethic is preservationism, whether that be the red Colorado soil, the blue colorado skies, or its crystal clear lakes. I had originally planned to place pictures of the white snowcapped peaks in the middle to represent the white middle stripe, but when the pictures printed off, they almost appeared blue, taking away from the contrast between the true blue stripes, and the overall aesthetic element of the piece I was going for.
In this piece, I cut the picture of emerald lake in a way that made the trees pop out from the lower stripe in a way that allowed the final piece to flow together smoothly all together, while leaving just the right amount of trees to compliment the contrast of the lake to the land, while retaining the definition of the stripes of the flag itself. The flare of the sun I made unique to the classic Colorado flag in order to add to the aesthetic of the design.
I got the idea for this design originally from a post I found on the website Reddit a while ago. Someone had put together the Colorado flag using images, like I had done, but from a computer, and had used a different technique in designing the flag. It has been a while since I've seen the post, but I decided to follow the main idea because of the originality of it, as well as the beauty of the Colorado flag itself.
Works Cited:
Patterson, Kara. Little Emerald Lake. N.d. Javelin Journal. Web. 13 May 2014.
<http://karapatterson.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html>.
In this piece, I cut the picture of emerald lake in a way that made the trees pop out from the lower stripe in a way that allowed the final piece to flow together smoothly all together, while leaving just the right amount of trees to compliment the contrast of the lake to the land, while retaining the definition of the stripes of the flag itself. The flare of the sun I made unique to the classic Colorado flag in order to add to the aesthetic of the design.
I got the idea for this design originally from a post I found on the website Reddit a while ago. Someone had put together the Colorado flag using images, like I had done, but from a computer, and had used a different technique in designing the flag. It has been a while since I've seen the post, but I decided to follow the main idea because of the originality of it, as well as the beauty of the Colorado flag itself.
Works Cited:
Patterson, Kara. Little Emerald Lake. N.d. Javelin Journal. Web. 13 May 2014.
<http://karapatterson.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html>.
Final Sense of Place & Environmental Ethic Writing Piece
| sense_of_place__ee_essay.docx |
Energy and Place Project Reflection
There was a lot of learning to be done leading up to this project. On week one, we learned, in majority, about the environment. This included environmental ethics, justice, and more. The week after that, we took a look at nuclear power and its impact, as well as at photographers and other artists' reactions to energy, and interpreted their perspective on the issues in general. There were some guest speakers that came in and talked about their occupations in energy, and gave us lectures about energy use and necessity. These were pretty interesting to me. The next week, we began preparing to write our personal sense of place essays. To do this, we explored the different environmental ethics, as well as defining our own senses of place and environmental ethics.
Through this project, I feel more in touch with myself, and more aware of my place in this world. I don't believe humans should be considered the creatures that "dominated" nature, but instead believe they should be the creatures alongside nature, just like any other animal or being on this planet. This is pretty new to me, because I haven't spent much time in the past thinking about such things. But now, I'll think twice about my own influence on nature around me, and the energy I consume, as I know energy influences nature, as well. I may think twice before leaving a room without turning off an unneeded light. I won't cut trails, given the impact that has on nature, too. I talk a lot in my essay about preservationism, and I think it's an ethic I will base my life on a lot more from now on. I think the most challenging part of this project was figuring out how to express my ideas of preservationism in my essay. I felt like I was a bit redundant at time, and tried to stray from that by using different metaphors, and other literary devices to form my work.
I'm particularly proud of my essay in areas where I integrate both ideas of my sense of place and environmental ethic. I believe that I was able to do so strongly, although with a lot of difficulty at the beginning. I was able to, with some critique, better integrate my environmental ethic into my sense of place, and in doing so improving the overall flow of my essay. For example, my essay is titled Et Cetera. I talk a lot about how I dislike the term because of its nature as a word symbolizing repetition, or an expected list. I don't like going through routine, and believe that doing so influences who I am negatively. I incorporate this idea into my environmental ethic toward the end in explaining the beauty behind nature; how it is never the same as what it was, if even just seconds later. In this part of my essay, I use a lot of descriptive vocabulary and sentence structure, and am most proud of it.
This project was connected to a project we did in chemistry, and they went well together. I enjoyed both overall, and definitely enjoyed learning about the ways energy influences not only us, but the land around us, as well. I am able to define what I believe is ethical in regards to these influences. That is why I believe it was a great idea to use those two classes for the project, and am very happy with how it went.
Through this project, I feel more in touch with myself, and more aware of my place in this world. I don't believe humans should be considered the creatures that "dominated" nature, but instead believe they should be the creatures alongside nature, just like any other animal or being on this planet. This is pretty new to me, because I haven't spent much time in the past thinking about such things. But now, I'll think twice about my own influence on nature around me, and the energy I consume, as I know energy influences nature, as well. I may think twice before leaving a room without turning off an unneeded light. I won't cut trails, given the impact that has on nature, too. I talk a lot in my essay about preservationism, and I think it's an ethic I will base my life on a lot more from now on. I think the most challenging part of this project was figuring out how to express my ideas of preservationism in my essay. I felt like I was a bit redundant at time, and tried to stray from that by using different metaphors, and other literary devices to form my work.
I'm particularly proud of my essay in areas where I integrate both ideas of my sense of place and environmental ethic. I believe that I was able to do so strongly, although with a lot of difficulty at the beginning. I was able to, with some critique, better integrate my environmental ethic into my sense of place, and in doing so improving the overall flow of my essay. For example, my essay is titled Et Cetera. I talk a lot about how I dislike the term because of its nature as a word symbolizing repetition, or an expected list. I don't like going through routine, and believe that doing so influences who I am negatively. I incorporate this idea into my environmental ethic toward the end in explaining the beauty behind nature; how it is never the same as what it was, if even just seconds later. In this part of my essay, I use a lot of descriptive vocabulary and sentence structure, and am most proud of it.
This project was connected to a project we did in chemistry, and they went well together. I enjoyed both overall, and definitely enjoyed learning about the ways energy influences not only us, but the land around us, as well. I am able to define what I believe is ethical in regards to these influences. That is why I believe it was a great idea to use those two classes for the project, and am very happy with how it went.
