The Horse 2020/21

Areas in Zurich: 
9032 hectares (2018) --> 90.32 square kilometres
- Agricultural area               9.5%
- Forest area                    26.4%
- Traffic area                     14.6%
- Settlement area              47.7%
- Area of water bodies        1.2%
- Unproductive area            0.6%More...

Collaboration with India

We have a collaboration with Reshma Rajesh and Ashish P John from India. We got in contact at the very beginning in class and we talked together via video. There we exchanged numbers and now we have a collaboration together.
On 26.10.2020 we had a short chat with Reshma. She will comment on our project and we also commented on her project. We think that we connect our projects well. We can also send her our survey and she will distribute it in her school.

We can also send our survey to America, Germany, England, Netherlands, Brazil, Austria, Sri Lanka, and India.
It will be a great survey of many different countries. :-)

Debora and Melane

Review and evaluation of what has been done and what remains to be done

We have drawn up a plan to realise everything we want to achieve

All in all, we hardly had any problems. The only thing that can be a thorn in our side is the coronary gland, which makes the survey and interview difficult.

We try to stick to the plan and work through everything step by step.

This week we will contact Andrea Gion Saluz to organize an interview. Maybe this will help us enormously in the other things

Laurice & Michael

Land plants only produce 1/3 of the oxygen we breathe, the rest comes from the ocean. The dying of the coral reefs affects all species from marine life to humankind. We would like to get to know more about how corals affect us in our daily life. Isn't it worth it to safe the coral reefs for our own safety?

This is what Esosa and I would like to discuss in our project: Oxygen generated by the ocean.

[Please always use the File manager for your photos in the future. TechNick.]

 The aim of our project is to find out whether in a city like Zürich it would be possible to use electric cars only. 
In the course of a self-experiment we hope to find out how electric-car-friendly the city of Zurich is today. With an interview we also want to learn more about the plans that the Zürich city council has regarding the electrification of its urban car traffic.

(in progress)

We decided to answer the question "How many trees does a city like Zurich need to offset its CO2 emissions?

We wanted to analyse this question with research and a subsequent calculation, and to get the opinion of the people with a survey.

Our experience so far:

Review and assessment of things done and still to do

We have a list of things we still have to do and things we have already done. And in this list we can look up everything and therefore we can't forget anything.

And when we do our posts on the Horse, we check them afterwards and if we are not done yet, we write it down.

And then assessment, I think that we have done our job not bad so far, these things we had to organize are perfect. For example the electric car. So if we had to assess that, I would give the collaboration a 4.75. And we are trying to invest more time for these things that we still have to do.

Problems encountered so far

We thought we had more problems than we have. This is a good sign, but we try to contact BMW and we don't get an answer. So Nils wrote to them and we did not get an answer yet.

The second is that we are trying to get in contact with foreign countries, but nobody wants to cooperate yet. But I still have 2 contacts that might work. But i have to Motivate them.

What could have been done differently

We could have gone to BMW in the company earlier and asked directly for an interview, then we would have received a clear and quick answer. And we wouldn't have to wait all the time for an answer. But I think that we will do the visit soon, because there is not enough time to wait.

We could have done our planning a little better. We're not bad at the moment, but it couldn't have been a bit more.

How likely is for our working hypothesis to be confirmed?

I think it is very likely because we think that in the future we will only drive cars with electric motors and we humans are slowly getting ready to do something for the environment, in my opinion. And the market for electric cars is huge right now.

Almost every car brand is trying to build an electric car that they can participate in this revolutionary invention.

And we, with this project, can certainly convince some friends or maybe strangers and explain them, that this is a good thing to do to help the environment.

Nils and Dylan

How will the trees of the big concrete jungles be threatened in the future?
The health of our trees reflects the health of mankind. The threats are growing, so WE must act NOW!

In the city of Zurich there are several tree diseases with different causes, effects and appearance. Not every tree is healthy just because it looks normal on the outside. It is not easy to find out which trees are sick and which are not, but it is very important that sick trees are felled. After all, as everyone knows, diseases spread very quickly and can cause great damage to the trees, as well as harm people.
Foreign plants that are invasive, which means that they spread too quickly and too much, are also a great risk for the city of Zurich and for Switzerland itself. These plants are harmful to the environment because they do not belong there and if they spread so fast, they destroy plants that belong to the Swiss environment.

There is a lot to read about this topic, so stay tuned!

Source: (Benoit Moser/ Paris Fire Brigade via The Associated Press)

Survey

This are our questions for the survey:

1. Male or female

2. age

3. country

4. Do you know what urban gardening is?

5. What do you understand by urban gardening?

6. Do you do urban gardening and if so what do you do? 

7. How important are green spaces in cities to you?

8. How important is urban gardening to you?  

9. How do you think urban gardening is already being realized?

10. How could urban gardening be better realized? What are your tips?

Here you can find the link to our survey.
https://ee.humanitarianresponse.info/x/YwIJv3cU

Debora and Melane

Interview questions e-cars

Not finished with all the questions, but is going to be finished.

(in progress..)

Interview with apprentice

We made a little interview with the apprentice of the shop Raschle Gartencenter, Einkaufscenter, «di alt Fabrik», Florhofstrasse 9, 8820 Wädenswil, Switzerland.

Link to the Shop: https://www.urbangardeningshop.ch/

That was our questions and her answers:

1. Do you think that urban gardening will be realized in Switzerland and especially in the cities? 

• In our shop, we always have urban gardening products, which are presented once a year in an exhibition in spring. Especially for people who do not have a garden or balcony, planting in your own home can be a good thing. During the lockdown, many people even came to our shop from Zurich to Wädenswil ZH and I think that many of them already do urban gardening without realizing it. 

2. Which age group does most urban gardening?

• This is very different. Students are certainly a large group and they come very often. Of course, many older people and parents also come. You could say that urban gardening has no age limit. It is used from young to old. 

3. How can we motivate people to do urban gardening? 

• You could say that plants are like pets. They need a lot of time and also love. In addition, plants bring a lot of color into life and it beautifies the living room as well as the balcony or garden. You could motivate people with these beautiful aspects. 

4. What are the reasons why people do not do urban gardening?

• People do not have the time and they are rarely at home. I would say that time is the biggest reason for this. Another reason could be that you have an allergy to the plant or for example the child or pet that eats the plant and it could be poisonous. 

5. What influence do you think Corona has on urban gardening?

• In the lockdown, we were flooded by customers. The shop was full and people queued outside and we received many orders. The people were at home and had time to do urban gardening. Even now urban gardening is still very much in trend. 

6. What are other advantages of urban gardening apart from the aspect that you know it is healthy?

• You know where the product comes from and you have planted it yourself. You had to take responsibility and you also lived cheaper, because you had to buy seeds once. This is especially true for perennial plants. You know that the product contains no chemicals. 

7. What do customers appreciate about your shop? 

• Customers appreciate the good advice and the wide range of products. We take a lot of time for our customers and support and advise them from the beginning to the end. We explain the products to the customers and also sell and inform them about additional products. We show them the advantages of urban gardening. 

Debora and Melane