Avatar - claire Kuang

For more than 10 years I have been suffering from hypertrophic rhinitis. Polluted air can aggravate my pain and even suffocate me when severe. My shield, the mask with a raised valve that looks strange and ugly, would turn out to be a spear used by others to mock and attack me, a stubborn “weirdo”.

I resisted wearing it. But I can’t.

Thus, I began to think about how, when and in which way would motivate people to relate themselves to environmental protection and voluntarily participate in it without letting them suffer the same pain as me. My keyword “environmental participation” is therefore generated.

My Avatar “Masked Lungs” would be a 3D-printed-lungs model, the respiratory organ representing the environment, wrapped in valve masks (valves made from recyclable paper drums) to respond to past gossip though with a downside that it cannot fully express my hope for “public participation”.

↓ Update ↓

Throughout this semester, “environmental participation” has transcended being a mere abstract concept for me; it has evolved into a substantive academic focal point. Prior to the emergence of my Avatar, I had already posed a question that now, armed with insights gleaned from Dunlap’s NEP Theory and Stern’s VBN Theory, I find myself better equipped to answer.

Incorporating elements such as religion, gender, age, social dynamics, and personal norms as stickers on my Avatar serves as a tangible representation of the multifaceted factors contributing to environmental participation. These additional features, absent in my initial exploration, not only enrich the depth of my inquiry but also provide the much-needed answers to my earlier question.