BARBARA PAZA LEARNING EXPERIENCE: KEVIN BYRNEVISUAL THINKING 2.4.10

A growing number of chemists are nowdeveloping biodegradable plastics in replace ofthose that are made by oil. Right now, bio plasticsare being made from corn and other plants, morerecently than others, additions of cotton.

Besides reducing greenhouse gas emissions duringproduction, biodegradable plastics leave no waste,and can “maximize economic development by usinglocal crops”, according to Susan Moran of The NewYork Times.

In the past few years, plastic forks and other disposable utensils have been made out of bio plastic,but companies are beginning to use bio plastic in nondisposable products like cell phones, including theJapanese companies NEC Corporation, Unitika andNTT DoCoMo.

As of right now, the largest producer of bio plastic is NatureWorks, based in Nebraska. It uses corn sugarto make “polylactide”. Polylactide comes in the awhite pellet form, which NatureWorks sends to othercompanies, who then mold the bio plastic intoproducts or packaging.

Metabolix, based in Massachusetts, is anothercompany that produces a bio plastic. Metabolixspecializes in films, specifically used in creatinggarbage and shopping bags. According to Metabolix,their bio plastic composts in fewer than 90 days, in awide variety of temperatures and places, including aconsumer’s back yard, or “even the ocean itself”. Bycreating a bio plastic that is compostable under alarger variety of circumstances, littered bio plastic,specifically the type that Metabolix produces, has ahigher chance of composting even when un-intendedby a consumer.

Metabolix, like NatureWorks, produces bio plastic,and then sells it in a standard form which is thenmolded by the purchasing company. According to theMetabolix website, their product is “Biobased,Sustainable, and Biodegradable”, meaning the “mirel”,a specific form of bio plastic is formed from allnatural materials, leaves no carbon footprint, anddecomposes within a relatively short amount of time.

While bio plastics are still relatively new, chemistsare coming up with more efficient forms. One of themain problems with bio plastics is that when used topackage food products, the food product’s shelf lifebecomes much shorter. Chemists are trying to find abalance between bio plastics that decompose under alarge variety of situations (intended or unintended)and last long enough to keep food fresh whenpackaged, one of the leading uses of regular plastics.

Though not perfect, new forms of bio plastic areemerging from a large amount of chemists, hopefullymeaning that we will soon have a more perfectedform of bio plastic, eliminating waste and carbonemissions.

TheAdvancement

ofBio Plastics

nicholas kriegler

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this is visual counterpoint!

this is visual counterpoint!

natural movement was started in the center where most of the focus was but

then followed the principle of glance curve with we had learned about early in the

semester.

I now closed my eyes for a few

seconds to give my eyes a rest and a fresh

view of the image. When opening them

they zeroed in on the face and it drew all

my attention in and even if I wanted to

moved to look at over parts of the

photograph my eyes didn’t want me to. All

I wanted to see was the dragon like face.

Once I had noticed that it seemed to have

features of a dragon the entire piece came

together.

I closed my eyes for a final time and when I opened them all I could see

was the eye of the dragon-esque image. I feel that by using the method I have

learned to view images and artworks in a different manor. When I completed this

task I felt like I had a stronger connection with the image then if I would have just

walked by and peered at the photography any other time. In this process I

seemed to start with the very simplicity objects and moved to the most detailed. I

think that I’ll be able to use this method when doing drawings, it helped my

understand of the composition increase and the many levels the build up to

detail. This is a very valuable experience that I’ll be able to use in the future when

I am studying images and making my own work.

VThink09 Week 2Multiple Intelligence Theory

criteria

Visual �inking

Mike Borell

Trash receptacle installment proposal for Cesar Chavez Street, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Based o� a visual analysis of environmental urban color.

Word Image Scale

Key Words

-Light & Pale-Pure & Genuine-Neat-Bracing

-Chic-Fashionable-Urbane-Cultivated

-Enjoyable-Vivid-Natural-Friendly

New Receptacles

Color palette extracted from environment

Application 2

Conclusion

�ank you.

By thoroughly examining the Cesar Chavez niehgborhood surrounding El Burrito Mer-cado and applying Shigenobu Kobayashi’s color theory I was able to take on a whole

new understanding of the areas atmosphere. �e multiple businesses all tend to draw on certain color schemes that create similar feelings. Pure, genuine, vivid, natural, friendly,

chic, urbane, cultivated. A�er extracting and organizing the colors found within the neighborhood I was able to come up with these words by applying Kobayashi’s word

image theory. In order to further accentuate these feelings I wanted to further integrate the colors that create these feelings within the environment. By replacing the existing

trash receptacles (that contained only one color) with new receptacles, designed with a color palette that encompasses all of these feelings, I feel I have accomplished my goal.

�rough the application of Kobayashi’s theory and using his techniques I was able to further examine and understand the atmosphere created by the colors in the Cesar

Chavez neighborhood. I now �nd myself applying Kobayashi’s theory and technique to many di�erent neighborhoods, especially my own. �is is a valuable tool that I will be

able to use for all kinds of environments in the future.