After choosing the topic of climate change / global warming. I decided to do a little bit of research, listed below are some of my findings:
- 66% of people believe climate change is occurring
- 32% believe humans are the main cause
- 57% of people continue to think that climate change poses a serious threat to our way of life over the coming decade
- 47% of people feel that the things they do on a daily basis contribute to climate change
(Statistics obtained from http://climateinstitute.org.au/verve/_resources/TCI_ClimateOfTheNation2013_web.pdf)
Although after investigating into the issue of climate change / global warming, I began to narrow down aspects of our daily life which contribute to this. I came up with 10 idea:
- bringing own mugs for coffee rather than using plastic cups
- using public transport, walk or ride bike rather than using car as a medium of transport
- wash only full loads of laundry on a cold cycle
- unplug electronic appliances from power outlet when not in use or even if they’re turned off as they still use energy
- lower thermostat (air conditioner) in winter, raise in summer
- use energy efficient lighting such as fluorescent or LED lights
- recycle aluminium cans as they can be “renewed”
- use solar as energy source (such as solar panels or solar hot water systems)
- in regards to the industry providing affordable “clean” options such as electronic cars
- turn tap off between brushing teeth and reducing shower time
I then investigated and listed ways for a visual approach (for poster): humour, empathy, shock, positive approach, statistics, intriguing, memorable, disrupt behaviour, propaganda, educational, incentive scheme or photograph, text, illustrations.
With all this in mind I decided to focus my poster on aluminium cans and continued my research into this. Here are some of the discoveries I made as I researched this topic:
- Production of aluminium products from recycled scrap material requires 90 – 95% less energy than the production of primary aluminium
- Average Australians consume 6 kilograms worth of steel drink cans
- 1.7 billion cans in total
- Only 56% of aluminium cans recycled
- Nearly three-quarters of all aluminium ever made since 1886 remains in use today
- By recycling just six aluminium cans you can offset a 25km train trip, 17km bus ride or 10km journey in an average size car
Kate Scott 