I am now starting to look at how I will present the proposal and addressing specific parts of the presentation criteria. I'm choosing to depict the proposal as a story with a character:
Reality
The overwhelming allure of material positions has give us a
false context of what possessions mean to us, and that they are the ultimate
means to happiness and satisfaction in life. Not only this but a context in
which one can judge another’s success in life. But what is the impact does this
ever increasing needs to consume have on the health of the environment and the
health of society.
To understand this we must look at the impact of producing
the products we consume.
Raw materials must to extracted from the earth but
unlike organic material, manufactured materials such as ABS plastic, the same
found in computers, do not biodegrade and therefore either end up in landfill
or pollute the natural environment in fact,
Last year, an estimated 150,000 tons of marine plastic debris ended up
on the shores of Japan and 300 tons a day on India’s coasts. (http://coastalcare.org)
One of the
major aspects of this consumerist system is the individual life cycle of a product.
As products are outdated seemingly as soon as they are released, Quality and
adaptability are disregarded and it becomes the norm to discard outdated
products and purchase new ones. Transport, production and manufacturing of
these products puts enormous strain on the environment.
Community
Faced with
the serious threat of resource depletion, growing awareness that we are
becoming more dependent on a lifestyle that cannot be sustained and the fact
that many people cannot afford to keep up with these social trends and new
community has emerged. The expert amateur or the DIY community.
This DIY
community began to come to light in about 2009. The community comprises of a
series of websites that create a free open source marketplace for instructions
regarding fixing, upgrading and extending the life of everyday products. From
phones, computers, cars and homes these websites allow everyday people to learn
share and contribute to the sustainability of the planet.
Creativity
This brings
us to our character, a retiree living in a time of uncertain economic future,
2015. To add to this pressure, he constantly has to purchase new products and
technology to replace the outdated and broke ones around the home, until one
day his laptop dies. Tired of having to spend his retirement money on replacing
old products that seem to be fine, he decides to fix it himself. After a search
on the internet he quickly find some instruction and fixes it himself. He also
decides to upload and share instructions for other items he knows how to fix
and before long, is very involved with the online DIY community. However, he is
limited by what he can work on as he does not have access to more serious
workshop machinery.
Later that
year he attends the Woodford folk festival and shares his ideas of extending
product life and sustainable consuming. He finds that many other people are
also involved with this online community and are also limited due to not having
access to shop equipment.
He decides
to speak with the Woodfordia organizers and in 2017, and request a meeting
space with workshop facilities. The association and out character meet on site
to choose a location.