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Response to Woodward – Jennifer Cheung

Woodward’s ideas of hidden sustainable practices within everyday life resonate much with my personal experience with fashion consumption. Fast fashion is indeed a major problem, but many individuals are not active participants who have the ability to constantly add and dispose of clothes in their closets. Fast fashion brands are the most accessible to the masses, but that does not mean that consumers who buy from them do not have sustainable practices. Clothes have a life from the design, production, and distribution side, however, they also have another life once they are purchased. 

As Woodward states, I, along with many other individuals, add to my closet in reference to what is already there. Many pieces that I own have been with me for years because they are versatile enough to compliment many outfits, therefore, they have a long lifetime in my wardrobe. When new trends come, I never find it necessary to completely change my closet. Instead, my clothes change as I change as an individual, when my tastes evolve and new clothes are gradually added to my closet over a long period of time. Additionally, specific items of clothing hold sentimental value, making it hard for me to get rid of them, thus elongating its life in my wardrobe. I am not unique in these practices, and many others similarly hold onto their clothes for a long period of time. Even a cheaply made and bought garment can be worn for a long time if the wearer chooses to maintain it well.

Individuals can be sustainable beyond their purchasing methods. For example, it is unnecessary to wash clothes frequently if the load is not full, because it wastes water and deteriorates the fabrics, shortening their lifespan. In my household, clothes are passed between all members of my family, optimizing their full potential of usage and giving them new life in the different ways they are worn. When clothes are finally worn out, we repurpose them into cleaning cloths. So, unsustainably sourced clothes can still be worn sustainably.

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Week 1: Response to “Long Live the Web” and “The Strange Geopolitics of the International Cloud” (Thomas Waugh)

These two articles do a really good job of contextualizing the internet from a global viewpoint and as an ever changing entity. Too many people take the internet for granted — see it as something completely free and something which will exist forever, but these articles do a good job of showing the contrary. Despite the ethereal nature of the internet, the internet is very much a man-made object. If we are not careful, we could lose the whole internet to the clutches of the greedy internet service providers of the world.

Another thing that this article made me think more about is the issue of the firewall in China. While the internet is completely unrestricted in most parts of the world, the People’s Republic of China censors major parts of the internet. It is one of the most difficult things about living in China and it is honestly the bane of my existence. Another very interesting thing is the effect that the firewall has had on the Chinese people. Through having a conversation with the average Chinese person, it is very evident that the firewall has restricted their knowledge to only things that the Chinese government wants them to know and that is a direct contradiction to the very principles on which the internet was founded. As the government makes the firewall larger and stronger, one can watch the freedom of the internet dwindle away before their very eyes and that’s a very, very scary thing.

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Week 2: Response to “Long Live the Web” by Tim Berners Lee and “The Strange Geopolitics of the International Cloud” by Ingrid Burrington- Kyra Bachman

“Long Live the Web” by Tim Berners Lee offers a fascinating insight into the global nature to the internet and the importance of it being universally accessible. His characterization of the internet in itself being a form of freedom of speech that follows principles within the US constitution and British Magna Carta is a concept that I had never thought of before. He also notes the numerous variables that make up the internet- and the importance of it being a free, interconnected space to properly enjoy and reap the full benefits of it. Interestingly, this 2010 article talks about the harmfulness of net neutrality, a concept that has become very pressing in American politics over the last year. Berners explains that net neutrality leads to a discrimination of service, where users fundamental rights to access their internet is dependent upon their degree of service that they paid for. He, lastly, emphasizes the importance of governments, globally, to not intervene of citizens freedom to use the internet. Whether it is China hacking dissidents’ emails, the US blacklisting websites, or France disconnecting the internet of people pirating videos- these are all infringements upon their respective citizens freedom to use the internet and comes at a cost to society. It is important that technological protocols respect the values of humanity and do not constrain the breadth of knowledge that the internet cultures and promotes.

The article “The Strange Geopolitics of the International Cloud” addresses the hidden politics behind the internet and offers some insights on aspects of the international cloud infrastructure that most people likely do not know about. Surprisingly, the article first notes that for an area is it dependent on an areas environmental, financial, and political scene to be rich with internet exchange. Most surprisingly, the density of internet exchange is all dependent upon whether that location is US-friendly. Additionally, the United State’s global dominance leads to innumerable geopolitical disputes. To name one, they are in the midst of a two year battle with the government in Ireland- where the U.S. argues that they have jurisdiction of information acquired by Microsoft, due to it being an American company. This article presents a new perspective in how The Cloud’s global shape and politics and the planet’s global shape and politics are one in the same.