Month: February 2016

Sustainable Design and My Career

I listened to two Ted Talks about medicine and sustainable design. One was called “A Needle Free Vaccine Patch” by Mark Kendall. It was about a Nanopatch that can by pushed onto the skin via a spring loaded device in order to deliver vaccines. It has thousands of tiny projections that would be covered in a dry-coat of vaccine. These projections would pierce a few layers of skin to leave the medicine where immune cells reside. This significantly raises the effectiveness of the vaccine.

The Nanopatch overcomes some of the downfalls of syringes like needle-phobia and transferring blood and infections from person to person. Not to mention they are cheap to make and reusable. I never realized sustainable design could be applied to medicine. Throwing away needles after every use is not sustainable. The Nanopatch is sustainable because it is reusable and cheap to make. It would be nice to see the entire medical field strive to be more sustainable.

The second Ted Talk I listened to was called “Your Health Depends on Where You Live” by Bill Davenhall. He said that the environment in which you live has a big impact on your health. Pollution and bad air quality could lead to increased risk of heart attack. Physicians do not include your travel history in their records although it could help measure risks of future ailments. GPS can easily track our positions and phone apps can track it. There are also records of how polluted the air is throughout the States. With this information, doctors could add another tool to their belts.

This Talk made me think that sustainable design doesn’t have to just apply to objects. It can also apply to systems and way of doing things. Therefore, my way of studying, learning, and reaching my goals can all be more sustainable. Sustainable design can be applied to a lot of things- big and little- in life. I will certainly try to use it to my advantage from here on out.

To-Do List

On a chilly Saturday morning, I set out on my quest to visit five local coffee shops. Accompanied by a few of my friends, we were happy and hopeful when we arrived to our first destination. Stauf’s Coffee Roasters is in a cute neighborhood not too far from campus. It is surrounded by interesting family owned stores. There’s even a small movie theater down the block. As we approached the door, I saw a man walk by walking his dog, reinforcing the “small town” feel of the neighborhood. Inside, it was crowded and a little loud from the music and conversation. However, the smell of fresh brewed coffee begs you to get a cup. They offer many different types of coffee- all made to order. A wide variety of wholesome sounding breakfast and lunch options are also available. I appreciated how easy-to-read the menu was. The blueberry muffin we ordered was delicious and it went perfectly with the drip-coffee. It was about average price. On your way out, you can check out the art for sale on the walls and the bulk coffee items. If you’re ever in the neighborhood, it’s definitely worth it to stop by.

Our next stop was to Roosevelt Coffeehouse. The neighborhood surrounding it was under construction, but the place itself had pretty cool architecture. There’s a big window in the front that lets in a lot of natural light. It’s close to CCAD and the Columbus Art Museum, so it has a study area for students. The whole place is pretty quiet. There isn’t a wide variety of menu options but they have the basics. However the cups are too small, especially considering the price. Also, the coffee didn’t seem to be flavorful to me. The only saving grace for me is that they support human rights and a percent of every cup sold goes to charity. All in all, I wouldn’t recommend anyone go out of their way to visit Roosevelt.

Next, we went to Fox in the Snow Café. It was hard to find because there was no sign, just a graffiti fox on the wall. It is in the middle of a neighborhood but there are no stores around. There didn’t seem to be enough parking compared to how many people it could seat. I was caught off guard by the layout. The pastries were open for anyone to touch and they were eerily close to the bathroom. It was pretty crowded. I thought the coffee was overpriced and I didn’t like the taste of it at all. I’m sure some people would like it because it seemed to be popular but it wasn’t my style.

Our last stop was on high street. Impero and Mission Coffee are right down the block from each other and both are just a short bus ride from campus. Mission has been renovated from a garage- it looks really cool. It has a lot of natural light, peaceful music, and what I can only describe as a “chill hipster” vibe. They had a lot of menu options- including bagels. The hot chocolate I ordered tasted great and was a decent price. It seemed like a nice place to study. Impero Coffee had a cozy, peaceful feeling. They also had natural light. There was a wide variety of drinks and pastries (they had donuts) at a decent price. Their drinks were made fresh. The quiet atmosphere would make it a good place to study. Both Impero and Mission would be good options for somewhere to study or a break while you’re shopping.