RFP Virtual Peace Garden

8/14/2019 RFP Virtual Peace Garden

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Andrew Berggren John Nelson Rachel Horntvedt

ENGL 326: Writing for the Design ProfessionsProfessor Kevin Brooks

Fall 2009

RFP: Contributing to a Virtual Peace Garden

An Installation Meant to

Bring Awareness tothe Problem of E-Waste


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Fall 2009

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Document Set Contents

Cover Letter................................................................................

Executive Summary....................................................................

Credentials..................................................................................

RFP: Contributing toa Virtual Peace Garden................................................................

Bibliography................................................................................

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Fall 2009

3 for E650 NP Fargo, ND 58102

4 December 2009

Kevin BrooksMinard 322E Albrecht Blvd. Fargo, ND 58105Teaching 15 in Second Life

Dear Kevin Brooks,

Our group 3 for E has been inspired by your work in the Virtual Peace Garden and would like to make our mark ofpeace here. As a group we would like to bring awareness to the growing problem of electronic waste. In the articleBattling the problem of E-waste by Evelyn Lee (2008) she explained that E-waste accounted for 2.2 million tons ofour countries total waste in 2005 and contributes 40% of all the toxic metals in our landfills. For these reasons andmany more our group would like to use Second Life to spread awareness. We feel that this is an excellent place to

portray this subject due largely to its wide base of users from an assortment of backgrounds that all utilize electronicsBecause the users of Second Life are a global population, we would have the opportunity to target this problem in thesame way the problem affects us. Hopefully we could use a call to action in Second Life that would translate directlyinto the users first life. That seems to be enough with the reasons why; lets now look at what can be done in SecondLife.

Imagine a large gathering of electronic waste similar to a galaxy. The electronic waste would be swirling around alarge rock like mass off in the distance. You see it rotating in the atmosphere of the Virtual Peace Garden and quicklydecide to take flight and explore for yourself . As you fly through the waste reading the passing screens you startto comprehend the problem of E-waste, and click on a passing screen to learn more. Up pops a note card with theexplanations for the installment, and your questions are answered. A second note card informs you that your Second

Life e-waste can be brought and deposited at the installment. You read that taking objects away for later usage inSecond Life is also highly encouraged. As you continue to click you discover more and more valuable information on thisenvironmental problem. Now as you approach the large mass of waste in the center, you discover it is inhabitable andthe interior contains hundreds of television screens cycling through information and visuals concerning this problemAs you leave you take one quick look back and decide to logout, leaving this as your background for the day.

As a group we feel this installment will successfully convey the information on e-waste to users. We are excited aboutits highly engaging interface and feel that it should prove most captivating for participants. We are confident thatthis artful installation will be a must see for visitors of the Virtual Peace Garden. Through this installation the user willeave first of all informed of a new problem, and secondly, armed with plenty of knowledge to make use of in theirreal life.

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Executive SummaryWe understand that the Virtual Peace Gardens main purpose is to further an ideology of compassion and peace. Withthat in mind 3 for E has prepared this proposal to bring awareness to the global issue of electronic waste. Through ourecent research we have come to the realization that e-waste is a growing problem. Our research has included:

the review of art installations that currently bring awareness to the issuethe gathering of statistical informationthe exploration of Second Life as a means to view other virtual monuments.

Once we had gained a full understanding ofthe problem, we set to work brain storminghow, through the Virtual Peace Garden, wecould bring awareness to this issue. In orderto be true to this virtual world, we optedto take advantage of Second Lifes builidngproperties and make our installation float. Thisallowed us to create a monument that would

be both interactive and entertaining. The nextaddition, orbiting e-waste, came as a spin-offfrom our research of real life art installations.Specifically, an exhibit showcasing an endlesssea of cell phones sparked this decision. Thefinal product is experienced as a hovering massof e-waste for interested Second Lifers toclick on and engage with, which well suites theVirtual Peace Gardens goal of an educationalexperience.

The medium of Second Life if the perfect place to construct a monument to e-waste. Everyone who participates in this

virtual world is at least somewhat of a tech savvy person, and thus they are the main electronic consuming individualswe aim to target. We place great hope in our installation, as it should prove to be a captivating experience for SecondLife users, where they would not only develop an understanding of a very real problem, but would also be compelledto take action.

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CredentialsGreetings from 3 for E. To start we should explain that our group name was taken from the task we elected to representthe preservation of the environment. So naturally we chose 3 for E meaning the three of us Andrew Berggren, JohnNelson and Rachel Horntvedt stand for the preservation of the E, environment.

Our project started by selecting a topic that would contribute to peace and could be represented in a peace garden.We were then introduced to the virtual world of Second Life. Since then we have been focused on representing theconcept of peace through structured Second Life interactions. A peace monument is a great project to conduct viathe internet because so many people would have access to our ideas and after a somewhat lengthy research andbrainstorming period we decide that the issue of electronic waste was a worthy and urgent cause to illuminate. Aftereviewing the resources that we possessed, we came to the realization that were highly qualified to contribute to thisissue. The fact that we are all college students in a composition class for which we have set aside valuable researchand collaboration time, largely qualifies us. Another unifying theme is that we are all young and what society wouldcall, technologically inclined.

Individually it should be noted that John has seasoned experience with internet researching, as well as graphicrepresentations. To compliment his graphic interests, he has been employed by the graphics service shop in the NDSU

memorial union this entire year. Johns participation in Boy Scouts has also earned him the rank of Eagle Scout throughwhich he has committed countless hours to working with and serving his community. More information about Johnsqualifications can be found on his website at http://sguelaiche.wordpress.com/.

As far as Andrews qualifications carry, he has worked specifically on establishing a recycling program in his hometown of East Grand Forks, MN. This was accomplished through collaborations between his Boy Scout troop, throughwhich he has also achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, and the city government. It is to be recognized as well thatAndrew has donated numerous hours helping to better his community. For additional information about Andrew andhis credentials please check out his website at http://andrewsberggren.wordpress.com/.

As far as Rachels credentials go, she brings to the team 10 plus years of project experience from her participation in4-H as well as several hundred hours of community service through her High School National Honor Society. Rache

has also recently gained an enormous amount of design build experience, following a project design from conceptionthrough production and finally to completion, as a part of her involvement in Freedom by Design. Further informationregarding Rachels experience can be found at her website; http://rachelmhorntvedt.wordpress.com/.

Now that our qualifications have been quantified, methods made known, and reasoning reviewed, let us begin.

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RFP: Contributing to a Virtual Peace GardenHow many electronic devices do you own? Could you afford to do without even one of them? Technology has enabledus to accomplish a vast array of tasks, in a fraction of the time previously required, but at what cost. The dollar drivensociety Americans thrive on has left us heartlessly detached from where moral values once lie. E-waste accumulationhas pronounced itself as one of many twenty first century problems that Americans must embrace. Not only has theamassment of e-waste compromised the health of foreign handlers of these devices, but our environment has trulysuffered a detrimental blow as well.

Problem: Electronic waste (here after referred to as e-waste) has been exponentially increasing as the worldstechnological advances ceaselessly place the latest and greatest devices in our hands and proper disposal of thesegadgets once theyve expired is only a myth.

Current Recycling of Harmful E-Waste Components

Overtime we have reduced our waste disposal methods to a siphoning action that has overlooked the separation ofharmful waste from other trash. Especially, recently, we have been letting a hazardous type of waste slip through ourfingers unknowingly. Electronic waste has been exponentially filling our dumping grounds, and as stated by recyclingproponent and author E. Lee (2008), in 2005, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported there was 2.2 milliontons of electronic waste being deposited throughout the United States. Electronic waste such as our computerscell phones, and appliances have become one of the largest growing forms of waste according to the paper GlobaPerspectives on e-waste, rising from 20 million obsolete PCs in 1994 to over 100 million obsolete PCs in 2004. (2005)This increase along with the toxic metals contained in e-waste such as lead, mercury, and cadmium (2008) are why weneed to take reformative action calling for the proper disposal of this waste. Furthermore, according to Dr. GordonBrown, a mineralogist and geologist at Stanford University, one of the most toxic materials known to humankind,Cinnabar (HgS), is a primary mineral used in the refinement of the heavy metal mercury. (2006)

The United States is not the only country suffering from this problem. E-waste has become a global problem thathas had a much larger effect on the poorer nations. With it being estimated that 50-80% of the collected e-waste in

the U.S. isnt being recycled but instead being shipped to foreign nations, its easy to see how quickly it is becomingtheir problem. (2005) A research article by Sarah Webb (2007) of Science News shed light on how electronics areprimitively harvested for their precious materials. The article describes southern China as the largest dumping groundsfor obsolete electronics worldwide. It also goes on to say that people who dismantle electronics for extended periodsof time end up having bromine atoms found in their blood. This toxic heavy metal is lethal to humans, and is especiallydangerous to human fetuses.

The fact that we are paying these foreign nations to dispose of our waste coupled with their poor disposal methodsmakes this a growing global pandemic. Without handling this material properly these countries are putting themselvesat future health risks from the decomposing toxic metals lead, mercury, cadmium, as well as a multitude of others(2005) The potential health problems to their population along with the environmental impact bring significantreasoning to why we must push for global awareness. These facts should also lead us to question not only our nationsbut our worlds values, or complete ignorance, if we believe that our waste magically and harmlessly dissipates onceit has left our sight.

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A Look into Our Proposed Second Life Installation

In an effort to bring awareness to the electronic waste problem our group plans to create a monument in the virtuaworld Second Life. We plan to create an installment that would be like a miniature galaxy of swirling electronic wastein hopes that it could be appealing, interactive, and educational. This installment shall be a floating mass in the virtuaplot Teaching 15 or the Virtual Peace Garden in Second Life.

When visiting Second Life, one would teleport to the virtual plot Teaching 15 and off beyond the trees and billboardsup at the top edge of the screen one would see some objects slowly traveling through the sky. In ones curiosity theyclick the fly button and begin their ascent to this swirling mass of objects. As the fog clears, an image loads, unveilinga large mass of sparkling objects orbiting arounda glowing central mass. As one flies through theobjects you run into things such as TVs, PCs, phones,stereos, and the like. Up next a large flat screen TVpasses flashing CLICK ME and one does the onlyreasonable thing and engage. From here you arepresented with one of a possible many note cardsthat contain information about the installment andthe problem of e-waste. This particular note cardcontains case study information from Wagner(2009), from his article Shared responsibility formanaging electronic waste: A case study of Maine,that describes what Maine has done to combat theproblem of e-waste. The note card reads:

In Maine they have set up a monthly electronic waste pick up on the garbage routes thatare jointly funded by the consumer, the manufacturer and the government. Since theimplementation of this program, Wagner has shown the recycling of electronic waste in Maineto steadily increase throughout the years starting with an 108% increase in 2005, then up to170% in 2006 and finally 221% in 2007. (2008) The success of this program has been viewed as

both feasible due to the shared responsibility, and convenient because of the numerous dropoff locations instituted throughout Maine.

This encourages one to continue to explore working your way to the center but continuing to click on the way thereContinuing on you realize many of the objects are free to take and recycle for your own use. One soon finds a notecard explaining the opportunity more and learns about the opportunity to also bring your electronic waste here. Thistime, the note card also includes images and information about a group of artists who have come together to createan environmentally based art installation that utilizes salvaged/recycled materials. This note card reads:

TS2 is an environmentally based collaborative art installation that utilizes salvaged/recycledmaterials such as plastics, woods, paper, metals, fabrics and e-waste. The project was acollaborative effort between a group of artists (Tony Adams, Chaco Kato, Ash Keating and

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Dylan Martorell) under the title of Slow ArtCollective and was in partnership with theMoonee Valley City Council Waste TransferStation and the adjacent Incinerator ArtsComplex in Victoria, Australia. (2009) Slow ArtCollective really took this idea a step furtherwith their installation by filing several gallery

spaces with piles and piles of various typesof e-waste. As you can see from the images,they used the many colors and textures thatcan be found in e-waste to create a truly eyecatching display that highlights how muchspace discarded e-waste actually occupies.

So now, with this new knowledge, perhaps one continues on to the center where one finds a large spherical shapecovered with marquees relaying messages about e-waste. Amongst the marquees one finds what appears to besomething like an entrance to a cave. One flies down to check it out and upon entering one is confronted by a room ofold television screens, compiled together as a mass, depicting problematic information about electronic waste such asstatistics, images and case studies. At this point one is welcome to remain in the space as long as desired, but throughthe experience we hope to have instilled in the user an awareness of the problem along with some basic knowledgeon how to prevent this problems growth.

Second Life and Real Life Outcomes

We hope to use our installation in Second Life to call awareness to the issues surrounding e-waste in real life. It is ourhope that by visiting our installation Second Life users would not only gain knowledge about a very real problem,but would also be compelled to take action in Second Life by adding their waste to our installation and encouragingothers to come and visit our site. We also hope that the experience of visiting our installation would motivate SecondLife users to take action and do something about the problem of e-waste in real life. Real life involvement could besomething as simple as locating the nearest e-waste recycling center and dropping off your old items there, or workingwith your community to create an e-waste recycling program if there is currently not one in place. A more involvedapproach could include hosting informational sessions to not only inform, but also educate the public about the issue

or even working with ones local and state governments to create better recycling programs with stricter guidelinesfor the disposal of the waste.

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A Look at a Possible Real Life Solution

When someone simply throws away their used electronics, just because they are out of their house, out of their sightthat does not mean they have found a proper home. It is imperative to understand that humans abide on one earth;there is no them or us, but only we. As long as you and I are humans existing on this planet, proper disposal of e-wasteis our problem. We have discovered at least one prominent solution to responsible recycling, which we will now touchon.

The strongest voice is the publics call for manufactures to be held responsible for the recycling of their own productsWe as a group feel this would be best handled as a split fee situation where the consumer would pay, for example,double the cost of recycling the item. Then once they have fully consumed the product, they would bring it back tothe store where they made the originally purchase, and receive half of that original investment back. This systemwould provide the manufactures with the funding necessary to recycle their product properly, and the client with anincentive to return the product. There are other recycling programs currently being implemented, we simply chose tohighlight this one example. The main focus from here is how we can promote the concept of responsible recycling toAmericans and the world, via the virtual world of Second Life.

E-Waste Recycling Case Study

Though this is an alarming problem there are many successful cases of recycling and proper disposal of these productsIn some instances, companies are taking on recycling as their personal responsibility by funding collection and recyclingfacilities. One example shown in the article Battling the Problem of E-waste is LG electronics, whom in partnershipwith WM Recycle America have established an e-waste recycling program to run nationwide (2008). They have set upa take back program for all electronic products at 160 drop off locations across the United States. (2005) This style ofset up has proven both beneficial for the manufacture by allowing them to utilize the recycled metals, but also for theconsumer by giving them an alternative option for their electronic waste.

Though this is not the only way to approach the problem of e-waste, these case studies provide a great starting pointto what could be a large scale trend towards the proper disposal of e-waste and the end to a growing problem.

A Call to Action Through Art

We live in a visual world, one where we are increasingly becoming dependent on electronics such as televisions,computers, cell phones and cameras. This increase in electronics, however, brings with it an increase in electronicwaste. As weve already discussed there are several recycling options for e-waste, however there is another approachone that looks at garbage as a form of art, that some have decided to take. This art installation approach follows the oldadage, one mans trash is another mans treasure and by challenging what makes something art, transforms e-wasteinto not only something that is visually appealing, but also draws our attention to the problem at hand and hopefullygrabs us somewhere down deep in our soul, in our conscience and makes us want to do something, makes us want toact, to work towards a solution to the problem of the growing amounts of e-waste being discarded improperly.

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Chris Jordan, a digital artist, uses large-scale images of e-waste to callattention to the problem of consumer mass consumption. Running theNumbers, his most recent exhibition includes images portraying a largequantity of items such as cell phones, spent bullet casings and circuitboards. Jordan says, The underlying design is to emphasize the role of theindividual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible,and overwhelming. (2008) Jordans use of photography to capture the

severity of American mass consumption and e-waste is very compelling,however it exemplifies only one way that art and e-waste can be broughttogether to state a message. Jordans image of a sea of cell phones wasalso a main inspiration for us as we began to design our Second Lifeinstallation.

Another example of an art installation used to bringawareness to individual consumption and waste, is aproject done by Song Dong that took place at the Museumof Modern Art. In his installation, Song, Dong features 50years worth of contents from his Mothers home as a way

of unveiling the life of a typical Chinese woman throughthe objects she collected in her lifetime. (2009) WasteNot, as Song Dongs installation is entitled is a very visuaexample of how much one person can accumulate. TheWaste Not installation also offers a glimpse into anotherculture and really makes you question how different theinstallation would look if it were to be based on your ownlife. This installation also prompted us to further researchthe opportunity for a give and take of items in both ourSecond Life installation as well as in real life.

As can be seen by these installations, garbage, even e-waste, can be viewed as art as well as function as a way to raiseawareness about an important issue. They truly show that one mans trash CAN be another mans treasure.

A Time to Act

Now its time for YOU to make the selfless decision to get involved and take action. We encourage you, as an ablebodied, community minded person to not sit back and watch our planet be mistreated, but instead go out, locate arecycling center in your area and drop off your old electronics so that they may be properly disposed of. Doing thismay cost you a little bit of money, but the reward for recycling your e-waste will be your peace of mind. Knowingthat youve made the right decision and that your loved ones will live in a cleaner and safer world due to your modestcommitment, can be described in no better way than simply priceless.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

(2009, July 15). Waste not art installation by song dong. Retrieved from http://cyanatrendland.com/2009/07/15/waste-not-art-installation-by-song-dong/

Brown, G. (2006, June 3). Dangerous and beneficial minerals. Retrieved (2009, November 23) from emsi.stanford.edu doc/MostDangerous-Minerals.doc

Ellsevier. Widmer, R., Oswald-Krapf, H., Sinha-Khetriwal, D., Schnellmannc, M., Bonia, H., (2005, April 21). Globalperspectives on e-waste. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 25, 436-458.

Lee, E. (2008, August 25). Battling the Problem of E-Waste: Manufactures launch recycling programs. NJBIZ, pp. 1, 8.

Keating, Ash. (2009). Slow art collective - ts2. Retrieved from http://sac-ts2.blogspot.com/

Martorell, Dylan. (2009). Transfer station 2. Retrieved from http://slowtransfer.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=3

Pilloton, Emily. (2008, January 30). Chris Jordan creates beauty from e-waste. Retrieved from http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/01/30/chris-jordan-creates-beauty-from-e-waste/

Schwietert, Julie. (2009, July 15). Intolerable beauty: Chris Jordan photographs American mass consumption.Retrieved from http://matadorchange.com/intolerable-beauty-chris-jordan-photographs-american-mass-consumption/

Wagner, T. (2009, June 1) Shared responsibility for managing electronic waste: A case study of Maine, USA.

Webb, S. (2007, July 14). E-waste hazards: Chinese gear recyclers absorb toxic chemicals. Science News, 172,Retrieved from JSTOR.

RFP Virtual Peace Garden

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