Final Project Wrap U

For my final project in this class, I settled on creating computer images that look like you would have just sat down at one of the E-media computers and seen a program up on the desktop, except the images will click through to read statistics taken from The Miniature Earth.

The Miniature Earth is a project with a video about what the world would look like if it were reduced to 100 people. I picked some of the ones with the most impact and tried to put them in a context that people look at all the time. For example, many people are so used to looking at the same screen, like an itunes window or a google search bar, that it's jarring and bizarre to read facts about the percentages of the earth. On the Miniature earth website's about page, it says "There are many types of reports that use the Earth's population reduced to 100 people, especially in the internet. Ideas like this should be more often shared, especially nowadays when the world seems to be in need of dialogue and understanding among different cultures, in a way that it has never been before."

I think you will find if you watch the video what kind of impact it has. "The text that originated this webmovie was published on May 29, 1990 with the title "State of the Village Report," and it was written by Donella Meadows." (Found on about page) This current version of the film is the third one.

I'm really pleased with what I learned in this class, and I'm very grateful for the opportunity to try new things and do things I normally wouldn't have. I hope that my final project reflects what I feel about the Miniature Earth project, because it was quite a turn around from my original plan to make ambient screen shots. I felt that it would have been beating someone over the head with a pan to tell them what they already know, but the interesting facts in Miniature earth is more basic, simple and powerful than what I was trying to do already.

Hope you enjoyed it!

So here are some factoids that I've gathered about saving energy, saving water, saving paper, etc...

- Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours

- Enough aluminum is thrown away to rebuild our commercial air fleet four times every year.

- Recycling one glass container saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours

- Glass can be reused an infinite number of times; over 41 billion glass containers are made each year

- Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees and 7,000 gallons of water

- Every year, enough paper is thrown away to make a 12 foot wall from New York to California

Taken from here.

- If you throw away 2 aluminum cans, you waste more energy than 1,000,000,0000 (one billion) of the world's poorest people use a day.

- Making a new can from scratch uses the energy equal to half a can of gasoline

- About one third of what an average American throws out is packaging

- About 90% of the energy used in lighting a standard (incandescent) light bulb is lost as heat

Found here.

- Less than 1% of the earth's water supply can be used for drinking

- A small drip from a tap can waste as much as four litres of water a day.

- Two thirds of the water used in a home is used in the bathroom

- Most of the world's people must walk at least three hours to fetch water.

- Leaving the tap running while you clean your teeth can waste nine litres of water

- Waiting until you have full load for your washing machine can save up to 70 litres.

- Waiting until you have a full load for your dishwasher can save up to 30 litres.

- A five minute shower uses about a third of the water of a bath, saving up to 400 litres per week.

Found here.

- The garbage in a landfill stays for about 30 years.

- 84% of all household waste can be recycled

- Computers pose an environmental threat because much of the material that makes them up is hazardous. A typical monitor contains 4-5 pounds of lead.

- Each year billions of used batteries are thrown away in the United States. This constitutes 88% of the mercury and 54% of the cadmium deposited into our landfills

Found here.