Taylor's Environmental & Sustainably Blog

       Kirsten Stolle is an amazing artist who works mostly with text based images and collages to fight for several causes: Herbicide Free Campus, Pesticide Action Network , and Real Food Media . Her installation at College of Charleston's Halsey Institution of Contemporary Art is exhibiting "Only You can Prevent a Forest." This collection uses advertising strategies used by agrochemical corporations to bring their use to light.     There were two pieces of this collection that I was most interested in. Pesticide Pop and Plant Protection had left me thinking the most about the piece itself as well myself. Pesticide Pop is a large piece that I have pictured above, ten individual pictures, that all have different household weed killers or chemical mixer for your garden. Stolle uses the similar seductive power that chemical company use to advertise; they are simple photos turned into pop art because of the bright colors. This has made this obj...

Taylor Schullo Parajuli Intro to Environmental & Sustainability 19 October 2022 Ways Humans are Cooling Down Cities While cities across the world only use two percent of the earth’s available land, sixty percent of humans live in cities. This has caused several negative effects on our planet like pollution levels and high consumption of electricity but especially the Urban Heat Island Effect. The Urban Heat Island Effect is when the heat is built up in one area compared to the rural surroundings; London, for example, is six degrees celsius warmer than the surrounding areas. This heat is abundant because of absorption in the dark concrete and asphalt, lack of parks and greenery, and overall pollution. One city has been designed to avoid this High Island Effect: Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates. This prototype city has been completely designed to have no cars and close together buildings to provide shade; as well, the “Wind Tower'' pulls down cool air to go throughou...

Taylor Schullo Intro to Environmental & Sustainability  Parajuli 5 October 2022 Environmental Injustice in Cancer Alley There is a disproportionate rate of humans who get cancer in America based on living location. The major of these people is the minority: people of color, poor, and under serviced. This is found in many cities, especially the 85 mile long road between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. This road is nicknamed Cancer Alley because of about 200 chemical plants and oil refiners along it. America’s minority live here because of a political process called Redlining; black and brown neighborhoods are marked with lower value. Industrial plants have little to no difficulty building in these neighborhoods because of the lower value and lack of representation in the government to stop these companies. Redlined communities are more likely to go to the hospital for asthma than any other area. Looking at a redlined map shows the disproportionate rate of black people, pollution,...

Taylor Schullo Principe & Parajuli Intro to Environmental & Sustainability 28 September 2022 Vegan: They are Right There has been cultural debate between meat eaters and vegans for over a decade now. With the rise in new vegan restaurants and culture, there is huge stigma against vegans. The Podcast Science VS episode “Vegans: Are They Right?” looks into the history and science behind the vegans. Should this negative stigmatism be supported? The first scientist to speak on the show is Joseph Poore of University of Oxford claims that eating vegan over all uses “less land, land water, and less greenhouse gasses” than any other diet. Right in the beginning the podcast claims this diet is the best for the planet. Specifically, 70% of our water use goes to agriculture and 41% of that use is used for growing livestock feed (Humane League).  Our education on milk is very skewed by milk marketers. Starting in the 90s, TV advertisements would tell people they need milk for strong b...

 Taylor Schullo Intro to Environmental & Sustainability Principe & Parajuli 19 September 2022  Understanding the Anthropocene of a Reusable Water Bottle     Every object and living thing has a history, or an anthropocene, an epoch and era. This abstract idea is represented in everyday object that many won't think came from a living thing. For example, I carry around a pink reusable Starbucks cup with me everyday; this cup holds my water, Starbucks, or any drink I have. This water bottle is my everyday object that has an anthropecene.      The first reusable water bottle was created in 1947, after World War II. Materials like aluminum, plastic, and stainless steel were more widely available. At first reusable water bottles were very expensive; after 1960s, polyethylene, a form of plastic, created cheaper and more efficiently way to produce water bottle. This reusable water bottle is made o f polypropylene, another type of plastic....

Taylor Schullo Intro to Environmental & Sustainability Principe & Parajuli 12 September 2022 Invasive Species Effect on Ecosystems      The article "Pigs to the Rescue: An Invasive Species Helped Save Australia's Crocodiles" published by the New York Times, mainly focuses on two areas of the world: Florida an d Australia.     Feral Pigs were brought to Australia by English settlers in the late 18th century. The population has grown to 24 million today and across 40 percent of the land mass. While they tried to cull, or kill, the pigs and other invasive species, they were difficult to kill. Comparing them to saltwater crocodiles, they are Australia's largest apex predator which was close to extinction in the 1970s. In the northern territories, there were about 3,000.      Without the feral pigs, "the population (crocodiles) wouldn't have recovered to the same level that they have," said Dr. Campbell, who studied their relationship...