Global warming. Everyone is talking about it. There are articles on the internet discussing the effects of it (http://www.sustainability.com/researchandadvocacy/columns_article.asp?id=1698 and http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20091129101145447C290965) programmes on tv looking at how companies, as well as the general public, can help prevent it (Panorama, BBC1 30/11/09, 8.30pm) and adverts on tv trying to 'guilt trip' people into thinking about it, like the adverts on stv put on by the Act on CO2 campaign featuring a young girl as the planet's future (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w62gsctP2gc) and the Environmental defence's advert (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-_LBXWMCAM) which tries the same approach - showing the future generations of the planet. So why is this message not getting to everyone? The government and environmentalists keep going on about how important it is for us to do things to help reduce the effects of global warming and things such as the polar ice caps melting - cut down on the use of carrier bags, recycle as much as possible, and encourage renewable energy (wind power, water power etc.) but is everyone embracing this? Using 'bags for life' and putting things in a recycle bin seem to be a fairly easy task, but is everyone doing them? And what about renewable energy? It is such an important thing now that you would think everyone would be in favour of it.

There are currently 2718 wind turbines in the UK (http://www.bwea.com/) and these turbines reduce the CO2 in the air by 4456188 tonnes per year. However, despite this and all of the many other positive points that wind farms have, there are still more proposals rejected than accepted. People object against them, saying they are too noisy, will bring their house value down, are an eye sore, but studies show that a wind turbine only emmits 35-45 db from 350m away (less than a car travelling at 40mph 100m away) and around the same noise level as a quiet bedroom (also 35 db). And personally, I don't see how something like a wind turbine can be seen as an eyesore when the countryside is covered in electricity pylons! If the government wants to meet its target - and promise - of having 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2020, they are going to have to get people to face up to the fact that this may be one of the most important ways to reduce global warming and climate change. Is having a wind farm to look at out of your window really such a bad thing if it means that global warming effects will decrease and we are saving the planet for the generations that are still to come?

Find out more about wind, wave and tidal energy on the British Wind Energy Association's website: www.bwea.com

Furniture's Decreasing Value

"Money isn't everything but it ranks right up there with oxygen" (Rita Davenport)

Furniture used to be something special, it had a lot of value. People would use a whole years wages just to buy a peice of furniture, so it had meaning and significance to that person. Now, with the introduction of cheap stores which mass produce furniture like Ikea and Habitat, the value of furniture is decreasing. Nowadays, easy access to cheap (and cheaply made) furniture means that many people don't feel the need to save up for ages to buy one peice of quality, well made furniture. Stores like Ikea mean that people can now afford to buy furniture more often, therefore there is less need to buy something that will last a lifetime, as a replacement can be bought when a room is redecorated, or the furniture breaks. This is making the value of furniture go down. The thought of having to spend a year's wages on a peice of furniture now seems slightly ridiculous, but it is probably the reason why furniture once had such a high value, and often sentimental value, to its owner. But is this going into the idea that money can't buy you happiness? It gives the impression that something like a peice of furniture can only be special to someone if they spent a lot of money on it...is this true? Money may not be able to buy you happiness, but it does create an attachment to the objects you spent a lot of it buying.

BBC News article on whether or not money can buy you happiness:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1750337.stm

dreamSCAPE - LAMDC

This exhibition is showing just now at LOOK gallery in L.A. Design firms were paired with local artists and the exhibition had no limits.

http://www.interiordesign.net/article/CA6708455.html

http://www.lookartists.net/

Websites

5 websites useful for keeping us informed about interior design/architecture:

www.interiordesign.net

www.dezeen.com

www.designweek.co.uk

http://news.architecture.sk.

www.cfsd.org.uk

5 websites good for keeping up to date with news and current affairs:

www.sciencemag.org

http://news.bbc.co.uk

http://news.sky.com/skynews

www.nature.com

www.sustainability.com

Sentimentality

Sentimental (adj)

1. expressive of or appealing to sentiment, esp. the tender emotions and feelings, as love, pity, or nostalgia: a sentimental song.


2. pertaining to or dependent on sentiment: We kept the old photograph for purely sentimental reasons.


3. weakly emotional; mawkishly susceptible or tender: the sentimental Victorians.


4. characterized by or showing sentiment or refined feeling.

The thought of sentimentality is often a negative one...something sentimental is often something which brings back memories, starts a person reminiscing. Something passed down by a family member before they died, something given to someone by a boyfriend/girlfriend. Why is it seen as negative to remember? And does something sentimental always bring back these memories when you look at it?

Something sentimental is usually something obvious - a peice of jewellery which is always worn, a photo in a purse or wallet, a teddy which is slept with every night. It is something which everyone close to you knows about. But sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it is something private, personal which not many people know about. After speaking to people about their sentimental possessions for our project, I realised that some of the objects which were sentimental to the people close to me I didn't know about. Maybe what makes some things sentimental is the fact that only the person which it has meaning to knows about it.

Negativity and sentimentality are often linked. Something sentimental can often be given to you by someone no longer in your life, a family member or a friend. This type of object brings up memories. But these memories are not always negative. Some things may also bring up happy memories, and no sad ones. However, these memories may not always be brought up. A sentimental object which is seen every day might not immediately make you start thinking, it may be that the memories are only brought up if you start thinking about them. So is something sentimental really linked to negativity?

Annotated Bibliography

Andrews, D.A. & Bonta, J.
(2003)
The Psychology of Criminal Conduct (Third Edition)
Cincinnati, Anderson Publishing Co.
Discusses reasons for crime being situational as well as personal, which relates to the point made in "The Tipping Point" about personality changing in different situations, and the influence of the people around us.

Ball, R.A. Cullen, F.T. & Lilly, R.J.
(2007)
Criminological Theory - Context and Consequences (4th Edition)
London, Sage Publications Ltd.
Looks at the links between opportunity and delinquency, and how a lot of the people involved in crime have little opportunities in life (e.g. education, jobs). It also, again, examines the "Broken Windows" theory and the tolerance of crime and delinquency in certain areas, which then leads to the problem getting bigger.


Breen, W.E. Elhai, J.D. & Kashdan, T.B.
(2008)
Social Anxiety and Disinhibition: An analysis of Curiosity and Social Rank Appraisals, Approach - Avoidance Conflicts, and Disruptive Risk-Taking Behaviour
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, vol 22, no.6, pp925-939, Aug 2008
Looks into curiosity and how people will show "disinhibited behaviours" to acheive a higher social status, and how curiosity is linked to social anxiety in different groups of people.


Carrabine, E. Iganski, P. Lee, M. Plummer, K. & South, N.
(2004)
Criminology - A Sociological Introduction
Oxon, Routledge
Looks at various different aspects of crime, including how crime is more frequent in disadvantaged areas, and patterns in different types of crime, e.g. property crime, which has risen and decreased rapidly since the late 18th century.


Doran, BJ
(2005)
Investigating the Spatiotemporal Links between Disorder, Crime, and the Fear of Crime
Professional Geographer 57 (1): 1-12 Feb 2005
Looks at how crime and disorder vary over periods of time and space, and how graffiti is one of the most widespread types of crime. It also looks at the "Broken Windows" theory which is discussed in "The Tipping Point".

Funder, D.C.
(2006)
Towards a Resolution of the Personality Triad: Persons, situations and behaviours
Journal of Research in Personality 40 (1): 21-34 Feb 2006
Looks at the connection between personality and situation, and the variation in behaviour of people in different situations and how a small change in the situation can have a large affect.


Laub, J.H. & Sampson, R.J.
(1992)
Crime and Deviance in the Life Course
Annual Review of Sociology, Vol 18 pp 63-84
Discusses the links between age and crime and how crimes decline and grow throughout peoples' life course.

Pearlin, L.I.
(1989)
The Sociological Study of Stress
Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, Vol 30, No3, pp241-256
Examines stress research and how research could be changed. It also looks at the social and institutional statuses of people in relation to stress (i.e. jobs with a lot of responsobility, high social status in a neighborhood, etc)


Tryon, G.S. & Vinski, E.J.
(2009)
Study of a Cognitive Dissonance Intervention to Address High School Students' Cheating Attitudes and Behaviours
Ethics and Behaviour, vol 19, no3, pp218-226, May 2009
Discusses a experiment used to try and decrease the number of students cheating, and how the experiment did not show what was expected.