LARC 2340 Journal

LARC 2340 JOURNAL

Joseph Feldman

Week 1

1/8/24

Our first class was a fun and exciting start to the semester. I was able to learn much about my classmates through brief introductions and shared stories. Yet, all of us have gathered together under the roof of Hastings with the same climate concerns. The first podcast we listened to was “Give Up Your Climate Guilt.” This podcast was a perfect introduction to the class and someone like myself who isn’t as informed with the exact specifics of Climate injustice/change. The lesson I learned through this podcast was that we can’t think about climate change as an individual sport but rather a team endeavor. I also admired the term “Climate Curious” that was used by the podcast as I think it actually best defines my current standing. I want to learn more about what I and others can do, while not being ashamed to say I am not knowledgeable in the field as of now. Overwhelming is the most apt word used to describe how people feel about climate change. When people are overwhelmed they forgo change and stoop back down to comfort. Essentially, the ansWwer to combating climate change lies in behavioral science and psychology first, then physical sciences. As previously stated, through this first class I learned about how climate change has impacted my classmates. In a sense, they expressed individuality in their struggles and the act of speaking in a group brought individuals together. Funny enough, the entire first class was symbolic of how we are meant to tackle climate change. And a class such as ours with such diversity in age, major, and background, will allow us to have these conversations with much more effectiveness and insight that would be impossible for any individual to produce. Following this, we were brought back to housekeeping efforts, including talking about the syllabus, final project, and expectations of the class.

Week 2 1/15/24

NOCLASS

Week 3

1/22/24

We began our 3rd class discussing everyone’s made postcards which built on the discussion we had during our first class. We then started to discuss Native land and start to contemplate what actually is Land? What land are we on? At the end of the day, the land we live on was and is not originally ours. It belonged to the native people before us. For example, Boston is one of the more famous examples of an indigenous city. Land is Stolen, Urbanized, Shared, Inhabitable, etc. Land is almost anything and everything showing its importance to humanity. It was interesting to learn that Native Americans were kicked out and not even welcome back into Boston for almost 330 years. Only then it was repealed for another reason (that wasn’t out of the kindness of humanity). We then watched a short documentary about a landscape declaration. Essentially it opened us up to how landscape architects think and maybe should think harder about. “Transform the Urban core” is a good quote from this documentary. It not only means to change the urban environment, but also to change the foundational beliefs that their decisions are based on. To diversify the profession in Landscape architecture is to find more solutions to problems others were simply incapable of finding themselves. To also understand the modern financial, political, and social impacts their projects have on people is extremely important. It was to the purpose of “raising the bar” that landscape architects base their decision on. We then settled into our groups that we will have for the rest of the semester, to discuss our feelings on the documentary we just watched. Which was wonderful because I got to see the insights of many of my new team members. Finishing off we talked about Kate orff and Jeff Hou’s writings regarding environmental design and “activism” in the field .

Week 4

1/29/24

This class saw us each present our presentations on some SCAPE projects we were assigned. These presentations showcased a brief overview of the selected projects and how they might respond to someone like Kate Orff’s ideas and other work she has accomplished. It was good to start working with my own group and I think we have some really interesting viewpoints that will translate well to rich podcast conversations. I studied the Detroit, MI project which saw a revitalization plan in Detroit’s oldest city: Corkstown. It was a SCAPE project that aimed to aid the city through utilized underutilized plots to maximize the communities flourishment WITHOUT displacement of any current citizens. It is a project that exemplifies the need for community in design as well as many other sources besides the architects we are accustomed too. Design is a conversation between people to improve quality of life. A conversation requires more than one person (unless you like talking to yourself, no judgment here) so that people can effectively learn from each other. Our presentations ended and we then received a presentation from Leah Bamberger, a northeastern faculty member who specialized in climate justice. It was a very fun presentation that involved a lot of back and forth between her and us. The questions needing to be answered were about Northeastern and what are we doing to combat things like this. How can Northeastern help these minority businesses in general? Underground Cafe is a good example but we could think more about where we invest the money that Northeastern inevitably will make and profit. More Research would be vital for this. We also ought to create more relationships with different climate supporting companies to show our position and create bigger change. This class was very enjoyable and I look forward to more group endeavors we share!

Week 5

2/5/24

Class opened up with us talking about our last week’s group presentation on design activism. My subject in particular was how architecture intersects with the public, or normal people that are NOT architects. The article stated that it is of high importance to infuse non architectural elements, people, perspectives, etc into architecture projects alike. Later we then discussed some people’s opinions on the Green new deal which we learned about during our podcast reflection. In particular my favorite point was Fleming’s disapproval of calling landscape architects “saviors” and how they will be key in this new deal and sustainability in the future, when in reality landscape architects work with private companies to make expensive parks and public spaces. It’s something to consider when we talk about how we can combat climate change or climate sustainability. It is also crucial to consider how economic inequality fits into this space of talking points. Resilience was a key theme in the readings and its meaning is up for interpretation. It is about how the elites can change the urban landscape through the opportunities hazards provide and, how I interpreted, they can shift the narrative to speak as unbreakable or “Resilient.” The urban lifestyle that we have is one that is in danger and something we need to discuss in many forms such as our upcoming first group podcast! Then from the podcast we spoke about the radical effects of Malm and his idea of change. In my opinion “intelligent sabotage” is largely illogical in what it is trying to accomplish. Climate justice and change requires unification and being on the same page. Conflict incited by these “harmless” acts only call for more crack down on those groups.

Shifting the narrative in a way to be less favorable for people looking to make climate change less harmful. It’s a controversial topic but it has value no doubt and we should talk more about it.

Week 6

2/12/24

Is Climate change kind of funny? Maybe. But videos telling us about it sure can be. Class started with us watching a short 3 minute video that was well informative but showed its humor at the same time. However, the podcasts this week were a little different in its content. What I loved most about this week’s podcast was the actual foundation it was built upon: student work. The Green new deal super studio was a brilliant design given to students from all over the globe. Inherently, this idea is so smart because students have that creative hope that isn’t as readily present in older more experienced landscape architects/designers. Also the diversity introduced from all these different schools, programs, states, and even countries is what is most important. Everyone is able to design with the background information they have from their own experience with climate change, injustice, and other social issues. Then we proceeded to have 3 students come and talk about a project competition that was very similar to the Super Studio, about areas that are very close to us. This was a really cool way to interact further with the idea of diverse student design with the intention of combating climate change and promoting equality. It was also really interesting to see what the fault in some of these programs like the Superstudio that claim to do a lot of things that they don’t. For instance, saying extensive community interaction and such occurred but actually never having even physically gone to the neighborhood or spoken to any current resident. Making out first podcast was a fun experience and something I look forward to over the semester. Though hopefully they will let us into the recording studio next time instead of making us find a local echoey room. The next hot take will for sure feel like a breath of fresh air (maybe literally). Stay tuned!

Week 7 2/19/24

WORKING

WORKING SESH

Week 8

2/26/24

Our podcast for this class was by environmentalist Jenny Price. Now if anyone knows anything about Jenny Price, it is that she is hilarious but also brilliant. Her satirical approach to climate change is amazing and refreshing. Yet in her points, she says so many valuable things. So much so that she has personally resonated with me in her beliefs and something I will take with me, far beyond this class. We also just finished out Hot Take 1 which was a really fun experience. It was a chance to talk less formally about equally important topics as our previous podcast. It offered much more insights into my other teammates’ thoughts and personal climate beliefs. We also got the chance to use the podcast studio and I think it did us a great justice in getting to face each other, acting more like a conversation. Finally, in class we had our ROWDY conversation about Jenny’s different reasons to STOP TRYING TO SAVE THE PLANET. In particular we focused on consumerism and how it gives everyone a false sense of accomplishment, while they are actually damaging the planet more. Consuming things is still worse than using your current, but perfectly working, carbon consuming items. It is a notion that floods our minds that we need to buy all these new carbon neutral items in order to due our duty to survive. Our 7 ways, rom jenny’s book, that we were asked to look at are, Have a “how do we do a lot of stuff without buying a whole lot of stuff” join-up, Go ahead & buy some stuff—new & used, Taxes R Us, Live with wild things—home ecologies, Recalculate costs—yours, mine, ours, Tell a frickin’ joke, Just say no to blaming individual choices, instead of root causes, for huge systemic problems, 39 no-brainer things. Bottom line, all these reasons serve as a guide BUT not a rule set. At the end of the day, we are human. You can make mistakes and not follow everything on these reasons, as well as the many other reasons me and my group did not cover.These huge carbon consuming customs we are used to are the large enemy. Also, I LOVE TREES.

Week 9 3/4/24

NOCLASS

Week 10 3/11/24

WORKING

WORKING SESH

Week 11

3/18/24

Having not been in a class for awhile we resume talking about our various field trips coming up. Unfortunately, this seems to be our last day in the physical classroom :( but I think the end will be much more fun anyway! I would say we are now podcast veterans having done 3 already. The entangled landscape is approaching which will be out eventual final projects for the class. I think i’ve got some unorthodox ideas to approach it and i’m excited to explore myself in this project. In class today we are also watching a short documentary about Native Americans and their journey through different climates, and their traditions. The podcast reminded me deeply of the film the killers of the flower moon. Martin Scorsese did an amazing job in portraying the white man infiltrating Native American culture and creating propaganda against them. The best example was the Smokey the bear example from the documentary. Never in my whole life have I heard Smokey the bear be characterized as a piece of propaganda, BUT IT IS. Fire is such an important part of Native American culture and we were taught that any fire in the woods should be feared and avoided at all cost. We should also alienate people who do and shame them for doing so. In a way, it turned the narrative of being a spiritual and cultural piece to be a dumb founded concept that ought to stop. Yet the horrible conditions we create in the environment with our habits all hurt Native American culture. Drought is a result of climate change and it hurts the natives’ fire production and control, then this causes the fire and their lives to be out of control, but appears to us that it is their fault almost. Further dividing us from the Natives. It was an extremely informative documentary that I wish everyone could see.

Week 12

3/25/24

Unfortunately, I could not attend the field trip allotted for this week. So I look a tour instead to look into what I missed! Just recently I watched the film “Damnation” which gives an in depth look at what dams accomplish and how they cause so much harm for the benefits they appear to give. In the Damnation film, Salmon were the species of fish harmed by these dams. In this case, the removal of the Sawmill Dam allows for the Trout to start to flourish again. The project also features the installation of Atlantic white trees and large pieces of wood in the stream. This further reclaims the previous and natural ecosystem Plymouth had. The removal of dams comes at the fact that there are 3000 total dams in massachusetts. Yet, such a miniscule amount serves any purpose anymore (they of course used to). So all of those dams simply hurt the local ecosystems with no perceived gain. Funny enough, most of these smaller dams throughout Massachuesetts are quite charming. They appear as these lovely ruined architecture, and as someone who loves ruined architecture, I wouldn’t want to destroy them. But, I have never looked into ruins that harm its surrounding environment, it is usually the other way around. Dams not only block, but they also warm the water, and with the combination of that and global warming in general, Boston water is just not as cold anymore. Flooding is also something that I discovered was an issue; something that wasn’t spoken about in the Damnation film. That is why the removal of the Dam was so crucial in the Eel River. From the new pictures I have seen of the Eel River, it seems as though the local ecosystem there has been unaltered. It appears natural and gives natural results. Beauty is nature and nature is priceless.

Week 13

4/1/24

Week 13 saw us, well not me but everyone else lol, go to Deer Island for a tour. Of course I have done my research on the Island and, after listening to this weeks podcast especially, I am confused to say the least. Let me quote Deer Island’s website directly, “This location has a complex and troubling history, once serving as an internment island for Native Americans during King Philip’s War.” Complex and troubling history? And only saying “served as an internment island for Native americans.” From the podcast We listened to it became apparent that Deer island was not just an internment island, but a death sentence. The Nipmuc tribe was sent there during this war without any food, water, medicine, shelter etc… half of them died and it was so sad to hear the podcast, yet even sadder to know that they’re so minimized. Eventually they say what happened further down the webpage, but I just feel as if it is truly the most significant thing of this Island and wish it would be made so. The podcasts speaker made the claim that every life needs to be remembered, ironically most of their tribe who died have not been. Focussing on the present, Deer island is now a symbol of wastewater management, and a symbol for environmental care on the east coast. It is a place meant to be walked, explored, and understood through touring. From the virtual tour and many photos, the island serves not only as a symbol for waste and environmental causes but as a symbol for Boston. It is perfectly seen from the coast and the Island gets a great panoramic of the city. Our class is coming to a close and we only have one more podcast to record, following that we have a few more assignments and the final. Let’s finish strong!