Creative Studies MLC1013

Creative Studies: Lesson 5

2010-04-26T03:13:00.003+08:00

Exploration of Juxtaposition

15. This is a magical plants which has flowers blooming from the roots.

10. I saw a little fairy wearing pretty flower on her head.

90. I imagined a magic plant which resembles a baby boy with little leaves growing out from its grassy head.

The following is some example of weird combination of different parts of animal beings into one which is impossible for them to survive:

Creative Studies Lesson 5

2010-04-26T02:16:00.005+08:00

Juxtaposition

According to Wikipedia, Juxtaposition is defined as "the stimulation of creativity in problem solving, design or other creative pursuit by confronting two unrelated objects or concepts, usually on the goal or problem to be solved on the one hand and a randomly selected object or concept on the other. Similar to oxymoron".

Basically, it can be simplified to one word "using 2 objects to show contrast". We can often see juxtaposition in photographs, drawings or paintings to show the huge difference between 2 same object but with contrast personality. For example a very old man facing a young boy with the age gap of 72 years between them to convey the message the flow of time.

Nowadays, many artists use juxtaposition to satirize the politicians or the government policy. It uses a sarcastic way to portray the corrupted policy of the government.

Here is some example of photographs or artworks that used juxtaposition to portray a messgae to the audience.

Photo taken at 1920 of the youngest Cub and the oldest Scout at Olympia

King of Music of all the time and the King who loose it all in the end

The rich and the poor

When East meets West

Black and White of Me

Assignment 3 Ideation

2010-04-26T01:44:00.006+08:00

Assignment 3

2010-04-26T00:25:00.005+08:00

Logical Mind Maps and 800 words Essay

Week 4 : Comment A Movie

2010-03-30T15:28:00.001+08:00

On week 4, we are going to talk about a movie that we have seen which leaves a deep impression on us. And I choose to talk about a 3D animation movie called " How to Train Your Dragon".

It is a 3D animation film made by Dreamworks company. The story tells about a young boy name Hiccup who was born in the fiesty legendary Viking tribe, who was famous for their dragon hunting ability. One day he accidentally hunted the most fiesty dragon of all, and instead of killing it, he pity the dragon and let go of him. The kind Hiccup went back to look for the wounded dragon and tried hard to cure the dragon. In the process, he formed a special bond with the dragon whom he named Toothless and together Toothless led Hiccup into a world no one has ever seen before. They soared through the sky, flying together.

What makes this movie so special to me? Well, along with this movie, there's a few big productions on the cinema too like Clash of the Titans, Alice in Wonderland and etc. which makes this movie very unnoticeable. I went in to the cinema with only the sole purpose for air condition and entertainment not expecting much from this movie. But it turns out to be breathtaking. Let me ask a few questions:

Have you ever seen a children tale that reach deep into your heart?
Do you ever felt that the your heartbeat dance along the music in the movie?
Have you ever led by a story that brings you soaring in a sky of a world you never knew before?
A simpleast story, no stunning 3D effects, no popular casting, no famous legends and tales...
Just, simplicity, warmth, and trust between a beast and a human.

The trust show between a boy and a beast which was feared by everybody else. Its the purest feelings trust with no any other intentions other than love. They have no connections of language, but feel each other out with their heart. No fancy lines and saving the world hero, just pure love for each other.

The part where Hiccup argues with his father due to his father's opposition for him to keep the dragon and sees it as an act which disgrace the people, his father told him the dragons have to be slayed because it harms the people and they are only beast which cant be tamed. But Hiccup tell him....

Because they never tried before. They don't trust the dragons either. They are killing the dragons too, and they only fought back to protect themselves.

It deeply portraying the human act of how we are treating the wild animals around us. We always assume they are harmful and they just can't reach the level of the human brain. But the truth is we always assume everything ourself without trying to understand them.

Finally to anyone who thinks this is a movie for kids, please have a look on it before you turn away. In my thoughts, after 50 years when I look back, this movie will never shed it grace.
It worth to stand for over a century.

Creative Studies: Lesson 4

2010-03-27T00:51:00.002+08:00

Associated Mind Map: Mortar & Pestle

In associated mind map, the sub elements generated from the main ideas may seems irrelative to the main idea but actually it still has a connection. Only that the connections is not obvious and usually doesn't follow the stereotype. Ideas generated from this kind of Mind Map is usually fresh and new to the audience.

In my idea, mortar and pestle can be used as Bali style wind chime, it uses natural material, doesn't pollute the environment and blend in well with almost all kinds of housing decorations.

Second, it can be used as fortune telling instrument. Asians believe that objects made from natural materials possessed some kind of power, especially stones. Mortar can be used to fill with water taken from temple's well, which signify holiness and purity. The pestle hanging beneath the mortar swings to reveal the answer.

Thirdly, with natural resources depleted faster than we expect, one day we will revert back to stone age. Huge mortar can be used as a well storing rainwater and pestle are used to lift the water bucket.

Creative studies: Lesson 3

2010-03-26T04:06:00.001+08:00

Stereotype and Creative Thinking

According to Wikipedia, stereotype is " a commonly held public belief about a specific social groups, or types of individuals and radios. The concept of stereotype and prejudice are often confused with many other different meanings. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups, based on some prior assumptions. Generally speaking, these stereotypes are not based on objective truth but rather subjective and often unverified content-matter."

Bald Russians + black suit = Head of Mobsters?

Black = Criminals?

Love = Chilli

Love is like chilli, its spiciness makes us feel warm in the cold days and shock to us in hot summer days just like when love strikes us without a notice.

Creative studies: Lesson 3

2010-03-26T03:39:00.001+08:00

Mind Mapping
According to BPC definition, Mind Mapping are "brainstorming diagrams based on a central idea or image, typically used to aid in organisation, problem solving and decision making. Mind maps use a non-linear graphical form that allows the user to build an intuitive framework around the central idea."
To simplify all the explanation, mind mapping is a method of generating ideas. It usually started with a huge topic, which we will then use it to try to connect it to other objects which have some connections with the main topic. And by doing so, a new idea will born from it.

Mind Map can be divided into 2 types, Associated Mind Map and Logical Mind Map.

In Logical Mind Map, all the sub elements that is generated from the main idea has a clear and direct connections to the main idea. This kind of ideas usually generated and link through stereotype.

While in associated mind map, the sub elements generated from the main ideas may seems irrelative to the main idea but in fact it still has a connection. Only that the connections is not obvious and usually doesn't follow the stereotype. Ideas generated from this kind of Mind Map is usually fresh and new to the audience.

The following is an examples of Mind Map I found on the Internet.

Logical Mind Map of Myself

Lesson 2: Comment a Movie

2010-02-07T11:33:00.000+08:00

This week I've watched a Japanese movie entitled Sakuran, literally means Cherryblossom Chaos also been known as The Rebellious Oiran.

The film taks about a girl, Kiyoha who is sold at a very young age into the red-light district and is put under the care of the oiran of Tamagiku House, Shohi.

In feudal Japan, Oiran is a number one ranking of all the courtesans and they were entertainers rather than simply sex worker known as yujo. It's like celebrities at that time and have huge influence on wealthy family especially on fashion sense.

Due to her rebellious nature, the leader of the household has foreseen her potential to become a great oiran since an oiran not only need beauty and talent, but also the tenacity to maintain their position, and she did proved the prediction to be true when she become the most famous oiran at that time. But reaching this position also means that she must walk through a heartbroken life with her swearing not to fall in love on any man again since she was betrayed and abandoned by the first man she loved dearly.

Besides the distinctive character, the director has used a special way to capture the glamorous and luxurious life of an oiran. Absolutely amazing cinematography.

Creative Studies: Lesson 2

2010-02-06T14:46:00.004+08:00

Creativity, Innovation, Invention, Novelty

This week, we are given a task to define words creativity, innovation, invention and novelty. First, I'm going to define the words creativity. According to the lecture's lesson, creativity is the generation of new ideas or a new way of doing things. While according to wikipedia, it defines creativity as "a mental and social process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. Creativity is fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight."

All these four words are closely related to one another. Each of them plays an important role in completing the next process. It began with invention, a process of making a new composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social behaviors adopted by people and passed on to others. Inventions often extend the boundaries of human knowledge or experience. A good inventions requires creativity to make that creation possess the quality of novelty in order for that specific creation to last through the time and useful. Novelty, as define in wikipedia is the quality of being new. Although it may be said to have an objective dimension it essentially exists in the subjective perceptions of individuals. It also refers to something novel; that which is striking, original or unusual. The term can have pejorative sense and refer to a mere innovation.

I've heard about a statement stating that only people involved in art industry needs to be creative which is a statement that I not fully agreed to. In my opinion, all career and profession requires creativity that distinguishes their professions from the others. For example, a doctor needs to be creative in order to develop new medicines or treatments that can treat some of the deadliest diseases in the world. People might think that the medical field is all about facts and static theory and that they only need to master all those theory to excelled in this field but in fact it is not. The facts maybe something that have been fixed for many years, but there might be hundreds and thousands of ways to applicate it.

Speaking of developing new ideas and creations, many of the creation and ideas in nowadays are not really 100% new. Many of these ideas are evolved and upgraded from existing ideas, which is also known as a process called innovation. As stated on wikipedia, innovation is a new way of doing something or "new stuff that is made useful". It may refer to incremental and emergent or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. I've always seen innovation as an important quality that every industry must have in them to ensure the survival of their industry as the revolution of the time continued. Lacking the quality of innovation will leave one industry being forgotten and existed only in the history just like many huge company that once monopoly the whole indsutry.

Lesson 1: Comment A Movie

2010-02-04T01:43:00.001+08:00

First week of the creative studies class, we were free to talk about any topic that we feel related to the word creative. As what I feel, I think that movies is the source of my creative ideas. So this week I choose to talk about a a movie which tells a stroy of a dark fairytale, Pan's Labyrinth.

This is a Spanish fairytale that happened in 1944, 5 years after the Spanish Civil War. The main character is a 10 years old girl name Ofelia who's mother was remarried to a Captain Vidal who hunts down the communist at that time. Ofelia and her mother moved to her stepfather's military station deep in the jungle to wait for her mother to deliver her young brother. Here, Ofelia started to encounter weird incidents and creatures when she accidentally enter an abandoned labyrinth. In here, she meet a strange creature known as the Faun who addressed Ofelia as the lost princess of the Underworld, this labyrinth served as a door to the Underworld and he was the guide to wait as lead her back to the Underworld kingdom. In return, Ofelia must succeed to complete 3 tasks in order to prove her eligibility as the Underworld princess.

In this movie, I can see the wish and what hopes of different kinds of human beings who live during the period of war. Whether is the pride that the Captain Vidal strongly holds to live up to his father's expectations, or the simplest hope of a little girl who wish to escape the cruel reality of the world, this movie shows that in that time, everyone has a labyrinth in their heart that they wish to escape to. It also depicts the emotions and desperate of child who lived in the time of war, desperate to help the people they love but the helplessness of being too small to help others force them to escape to a fantasy world.

In the end, Ofelia tried to escape with his baby brother, but the labyrinth is still shut. She had nowhere to run and eventually shot to death by his stepfather. Her blood which drips down to the labyrinth triggers it to open. It is said that Ofelia's act of defying the last quest to kill his brother and instead sacrificing her own life proves the purity of her heart and thus fulfill the last quest allowig her to go back to the Underworld while in the real world, she died. This scene always makes me think of the child who lived in war zone, as if the ending of this movie is what they see and hope for when they innocently died from the attacks around them.

Creative studies: Lesson 1

2010-02-01T12:07:00.005+08:00

Defining Creative

This is the first blog assignment for the course Creative Studies MLC 1013. In this assignment we are being requested to post a photo of a person who is creative or a person who is doing some creative things and then elaborate and explain the reason of why we think it is creative. Since this considered as the lecture is being delivered starting from this week I considered this as the first class. Currently, I'm not quite sure what this class about, and it seems to me pretty much like the Media Culture and Media Appreciation class the previous semesters. But I'll try to understand it as much as possible.

I personally have been a fan of handmade products for since I read a book about Taiwan artists who love to make handmade products so much that some of them are even willing to resigned from high salary job to achieved their dream which is considered as something meaningless among ordinary people.

Their passion soon awaken other talented people around the world who bore the same dream as they do. More and more people in Malaysia are participating in this event. There are so many creative market and fairs being held especially in Kuala Lumpur since the past 3 years. Seeing what they are doing reminds me of a few important points mentioned in the creative studies class. One of the point mentioned is that only special talented people are creative which is not quite true as we can see from these artists, people always sees them possessing remarkable creativity and outstanding skills in what they are doing but the truth is though they possessed ability and creativity higher than average people but they also work much more harder than we think they do. Almost all of these artists only starts to work on their products after they came home from office work like other regular people. Though exhausted and tired from the long hour work, they still continues to work on the things they like, putting lots of efforts in creating the intricate details in their work. And during weekends and public holidays, they are not resting too. They will gather up all the products they have made and sell them or participating local art fairs and creative markets.

There's also one thing I learned from them is that they always hold tight to a principle of always upgrading their skills and designs to make improvements to their current dedsigns and also sharing their knowledge and designs with one another. They prove to other people that the idea that we have to have brand new ideas to be considered as creative is incorrect. In fact, many of the creative ideas are developed from existing ideas with the difference that the designer innovate the designs to improve it or developed a new products with the ideas derived from an old designs. Taking an example, what makes these artists special from one another is the way they incorporate designs that is so significate that people are able to identify their design by just one look. The design can be just a motif of a kitten, but the way modify and adding details to the cat to make it special is not something easy but also requires quite an amount of creativity.

Meanings for My Assignment 3

2008-09-07T19:48:00.002+08:00

Throughout the whole process of doing this assignment, I can always remember the reminds from fellow lecturers asking us to produce a design that conveys a positive message instead of a negative one. I personally strongly agrees to the lecturers because in my opinion, the main aim of this assignment is to create an awareness and encourage the people to protect and love the nature. I think that a poster with negative design will scare the people to think that everything is destroy already and it is too late to do anything.

That's why I come up with this design. I design the sky to create the effect of sunrise because sunrise always signifies a brand new day and hope. It shows that by planting more trees and protect the forest left around the world today, we can have another hope for a brand new day.

The part where the tree is as lighter and the part where the sky and the city is is darker to indicates that the city where we lived is badly polluted and that the lighter part where the tree is signifies a place where there is full of hope if we protects our environment well. The fireflies in this poster carries a meanings that it is never too late to save the forest, there is still a glimpse of hope, just like the light of fireflies in the dark to save the planet where we all lives.

Steps in producing Assignment 3, The Poster

2008-09-07T17:58:00.005+08:00

Firstly, I open up my original rough sketch of my choice in Illustrator and named it PENCIL SKETCH layer and lock it up to ease the work.

Next, I open up 2 new layer, one named as LAND and the other named as CITY. On both layers, I used PEN TOOL to draw the outline of the city buildings and land. I set the stroke of the brush to 3pt so that the lines would be more visible and easier to work with.

Then, I copy the image of my tree in assignment 2 and paste it in a new layer which I named it as TREE and make some alterations to the size of the tree so that the whole proportions of the posters become more balance.
For the next step, Itried to create a morning sky. So, I open a new layer and named it as SKY, and I fill the sky with color by using LIVE PAINT BUCKET TOOL, and add some GRADIENT to it. I mix dark blue, cream yellow, and soft orange for the sky. Then to avoid the color appeared to be too opaque, I reduce the OPACITY of this layer to 75% to create soft light effect. Same as the SKY layer, I used LIVE PAINT BUCKET TOOL to fill in color for the LAND layer. I add some GRADIENT to the color so that the overall color won't look so dull. I change the characteristic of the gradient to Linear and rotate the angle of the gradient to 90 degrees.

Using the same technique as above, I fill in black for the buildings of the CITY layer. Then, I move the whole layer below the LAND layer to create distance feeling between the city and the land.

Then by making the TREE layer visible, I just do some slight alterations to the position of the tree to the centre of the poster.

Next, I open a new layer and name it as FIREFLY. Using the same technique to create the fireflies in assignment 2, which is using Ellipse tool to draw many circles, fill it with mix orange GRADIENT effect and use GAUSSIAN BLUR to blur them. The only difference from assignment 2 is the color I used to mix for the GRADIENT which is to be fill into the circles is a 2 or 3 more level lighter than the orange color I used in previous assignment ,the sizes of the fireflies is much more smaller as compare to assignment 2 so that it won't take away the attention of the TREE which is the main character in my poster.

Next, on the SLOGAN layer, using ARTISTIC PAINTBRUSH, I select dark green color as the stroke to draw a young plant and write the words 'tree' to make the elements TREE appear differently from the others to accentuate it as the main message of my poster.

Next, to insert words for the slogan, I used TEXT tool to draw a text box and type in the slogan I design and change the font size of the words by using big font size and bold for the main message appear LARGER and more eyecatching and the smaller message into smaller font size.

This is how the the SLOGAN layer looks like after all the editing I've done to it.

Next, I try to copy one of the firefly from the FIREFLY layer and paste it between the L and the I of the word LIFE to enlighten the whole effect of the slogan. I found out that the outcome is really quite nice, and I like the way the firefly brings out the feelings of HOPE for the words LIFE and hence I decided to keep it there.

Last but not the least, I create a new layer and name it as LOGO and paste my symbol in assignment 1 on the left corner of the poster. It's like a copyright, symbolize that it is my creation...hehe...

Here is how my project looks like in the end. yay!!!!

Background Research for Assignment 3

2008-09-06T16:10:00.001+08:00

For this assignment, we are supposed to design a poster based on the topic we choose from the previous assignment. The poster is to give an overall picture of the happenings and the effects of the area of choice. That's what stated in the mmls.

I start off as usual by soing some background research from the internet to search for some suitable pictures and examples of posters as my source of idea for this assignment. Since the my topic is deforestation, I look for some posters with trees as the main theme. The following are some pictures I dowonloaded from Google images and Msn images.

Though the design is simple, but the poster sends out clear message of protecting the nature.

I'm sure that this everyone will feel very familiar with this posters because this posters have been used by many other students as their reference. But still, this poster captures my heart the moment i saw it. No complicated design, the usage of color give me a very refreshing feeling as if I can feel a warmth of breeze blowing on me if I was standing under the tree in the poster. Certainly a very special design as compare to the other poster, this poster gives me a hint of priental feelings because the design of the treelooks very much like a cherry tree.

Sketches for Assignment 3

2008-09-02T15:46:00.002+08:00

Now we are starting our final assignment....phew....finally, the last one. For the third assignment, we are supposed to designed a poster based on the topic we choose on the previous assignment.

My main theme is deforestation, and I decided to design a poster that can convey a positive message to the people to protect and love the trees since it's essential in balancing the natural ecosystem. And I've come out with a few idea which I sketch roughly on my notebook.

Meanings of My Logo

2008-08-18T21:34:00.005+08:00

Since the topic of my first assignment is deforestation, I tried to convey the message of protecting the trees on the earth because it is the main character in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem of nature.

I purposely design my tree with a lot of branches and leaves in comparison to the tree trunk and draw it as if it is growing in the middle of a hill to enhance the message of tree as a character in maintaining the balance of the nature at the same time praising the tree as a holy presence of the earth. The tree plays important role not only in carbon cycle and maintaining regular global temperature but also as the primary food source for living creatures. Without trees living creatures will die eventually because of the disruption in the food chain and also the imbalance of carbon cycle.

Next, I purposely make the lines of the whole image very thick to create the feelings like the tree is being created through mosaic, a totally different feeling as compare to others artwork which I get this inspiration through the mosaic on the wall of the bathroom when I was taking my bath.

The fireflies and the black background symbolized that the tree is just like fireflies providing a little glimpse of light in the darkness of the night. When the world becomes more and more pollute because of human actions, there's only the trees struggling to maintained the harmony between nature and human beings. And the amount of trees left around the world keep on decreasing day by day until its number reaching a state that its always wiped out completely by us, the human beings, just like the light of fireflies although visible but so tiny in the night sky that it feels like it is going to fade away anytime.

Steps in Producing Assignment 2

2008-08-18T19:21:00.003+08:00

Firstly, I open the pencil sketch of my tree in Illustrator and used pen tool to draw the outline of my tree. I separate the lines into a few layers that is the pencil sketch layer, tree trunk layer, background layer, leaves layer, hill layer, firefly layer and also another layer for my logo.
Next, I make the lines of the whole image becomes thicker by changing the stroke of the outline of the tree to 10pt. Then I fill in the trunk of the tree with brown color by using Fill Path technique.
On the leaves layer, I fill the leaves with color by using Fill Path technique and add some gradient to the color of the leaves by mixing 3 colors that is dark green, light green and white color. Besides, in order to make the leaves appear more coordinate, I rotate the angle of the gradient by changing the angle of the gradient, some remain 0 degree, some into 90, 180 and 270 degree.
After that, I fill in colors for my Hill layer also by using Fill Path technique at the same time adding gradient to the hill. For the Hill, I mixed only dark green and light green for the gradient. Then, by using Pencil tool, I draw some grass free handed so that the whole picture won't look so dull.

Next I create a new layer which I named as Firefly. For this layer I try to draw fireflies surrounding the tree. I used Ellipse tool and randomly draw some circles on the picture then fill in the circles with orange color which I blend in 3 types of orange and 1 type of yellow color and I change the type of gradient into Radial gradient. In order to create the soft and blurry light carried by the fireflies, I choosed Gaussian blur in the Blur tool, and change the pixel to 9.o and alter the size of the firefly some into small and some into big to create distace effect.

To accentuate the color of the firefly, I fill the background of the whole picture with black color at the same time also because firefly usually active in the night.

This is how the whole picture looks like after changing the background to black color.Finally, I open up a new layer and put my logo in assignment 1 on the bottom right corner of the picture.

Rough Sketches of Assignment 2

2008-08-18T14:45:00.004+08:00

This is the picture of tree which I consider as reference for my Assignment 2. The reason I choosed this picture is because of the huge branches and the leaves growing out from the main branches when compare to other trees that surround it.

I decided to draw a tree with its leaves and branches much more larger than its trunk and the land below in contrast to show the importance of the role played by trees in the balance of the nature.

Background research for Assignment 2

2008-08-07T20:10:00.004+08:00

Background research of Tree

For this assignment, we are supposed to draw a main object from the topic of our logo in assignment 1. Since the main message I want to deliver from my logo is planting more trees, I'm going to draw a tree for this assignment.
I start of by doing some research and collect some pictures of different kinds of trees. Here are some of the pictures of the trees that attract my attention from among thousands of the 'trees' picture in GOOGLE, and also MSN search engine.
For this picture I kinda like the whole concept of the picture, no complicated background, it makes the whole tree standout and clear as the main subject of the whole picture. The fruits of the trees gave me a feelings like this is the tree of life which provides the food for our life....kinda fairytale-like.

After seeing a few classmates using this picture as their reference, I was kinda struggle whether I should use it or not at first. But in the end, I still unable to resist this tree. I have the 'wow' feeling when I first saw this tree. Its extremely huge, and the way the branches branch out from the main branch and the way the trees around it grow become so small in proportions to the big tree, and its like the centre tree is the mother tree shading every living things around it. That's why I especially like this one. It perfectly deliver my message in this assignment. I think that trees is like the character that maintains the balance of ecosystem in the world.

For this tree I like the concept that it shows the condition of a tree during the change of the four seasons. It might can be an idea for me to tell people don't forget to always protect and plant trees throughout the whole year whatever what the season is.

While this one attracts my attention because of the leaves of the tree. I was quite shock about how similar this tree is to my logo in assignment 1 in the sense of the way the leaves is drew and the trunk of the tree. The only difference is that this tree have more leaves than mine in assignment 1....haha...

And below here is some other tree pictures which I downloaded simply just for extra references. I'll aupload them as extra information.

Meanings of My Logo

2008-07-20T00:46:00.006+08:00

The main theme of my logo is " Deforestation " .

House : I use the shape of a house in my logo to deliver the message of planting more trees to every family around the whole world and to the members of those family. At the same time, house is also signifies home or protection, it also indicates the message of protect and love our nature.

Green : Green is the color for trees and at the same time also been signified as the color of nature.

Latte : Latte is a color that represents soil color of the earth. I put the tree on this part to represents a tree being planted on the ground and we should protect them well now and forever.

Orange : Orange or red is give the meaning of heat or hot. I fill the part of the earth this color to enhance the messages of global warming and that the general temperature of the whole world have increased. I used buildings like features to represents the earth or can also symbolises concrete high buildings of the city. We all know that when more and more skyscrapers are built, it indicates that more and more trees were chopped down in order to clear the land which is one of the causes of global warming.

Blue : Blue represents water. I used it in my logo to represents the part of sea that cover the earth. The blue part of my logo represents the sea. As we can see, I applied wavy lines to enhance the features of sea. As we all knows, when global warming occurs, many of the giant icebergs in the Artic and Antartic have melt away due to the rise in global temperature and this has lead to the rising of sea level all around the world.

PRODUCTION OF MY LOGO

2008-07-19T13:56:00.022+08:00

1 . Firstly, I draw my logo on a piece of A4 paper and use a camera to snap a picture of it and upload it onto my blog.

2. Next, I open the pencil sketch in Adobe Illustrator and name it as Pencil Sketch.

3. I open up a new layer above the which I name it as Pen layer tool and trace along the pencil line of my rough sketch.

4. To start fill in colors for the tree, I set up a new layer for the tree and name it as Tree. Then I made a path by using Direct Selection Tool to make selection along the tree line. I fill the tree with gradient green color which the green color goes from deep to light green.

5. Then, I set up another layer which is the layer House and fill it with very light brown.

6. Next, I set up another layer as Earth layer, and fill it with gradient color which goes from Red to Orange and then to Yellow color.

7. For the next step, I create a new layer and name it as the Sea layer which I fill with gradient color from Deep Blue to Light Blue.

8. This is the final product of my logo.

Deforestation

2008-07-19T13:04:00.006+08:00

Forest Holocaust

The statistics paint a grim picture. According to the World Resources Institute, more than 80 percent of the Earth’s natural forests already have been destroyed. Up to 90 percent of West Africa’s coastal rain forests have disappeared since 1900. Brazil and Indonesia, which contain the world’s two largest surviving regions of rain forest, are being stripped at an alarming rate by logging, fires, and land-clearing for agriculture and cattle-grazing.

Among the obvious consequences of deforestation is the loss of living space. Seventy percent of the Earth’s land animals and plants reside in forests. But the harm doesn’t stop there. Rain forests help generate rainfall in drought-prone countries elsewhere. Studies have shown that destruction of rain forests in such West African countries as Nigeria, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire may have caused two decades of droughts in the interior of Africa, with attendant hardship and famine.

Deforestation may have catastrophic global effects as well. Trees are natural consumers of carbon dioxide—one of the greenhouse gases whose buildup in the atmosphere contributes to global warming. Destruction of trees not only removes these “carbon sinks,” but tree burning and decomposition pump into the atmosphere even more carbon dioxide, along with methane, another major greenhouse gas.

UN warn for negative effects of biofuels
Biofuels like ethanol can help reduce global warming and create jobs for the rural poor, but the benefits may be offset by serious environmental problems and increased food prices for the hungry, the United Nations concluded Tuesday in its first major report on bioenergy. Biofuels, which are made from corn, palm oil, sugar cane and other agricultural products, have been seen by many as a cleaner and cheaper way to meet the world‘s soaring energy needs than with greenhouse-gas emitting fossil fuels. But environmentalists have warned that the biofuel craze can do as much or more damage to the environment as dirty fossil fuels - a concern reflected throughout the report, which was being released Tuesday in New York, by U.N.-Energy, a consortium of 20 U.N. agencies and programs. Changes in the carbon content of soils and carbon stocks in forests and peat lands might offset some or all of the benefits of the greenhouse gas reductions, it said. It noted that soaring palm oil demand has already led to the clearing of tropical forests in southeast Asia.

"Liquid biofuel production could threaten the availability of adequate food supplies by diverting land and other productive resources away from food crops," it said, adding that many of those biofuel crops require the best land, lots of water and environment-damaging chemical fertilizers. It suggested that farm co-ops, as well as government subsidies, could help small-scale farmers compete. "More and more, people are realizing that there are serious environmental and serious food security issues involved in biofuels," Greenpeace biofuels expert Jan van Aken said. "There is more to the environment than climate change," he said. "Climate change is the most pressing issue, but you cannot fight climate change by large deforestation in Indonesia."

But with the surge in interest by the private sector, the rise in commodity prices and an awareness of the strain on water supplies that has resulted from biofuel production, "we now have to raise the red flags and say ‘be careful, don‘t go too fast,‘" he said in an interview. That the report exists is something of a miracle, since there has long been opposition among U.N. member states - including OPEC , nuclear and other energy lobbies_ to have any kind of international dialogue on energy. There is for example, no U.N. Millennium Goal for energy, and recent U.N. working documents on sustainable development continue to be very fossil-fuel oriented, Best said. The document is intended for governments to help them craft bioenergy policies that maximize the potential but minimize the negative impacts - even as the technology continues to change. "We can‘t cross our arms and wait to have better data or better methodologies," Best said. "We need to contribute to the discussion, but in a balanced way."

source:http://www.mongabay.com/images/rainforests/deforestation-in-the-amazon.jpg

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/eye/deforestation/effect.html

http://www.energyportal.eu/news/biomass/un-warn-for-negative-effects-of-biofuels.html

The loss of the ozone layer

2008-07-05T00:24:00.002+08:00

Surrounding planet Earth are different atmospheres. Exosphere is a transitional zone that separates Earth from space. Thermosphere and Mesosphere are the adjacent atmospheres as you move towards Earth. Closest to the planet are the Stratosphere and Troposphere, the troposphere being the lowest layer of the atmosphere, the site of our weather, our rain and our wind. Observable phenomena, and knowledge of chemical reactions, have built a large database with regard to ozone depletion. Much is known — the consequences of CFC’s, how ozone is built, how it is destroyed — but theoretical explanations still predominate.
What we do know is the Universe, including the Sun, releases stored energy in a range of alternating electric and magnetic fields. Scientists have named the shortest detectable wavelengths Gamma rays and X-rays. Ultraviolet waves are next on the spectrum:
UVC in the 10 to 290 nanometer band,
UVB, 290 to 320 nanometers,
UVA, 320 to 400 nanometers.

Gasses and particulates destroy ozone
Volcanic emissions are a natural way to destroy ozone. If a volcanic eruption is strong enough it will send particulates and gases into the upper troposphere and stratosphere. Scientists estimate that the Mount Pinatubo eruption in June 1991 had eruption columns at an altitude of 35 kilometers, higher than the average concentration layer of ozone. Adding to this natural effect, two months later the volcanic Mount Hudson in southeast Chile erupted.Volcanic eruptions are a natural phenomenon, a temporary loss of ozone that the Earth life system incorporates into its biosystem.

Carbonyl sulphide is a photochemical reaction of sulphur. It contains organic compounds and was a major factor in causing the stratospheric ozone depletion of 1991/1992. The ozone hole over Antarctica was the largest recorded following the two eruptions.

Recording of ozone has been taking place over the Antarctic for the past fifty years.
Volcanic emission particulates and chemicals are not the only factors involved in ozone depletion.
Chlorine and Bromine are known to be two major causes of recent ozone breakdown.
For instance, when a chlorine radical connects with ozone, it produces oxygen and chlorine oxide, ClO.

This begins a chain reaction where the chlorine oxide quickly releases the chlorine radical — which then attaches itself to another ozone molecule, producing a new oxygen molecule and chlorine oxide molecule, which quickly releases, and so on.
CFCs, halon, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, methyl bromide, methyl chloroform and carbon tetrachloride, all are recognized as manufactured compounds that when released into the atmosphere significantly destroy ozone.
With an increase in biomass burning, industrial, and waste management activities, and the use of fertilizer — tests have shown soil-borne microorganisms produce nitrogen oxides as a decay product — more nitrogen oxides are being released into the atmosphere.
While much of the nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide returns to the ground, nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, remains. N2O acts as a greenhouse gas. It also rises into the stratosphere where it is decomposed by UV radiation. Some N2O is converted to NO. Nitrogen oxide reacts catalytically with ozone to produce nitrogen dioxide and oxygen.

Aircraft as they fly around the world emit nitrogen oxides in their exhaust. A chemical process takes place in the wake of the exhaust transforming fumes into particulates. With an increasing number of planes flying near the tropopause, both nitrous oxide, and particulates, become readily available for transfer to the stratosphere. Aircraft exhaust is a factor in Ozone depletion.

source: www.thewe.cc/weplanet/poles/antarcti/ozone.html

Background Research

2008-07-04T21:00:00.002+08:00

Warming Winds, Rising Tides, Bangladesh
Asia's largest rivers, the Ganges and the Bramaputra, join in the world's most extensive delta and flow into the Bay of Bengal. There lies Bangladesh, a nation of 140 million people beset by poverty and the floods of the rivers, and now also affected by rising sea level. Gary Braasch visited to document this threat, traveling by boat south from Dhaka and speaking to villagers, fishermen, and scientists. Already a million people a year are displaced by loss of land along rivers, and indications are this is increasing. Villagers spoke of losing a town mosque to unexpectedly fast erosion, even in a time of good weather in the dryer season. The one meter sea level rise generally predicted if no action is taken about global warming will inundate more than 15 percent of Bangladesh, displacing more than 13 million people and cut into the crucial rice crop. Intruding water will damage the Sundarbans mangrove forest, a world heritage site. The picture on the left shows the fast eroding eastern edge of Bhola Is., Bangladesh.

Warming Winds, Rising Tides: Tuvalu
The 11,000 Tuvaluans live on nine coral atolls totaling 10 square miles scattered over 500,000

square miles of ocean south of the equator and west of the International Dateline. Tuvalu is the smallest of all nations, except for the Vatican. Tuvalu has no industry, burns little petroleum, and creates less carbon pollution than a small town in America. This tiny place nevertheless is on the front line of climate change. The increasing intensity of tropical weather, the increase in
ocean temperatures, and rising sea level -- all documented results of a warming atmosphere -- are making trouble for Tuvalu.

Tuvaluans face the possibility of being among the first climate refugees, although they never use that term. Former assistant Environmental minister and now assistant secretary for Foreign Affairs Paani Laupepa said he felt threatened. "Our whole culture will have to be transplanted."

Sea level rise is the greatest problem. Tuvalu's highest elevation is 4.6 meters -- 15 feet -- but most of it is no more than a meter above the sea. Several times each year the regular lunar cycle of tides, riding on the ever higher mean sea level, brings the Pacific sloshing over onto roads and into neighborhoods. In the center of the larger islands the sea floods out of old barrow pits and even squirts up out of the coral bedrock. Puddles bubble up that eventually cover part of the airport on the main island of Funafuti and inundate homes that are not along the ocean.

This February, the tides were driven against the shore by unusual westerly winds, and there was increasing erosion. The main asphalt road is only about 10 km long, yet it runs right along the lagoon in many places and was covered in water and coral rocks thrown up by the tide. Hundreds of wood frame and corrugated metal roofed homes and several churches, built right on the lagoon, were drenched by the wind waves riding on the higher tides.

The islands are not going to go under immediately. Yet the effects accumulate, year by year. "Even if we are not completely flooded, " said Laupepa, "in 50 to 70 years we face increasingly strong storms and cyclones, changing weather patterns, damage to our coral reefs from higher ocean temperatures, and flooding of all our gardens." Not growing enough food and decreasing fish catch if reefs are damaged would mean "importing more food, more foreign exchange, and more health and diet problems, " he said.

source: http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/pages/rising-seas.html