Save the planet and think green! Everyone has heard this in some way at some point in their life. It is very common to be told to “be more green” or use “green” energy, but rarely is it ever specified what to actually do to achieve these goals. Almost everyone can agree that climate change is an issue and we need to do something to change this, yet the big corporations that are really causing the problems do not get as much backlash as individuals do. It is often publicized that “YOU” need to make a difference and save the planet. But can one person really cause that much change? The people who can make a true difference are the large companies that are producing all these greenhouse gases and pollution that are causing these problems to become so massive in the first place. I found two civic artifacts that use green in some way to promote a call for change. I will first look into how the first artifact using a temporal and interpersonal lense to connect with the viewer. Next I will analyze how the second artifact uses a tree to convey their message in a creative way. Then I will identify the similarities they both have in using the commonplace of “green” and how they both use an illustration of a continent or world in some way. Finally, I will examine both artifacts in their connection to some of the UN’s sustainable development goals.

artifact 1 :

artifact 2 :

general layout:

introduction

para 1 – 1st artifact through temporal and interpersonal lense

para 2 – 2nd artifact through creative lense

para 3 – both artifacts and commonplace of “green”

para 4 – both artifacts and use of countries/maps

para 5 – both artifacts and UN SDG’s (both similar and different)

conclusion

When listening to Vivaan’s elevator pitch, I was very intrigued while listening. His artifact immediately captured my attention and had me thinking. I thought he did a very good job in analyzing the artifact in many different ways and lenses. I really liked the comparison to a pyramid and how if you remove one piece, the whole thing will fall down. I did not even think about this at first when seeing the artifact. Perhaps, he could also look through the artistic lens as it has some structure to it that could be considered architecture or art. It goes beyond just an image and is very creative. I also think it could be expanded on how the top of the pyramid features a white rich woman and how we see as the pyramid grow that it is really benefiting the wealthy and privileged. The natives do the actual killing of the animals but it is much more complex than that and shows how it is very intertwined with white, rich, businessmen and women. You can literally see how the diversity decreases as we climb the pyramid and those are the people who are truly befitting most. They do little of the work and still get a lot of money and profit from these services.

Everyone needs to dry their hands. Many prefer paper towels as they do not spread germs as easily as hand dryers that blow warm air and carry pathogens throughout the air. So perhaps we could say hand dryers cause disease more easily, but you could also say paper towels spread disease throughout the forests that they originate from. Every paper towel that we use has come from a tree at some point in time, even if it has been reused or made from recycled materials. All paper comes from forests. In this rhetorical artifact, it can be seen that we are slowly destroying the planet as we continue to use so many paper products. The amount of resources left is diminishing as we use them and soon there will not be anywhere left to find these resources. I viewed this artifact through a temporal lens as it shows what happens over time and what has happened in the past. We see that as time goes on and the paper towels are used, the “green” area of South America continues to diminish as well. It makes you wonder how much you personally have contributed to this problem. Am I responsible for the death of an entire tree just through my use of paper towels throughout my life? This is why this artifact can also be seen through an interpersonal lense. I can almost guarantee that everyone I know and everyone in this room has used paper towels in their life at one point or another. Almost every person can relate to this image of grabbing a single paper towel to dry their hands, but how often do people think about all the paper towels they have used? This image makes you consider how much paper is truly used every day and has been used for years. This artifact can connect to the current climate crisis campaign that is calling for everyone to pitch in and save the planet before it is too late. The analysis of this artifact may become useful as it helps determine the current environmental issues and what problems we are continuing to cause in everyday life. The problem is how are we going to fix this? Thank you.

In today’s age, when we see the term “recycled” or “recycling”, we automatically assume it is good for the environment. Due to the recent focus on sustainability and saving the environment, there has been a big push for change and encouragement for people to do things in their everyday life that will decrease their footprint on the planet. People often think they are making an impact and doing something good by using recycled materials or recycling a piece of plastic. Realistically, a lot of plastic that people attempt to recycle actually ends up in a landfill or some other sump. Very few kinds of plastic can actually be reused and made into something else. Trying to recycle these other types of plastic can actually cause more harm than help because it contaminates all the recycling it is with and could cause the whole batch to be throw out. Also, using items or material “made from recycled plastic” is an improvement because it is not creating new plastic, but it is still contributing to the overload of plastic on this planet that will eventually end up in a landfill or somewhere else on the planet. When comparing the “three R’s” of sustainability reduce, reuse, and recycle, recycling is actually the last or worst option. The best option is reduce, which is just decreasing the amount of plastic and waste we produce in general. If we can’t do that, the next best option is reusing the stuff we have and finding another use for it. Recycling is the final option, which is still okay, but often times it is not even very effective and does not make a huge impact. Despite the surge in environmental awareness and the call for change happening around us, many fail to find things that actually improve or impact the environment positively.