Journal Entry For
Project 3 - Sharing
Anticipated questions for Poster sharing session:
- Who will fund the project?
- There is currently a $5M grant from the county to build homes. The interviews that we conducted indicate that land scarcity and cost is a bigger issue than funding for the construction itself.
- Will there still be farming in 2050?
- Industrial farming may look different in 2050, but according to our interviews, organic farming is a return to indigenous farming practices that have existed for thousands of years. This method of farming preserves soil health and sequesters carbon, and it can be carried out over an acre by one farmer. Therefore, the type of farming our cooperative encourages will be feasible in 2050.
- Why did we choose the mushroom farm?
- This site along Highway 92 is zoned for agriculture and it was condemned by the county due to labor and safety violations. Since the place is marked as Permanently Closed, we see an opportunity to acquire it at an attractive valuation. Furthermore, there is symbolic value to establishing the co-op in the place where the shootings occurred, so it makes sense as a design project to show how the situation that caused the tragedy could be addressed.
- How is it resource-efficient to live together rather than to live individually?
- If people live as a collective, they can cut down on how many appliances they need to run or items they end up buying. For example, by introducing shared laundries, we could reduce the amount of CO2 emission by 26%. They could thus lower their carbon impact. (Talking about the carrot story would also work!)
In addition, some farming process requires human skills, not being able to replace by machines. For example, human hands are necessary to harvest delicate crops (Ex: fruits and vegetables) so that their quality, grade, and size are maintained. We, therefore, believe farmers would still exist in 2050