Hi there.
I’m really excited that you’re here.
What I hope for this site is that you can learn, engage, and hopefully learn a few things that will help you leave the world a little better than you found it.
I’m really excited that you’re here.
What I hope for this site is that you can learn, engage, and hopefully learn a few things that will help you leave the world a little better than you found it.
Below is a personal collection of academic and professional work that has helped me grasp and understand different narratives of climate change. Feel free to take a look, a read, a gander - whatever tickles your fancy!
Author: Annie Constantinescu (that’s me!)
Degree: Master of Design in Strategic Foresight + Innovation, OCAD University (2019)
Abstract:
The science of climate change dates back to the 19th century with publications made as early as 1859 by John Tyndall. Between the mid-1800s and today, there have been other scientific discoveries about human involvement in the changing climate but despite the scientific proof, it has not generated widespread public action. Accepting this as the basis of a wicked problem, the goal of this paper is to understand the necessary components of effective climate change communication that will allow individuals to detach from their predispositions and effectively frame climate change at an individual level. The hope is that once this occurs, individuals will adopt a more environmentally friendly mentality and lifestyle (referred to in this paper as environmental citizenship). The analysis of past and current narratives of climate change in tandem with applying Narrative Policy Framework and rhetorical narrative structures presented three main narrative types: Scientific- Based, Fear-Based, and Story-Based. A prototype was designed using these three narrative structures in conjunction with visual grammar tools to observe the saliency of the different narratives and their components. This MRP identifies narrative elements which help bridge the gap between the current paradigm and having a more informed and environmentally-conscious society.
Climate change is exceptionally multivalent, enabling a limitless range of self-serving interpretation, and it is uncanny, creating a discomfort and unease that we seek to resolve by framing it in ways that give it a familiar shape and form. These two factors combined make it a wicked problem. This infographic dives into the main drivers why individuals are aware of this information, however are slow to react in a way that mitigates climate damage.
Authors: Annie Constantinescu, Michael Keoshkerian, Sean Molloy, Sanam Samanian
Designed By: Annie Constantinescu
Course: SFIN 6020 – 001 OCAD University
Managing waste is one of the most significant challenges that humanity faces in our modern environment. As society continues to progress along the consumer-driven model and as populations in cities continue to increase almost exponentially throughout the world, municipal jurisdictions are increasingly struggling to better deal with the waste that humans create.
This research focuses on why people do not recycle in urban spaces in Toronto. To better understand this problem area the research team used two different approaches to explore people’s behaviour when throwing out waste in public spaces. The first method was direct observation and the second was intercept interviews to ask people for their insights at the point in time when they were throwing their waste away.
To gather insights into the systemic problem of recycling in public spaces, the research team, further, used the coffee cup as a focus of the analysis. The coffee cup is a particularly unique object in that it contains recyclable materials, but is not fully recyclable. The materials in it that are recyclable are also not recycled in all jurisdictions and the coffee cup is an ubiquitous item, used by most in Toronto throughout the day. It proved to be an interesting unit of analysis from which the research team could better understand the larger recycling system in the city.
