Times Square Project Proposal:

 Final Draft of Times Square Group Project.docx

Re-envisioning Times Square Project Presentation:

 Times Square Presentation (Final Draft).pptx

Self-Reflection Letter:

Dear City Seminar Instructors,

            For the past half semester, I have enjoyed analyzing the idea of conscious consumption. The first cycle’s assignments and seminars have tremendously changed my perspective of how my behavior impacts the environment. Before I ventured on my journey of “Buy to Live, Live to Buy,” I had a negative view of Environmentalism. I used to hold to the position that Environmentalism was merely a political device for goading crowds. In other words, I held to the view that the green movement was a bandwagon for radical scientists and overzealous politicians. I have always been conscious of how my consumer choices can trash the earth. However, I have never analyzed my consumer life critically or have ever reflected upon the global effects of my wasteful consumption practices.

            Conscious consumption is the deliberate act of connecting one’s consumer behavior to the health of the environment. A conscious consumer must realize that convenience must not take precedence over preserving our eco-system. Out of a demand for convenience products our American consumerist society has developed the wasteful concept of disposability. I find it shocking that billions of trees are chopped down annually merely to satisfy people’s need for convenience. Also, as Annie Leonard once stated in her “The Story of Stuff,” we must not buy into the idea of planned or perceived obsolescence, which is a marketing strategy of shortening the expiration date of an item or deeming a product outdated, because our planet cannot sustain our garbage. In addition, consider also Beavan in chapter 3 of No Impact Man as he confronts whether or not his trash reflects his values. After examining his garbage, Beavan realizes that his trash’s story is inconsistent with what he values in life (e.g., the environment, family, and wildlife). Thus, a conscious consumer is a person who rejects notions of convenience, and planned or perceived obsolescence, and seeks to change the narrative of his/her waste.

           I think a key component of conscious consumption is being aware of the accumulative effects of small wasteful habits. If I simply limit my disposable product consumption, I am sure that I would be making a tremendous step toward being “no impact.” If I use mugs, totes, handkerchiefs and cloth napkins instead of paper products, I believe I would almost eliminate my bathroom trash. Also, I plan to reduce my kitchen waste by half by composing food scraps. In addition, I also plan to strictly monitor my plastic and water consumption in order to prevent myself from contaminating our soil and water systems. Consequently, if I follow through with these ideas, which seems possible considering that these are small changes, the environment will be less of a victim of my consumer footprint.

           In terms of creating a proposal, I believe I have expanded in the areas of academic research and writing. The material covered in Ethnographies of Work helped me choose a topic for my user group in the Times Square Project. We decided to focus on coffee consumption based on the cultural and societal stigma for coffee. Probably the most enjoyable aspect of the Times Square Project was presenting our proposal. I found the experience of presenting a collaborative proposal extremely fulfilling. A particular challenge in the project was researching appropriate case studies for our proposal. I had problems finding supportive case studies because Google yielded unreliable websites, while library databases had limited articles on the topic of interest. After seeking advice, however, I realized that I had too specific goals in my research process. I overcame this problem by searching for case studies that would relate to or inform our proposal concept, instead of looking for exact information. I would recommend future students to allow their proposal to evolve from fieldwork and research, rather than first developing a proposal and then following through with research. If one derives a proposal from thorough research, he/she will have more success in writing a comprehensive and thoughtful proposal.