Proposal Time!!!

 This is a bit late but I had a migraine all weekend and was not able to flush it out :/ But here it is! It is definitely subject to change as things are still flexible. It will be updated at the end of the project as it will be a running doc. Enjoy!

The Client: 

Our client for this project is Greenpeace. Greenpeace is a global, independent campaigning organization

(an NGO) that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems

and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. These posters will act as public

service announcements on behalf of Greenpeace to share our environment’s story and how our actions

as humans can help to change the course of our planet’s future. 

(can add more if we meet with Greenpeace)

The Audience: 

Greenpeace’s audience is the larger public who are interested in helping the environment as well as those

less knowledgeable. Greenpeace’s many campaigns centered around crucial environmental issues work

to spread awareness and garner support. Their audience has grown to a global scale with 2.8 million

members worldwide and 250,000 members in just the U.S. With their unique global mission, Greenpeace

does not take contributions from governments or corporations, showing how their main audience is the

general public, specifically those with less political power and influence, who can make change at the

grassroots level. 

Also by aligning with the missions of the general public to “challenge systems of power and privilege that

destroy the environment and place disproportionate burdens on vulnerable communities,” comes the

acknowledgement of diversity within the people you are designing for. Greenpeace “welcomes, values,

and relies on a diversity of people, cultural experiences, and perspectives.” Their campaigns work to create

solutions and promote sustainable practices rooted in social justice. 

Project Goals: 

The idea for my posters first came from the beginning of my knowledge of environmental justice. After

taking the course, ENVIRON 222 (taught by Dr. Dorceta Taylor), at the University of Michigan, I have

been wanting to learn more and work with this subject at the design level as a way to turn my interest into

a sort of research project. I began to think about how I can unite all of the different avenues of pollution

under a single idea/theme. I decided to continue in this direction as I learned how it aligned with

Greenpeace’s overarching mission.

1. My plan for this project is to create a series of posters, featuring different aspects of

pollution (water, air, land, fire, plastics, and factory farming), that are all united under the
idea of environmental justice. Each topic/poster will focus on not only how the environment
is negatively affected, but WHO is affected as well; for example, the communities who are
feeling the direct impact of these environmental changes. 

Water: Access to safe drinking water

Air: Pollution from corporate factories/plants through emissions 

Fire: Starting with gas pollution (for example in the Niger Delta) but still need to do some additional

research

Land: Soil degradation and how it relates to food security

Plastics: The creation of plastics at different factories/plants and the pollution that comes from them

Animal Agriculture: Methane gas emissions and water waste, as well as strategic placement of these

facilities

2. These posters are a way for me to contextualize my research throughout my time at

Michigan and visually represent the knowledge that I have begun to start developing
surrounding this topic. I wish to show that not only are humans damaging the environment
but these same humans are responsible for damaging “themselves” in that other humans
are facing the effects with their communities being exploited. It is easy for people to feel r
emoved from extreme environmental changes/affects when they are not being directly
impacted, so I hope to show people that there ARE humans suffering from these changes
who are disproportionately affected. 

2. (fill this in if we meet with Greenpeace)

Process: 

My process for this project began quite slowly. I began by thinking too abstractly about how I wanted to

approach the project- thinking more in concepts than ideas. I was really moved by one of the statistics

outlined in the two plastic films we watched and began to start thinking about these statistics visually and

how I could portray the scope and weight of the truth of our planet and its waste. It said that the amount

of plastic created since the beginning of its creation could wrap around the size of our Earth seven times.

Also because of the slow process of decomposition, a lot of the plastic that was first created is likely still

aound and sitting on the Earth today. I was thinking too much in terms of information design and how I

could visually represent statistics like that rather than connecting my posters through a story. I

remembered my early research from Environmental Justice and, once realizing that this also related to

Greenpeace’s mission, decided to move into this direction. Though I am unsure visually how I can tell

these stories, I think it will be a beneficial direction to go in and can still be visually striking. I am interested

in how to connect each section of pollution to an overarching story about how pollution not only affects the

planet/nature but also the negative effects on people. 

Executive Summary: 

(TBD- write at the end)

Sources (so far)

Still need to cite

Water: currently researching water pollution in India through a Global Studio course, From Flint,

Troubled Water

Air: notes/books from ENVIRON 222 by Dorceta Taylor, Company Town

Fire: Poisoned Fire

Land: ENVIRON 222 Research Paper about food security + additional research

Animal Agriculture: Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, ENVIRON 222 research paper about

cattle farming in Latino communities in California