Making Norfolk Green, Prezi

Ok here is my prezi on how to make Norfolk greener. This is my first time using prezi and it was kind of hard to get used to but i tired my best!

My vision for Norfolk was one that incorporated the use of Green buildings as well as alternative fuels. One of the biggest problems I see with Norfolk is that right now the city is just two spread out. There is a lot of free space that the development of green infrastructure can go into. The idea behind this being that the more dense a population is in a place the more efficient use of energy. The idea behind all of this is to use energy efficiently and most of all also be cost effective.

I also wanted to focus on the use of more alternative fuels in the city. Currently in the Hampton Roads VA beach and Norfolk area there is only one E85 station. I want to pass legislation making it mandatory that there be a certain number of E85 stations in Norfolk by 2015. E85 is awesome because many vehicles already can run off of it and it is not a finite resource like fossil fuels.

http://prezi.com/pgjbjxz__uml/assignment-3/

Energy and Power Response

• How many people does Steffen estimate we will have living in or near cities by mid-century?
• 8 billion

 

• Explain how you agree or disagree with Steffen’s point that our energy use is “predestined” rather than “behavioral”.
• I agree with it. It makes sense, people are always going to do what they want to do and because of that our energy consumption is not going to change. Changing our behavior will not necessarily change our energy consumption.

 

• What correlation does Steffen make between a city’s density and its climate emissions?
• The higher the density the lower the emissions.

 

• What are the “eco districts” that Steffen mentions? How you see these as feasible or unfeasible in a city like Norfolk?
• They are centers in a city which raise the density, which in turn raises the average density of the city. I can see them as being fesable but I dont think that Norfolk is a big enough city where it would work. Norfolk to begin with is obviously not as dense as say New York or even DC. Norfolk is more suburban than urban in my opinion.

 

• Explain how you agree or disagree with the “threshold effect” that Steffen discusses related to transportation.
• I feel that it would honestly be hard for many people to give up their mobility like that. Yes you can go far on public transportation but people like the convenience of having a car, so I disagree with this theory.

 

• What does Steffen mean by the idea that, “…even space itself is turning into a service…”? Can you provide any examples that you see here in Norfolk or elsewhere?
• I didnt really completely understand what he meant by that, but from what I understand was that the use of free space to provide a service. Like a park naturally filtering the run off water and being re-used. I could see something like this in the city of Norfolk.

 

• Describe your understanding of Steffen’s argument that, “…it’s not about the leaves above, but the systems below…”.
• Its like a foundation argument. What he was saying was that too many people are focused on the “green” trend but not understanding that is about more than that. Its like a house without a foundation its weak and will eventually fall down.

 

• Finally, overall in what way(s) do you see Steffen’s ideas working / not working here in Norfolk? Spend time with this question!
• I honestly think that some of his ideas would work. But like I said before I dont think Norfolk is a big enough city for this to be completely effective. People still want to go to the beach and people still need to drive into Newport news so for one most people would still need their cars, and if he wants more people to live in the cities then there will need to be parking garages which do not necessarily fit into his system.  I can see his theories working in somewhere like New York or Boston, but right now Norfolk and other cities are too spread out. This area is just too big to facilitate that kind of a change. 

Facing Up to Our Fears, First Abstract Post

Brooks, D. (2001). Facing Up to Our Fears. Newsweek, 138(17), 66.

 

The first paragraph of this article talks about how the United States in the beginning of this decade has not really been focused on any sort of conceit information. Its like the American people are comfortable and do not fear anything and do not focus on anything outside of the country.  We are realizing as a country that while the United States has not focused on foreign affairs other foreign powers have focused on the U.S. Fear is everywhere and we as American people have found out that it can take any shape, a white powder or a poison. People in this country have become paralyzed by fear, becoming overly paranoid wanting to build bomb shelters and not fly in airplanes. In Israel where bombings occur daily Israeli’s gain some order because this happens often. An event like September 11^th has never been seen by anyone in America since Pearl Harbor. We live in an individualistic society, nations like Israel or Great Britain respond to events like September 11^th as a nation. They put their faith in the government and army. Although and event like September 11^th has put fear into many Americans one thing that Americans have is courage and the ability to face those fears.

This article really made a lot of sense to me. It was written in response to the September 11^th terrorist attacks. Newsweek is right in America we don’t really have a grasp on what is happening outside of our own country. Too many people are focused on problems that are simply not important in our society.  I also agree with the fact that we are a very individualistic society. There really is not that feeling of a “nation” in this country. It’s a feeling that’s hard to describe, but I went to Israel as a youth group trip a couple years ago and when I went there, there was a strong sense and feeling of a “nation”. I think that part of this is because in Israel the people are constantly being attack and that lack of safety brings people together in the country. I think that this relates to stem 110t in a couple of different ways. The first is like I said in the beginning people are worried about things in our society that are not important, instead of using technology to solve actual problems. For the most part I agree with what was said in this article I feel that it was really informative and looked at different perspective after 9/11.

My relationship with technology

My relationship with technology. Technology has always been a big part of my life. But in different ways than most people. Im not really in tune with a lot of technology as far as computers and gadgets go but ive been around a lot of advancements in technology in the automotive industry. I’ve been an automotive technician for all of my working career and I get to work with all the types of different types of automotive technological advancements everyday. I myself have been a part of that advancement, in High School I took an Eagle Talon I found in a field and rebuilt it from the ground up. My build thread can be seen here —>http://www.vadriven.com/forums/automotive-gallery-87/pos-dsm-build-348433/ . This is my real interest in technology whether it be when we went from carburetted to fuel injected, different types of alternative fuels such as e85 even hybrid technology. Many people dont realize it but a lot of the new technology that affect us everyday comes from the automotive industry.

My First Post

Starting my first blog. Im new to this so I hope it all works out.

Vid I watched this morning, pretty dope stuff

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