In class today, we spent the first part brainstorming our ideas further, and discussing these with the lecturers to see their opinions on them. We had a couple of different ideas, some dealing with physical environmental change, others having social impacts instead.
One of our ideas was to have an hour a day where lights where all lights were turned off. We were planning on having this hour around sunset, as we figured that most people turn off their lights before they're required. This way, if we make sure they have their lights off for an extra hour, it will actually be getting darker at the point where they can then turn their lights on. This small change would overall help save a lot of power, as well as save each individual household some money on the power bill.
Another idea was more social based, where we were looking at a way to prevent awkwardness and possibly put people in a good mood when in close proximity with a stranger, in spaces such as elevators, or buses etc. We were trying to come up with some ideas on how to do this, such as having a pack of cards in the elevator, and when you walk in, it says something to do to the next person that hops in such as "Ask them how they are doing" in an attempt to promote conversation. We were hoping this idea would help people socially, as not necessarily make new friends, but possibly more acquaintances, and even just help improve people's day and make them smile (as we found that a lot of people find the silence in elevators stress inducing or increases feelings of anxiety). However, when discussed with Tim, he said that it could be difficult since talking to a stranger could be seen as a big step for those who are super shy and introverted.
A more physical idea we had, was one day a week where we would encourage people to bike or walk to work rather than drive. The intention of this was to decrease congestion on the roads, help get people more active, and reduce the carbon footprint caused from driving cars. This could be a decent idea to work with, however there are a few obstacles which could stop people participating. One being that people might not necessarily own a bike, could live too far away, or their work uniform might not be suited for walking or biking longer distances.
Our fourth idea, was to look at the damage caused by plastic bottles. When researching this idea, we found all sorts of shocking, unbelievable statistics about how many bottles were left in the waste, along with the large negative impact this had on our environment. Not only this, but by reusing plastic bottles there are all sorts of toxic chemicals which can get into your body, or go down the sink if rinsing the bottle. With this idea, we were considering promoting people to get a reusable bottle, which would have multiple positive effects. It would save them money in the long run, instead of buying bottled water, would help to avoid possible health risks, and also help to reduce the number of plastic water bottles that end up in the waste.
In the end, we decided to go with our fourth idea, the one regarding the waste of plastic bottles. We found this topic quite interesting, especially after seeing just how large the impact is on our environment, for an issue which most people wouldn't even take note of.
At the end of the class, we had a small workshop on filming, where we were introduced to some equipment available for hire from Massey, as well as how to use these to full effect.
Over the course of the next week, we will look to gather more research on our idea, some statistics and reliable information, as well as come up with a basic storyboard on what we might have in our video.
- Blake
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