sustainability – art, design and social practice

Hey Guys,

This is not a carbon footprint project but some might be interested.Two things. I saw this amazing video of an artist named Rigo 23, spent two years interacting with remote villages in Brazil, and they re-interpreted the nuclear submarine. It’s an interesting take and it re assesses the current state of affiars, and what is really important. Beautiful. http://www.artistsrespond.org/artists/rigo23/ The video in in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

Secondly, People are harvesting the fog that comes through the dry mountains of Peru. Here

-Dan Allende

My carbon footprint at the beginning of the semester was 5.41 tons, most of which came from my electricity use and dietary habits. Therefore, I decided that my project would be twofold: first, I would not purchase any “new” food, and second, I would rely on existing, public electricity rather than contributing to my apartment’s electricity wattage. I was interesting in using all available resources use any “new” energy.

So, for the past few weeks,  I have not bought any food at the grocery store. My pantry and freezer had more food than I thought, and many of my meals consisted of lots of different variations of pasta, noodles, and brown rice. There were some instances where I was simply in the right place at the right time for some food, or I was working for a meal. I got a loaf of bread from OK Natural for free because it was going to expire the next day. I found food, such as fruit or bags of chips that people had left in classrooms. A friend gave me a bag of food that she bought but found unappetizing. Despite these , I did take a trip to the farmers market, and buy some sandwiches at Cafe Doris when I did not plan ahead and bring food to class and was pressed for time. I regret not taking the initiative and going dumpster diving, or volunteering with Food not Bombs. If I were to attempt this project again, I would most definitely do those things.

I came to the realization that all food, no matter where I got it, has a pathway. It is meant to be consumed by someone, and in my case, I was attempting to stop it from going to waste, which I define as the food not reaching its potential as a form of sustenance. Many times, I ate food that people bought but ended up not eating, or food that people had forgotten, such as the orange that they had left on a table. The grey area occurred when people would offer to share food with me. The calories I consumed would need to be replenished by the individual at a later time because I was taking some of their share. I got many of my meals this way, but always ate with a slightly guilty conscience because it wasn’t exactly in accordance with my intent. Nevertheless, my stomach prevailed, and I gladly accepted a plate of my room mate’s roast chicken.

I began the second part of my project by mapping out all the public spaces on campus from which I could obtain electricity and heat. These public spaces always have their lights and heat on, and unfortunately, it often goes to waste because no one is benefitting from this energy output. I spent a lot of time in the library, the Gateway, and the Cafes. It was an interesting way to experience the different ways that public and private spaces are defined on a college campus. I would be on campus until one or two in the morning, finishing up assignments under the bright lights of Cafe Doris, coming home only to sleep. I did my best to unplug everything in my room. Regularly, I only have two lamps plugged in. Certain things, like my cell phone and my laptop, needed to be charged. It didn’t really make any difference where I plugged it; they would use up energy anyways. As a result of my actions, my monthly electricity wattage did decrease slightly, even with the days becoming shorter.

Looking back, not only was my project reasonably successful in reducing my carbon footprint, it also saved me a few bucks, especially on groceries. I ate surprisingly well, and found that I often preferred working in public spaces. Writing this post a week after the end of the project, I still have not gone grocery shopping, but I am writing in the comfort of my own room, with one lamp on.

Personal Consumption of Food Packaging over the course of 1 month:
Plastics (water bottles, soda bottles, milk, clamshells, bags)= 30 units
Cans (coke, soup, beans)= 13
Paper-based (paperboard boxes, cookie bags, cartons)= 32
Glass (bottles, jars)= 4

“The simple truth is that all of our major environmental concerns are caused by, or contribute to, the ever-increasing consumption of goods and services.”
-Cradle to Cradle

1. How can we limit the use of and even prolong the life of a product’s packaging so it does not automatically become waste?

2. How does nature achieve successful packaging? How can we translate elements of nature into design?

Our new design assignment is to create “products that when their useful life is over, do not become useless waste but can be tossed onto the ground to decompose and become food for plants and animals and nutrients for the soil; or alternately, that can return to industrial cycles to supply high-quality raw materials for new products.”

FURTHER RESEARCH: BIOMIMICRY:

Biomimicry= the process of looking to life for sustainable design advice

Nature’s packaging performs the same functions (contain, protect, communicate) as our modern day packaging without causing harm to themselves, the contents, or the environment.

DESIGN IDEAS:
A water bottle that could easily fit in your pocket when dry, but holds several liters of water when full (like the pouch of a pelican)

Build matrices inside packaging to avoid leaks and to save on material (like the internal structure of lettuce)

“Trigger” packaging that opens or changes shape and adjusts itself for the product it contains (like the opening of a seed of the spreading of a virus)

Packaging that disappears as its being shipped (similar to how horses slough off layers of their hooves)

Ketchup bottles that clean themselves with very little water (similar to how leaves clean themselves)

CONCLUSION:
Biomimicry provides us with the opportunity to compare how life works with how our designs should work. Life has been creating packaging on earth for 3.85 billion years, leaving behind no landfills, no wasted materials, and no toxic sludge. Life is responsive—why can’t our packaging be too? Could our packaging be made from local materials to fit local conditions rather than the “one size fits all” approach?

 To reduce my carbon footprint, I wanted to consider my different lives as a room-mate, employee, and artist. Through this, I have learned ways that I can support my environmental beliefs rather than contradict them in these different aspects of my life. I followed some of the carbon footprint calculator’s suggestions on how to reduce my household carbon footprint. By washing my clothes in cold water, hang-drying my clothes 50% of the time, setting our thermostat at 60 degrees instead of 64 degrees, our estimated household C02 reduction is 1,858 lbs per year. Although it is not drastic, I think it is a step in the right direction and hopefully I can encourage these practices to my other roommates and friends. I have also been visiting local farms such as Hubers and Webbers instead of going to grocery stores. 

At work, I am bothered by the amount we do not recycle or compost. We throw away pounds and pounds of coffee a day so I did some research on how to compost using a lot of coffee grounds. I don’t have a big enough sealable compost container so I consider this my test compost to figure out the ratio of green to brown. I also have been pawning off grounds to people who I know compost themselves. I have been saving every receipt that people “throw away.” At first, it started off as a documentation of what people consume. Then, I became interested in using the receipts as a material for my work. 

After accumulating many receipts, I researched different ways of paper making and natural dyes. I realized how I could use the waste-water from foods that I cook to dye the paper pulp from the receipts. I have also started gathering materials from places that sell used goods such as the loading dock, Second Chance, and Village Thrift. Rather than creating imagery about environmental concerns, this project has enabled me to see how I can use materials that have meaning on their own. 

Coffee compost and roof plants

Gathered materials from the Loading Dock

Hang dry instead of machine dry!

Here are some links to how to compost with coffee and how to create dye from fruits and vegetables:

http://www.pioneerthinking.com/naturaldyes.html

http://www.howtodothings.com/home-garden/how-to-compost-with-coffee

http://www.plowhearth.com/magazine/compost_how_to.asp

I began by comparing the results of several online calculators to ascertain an approximate idea of my carbon footprint; on average it was 3.7 tons, which is already quite low relative to the average citizen of the United States. Thus, with the exception of purchasing green power, there were not many single practices in my life whose doing or not doing would drastically reduce my carbon footprint; but since I was introduced to the urgency of the carbon dilemma only quite recently, it seemed that, somewhere out there, there were still a myriad of as yet unconsidered lifestyle changes on a smaller scale impatiently waiting for me to discover and adopt them. When examined alone, such small changes in daily habits seem relatively insignificant, but when taken together, these small changes can add up to tremendous proportions, especially if adopted by an entire community, from neighborhood to nation. The banality of many of these small changes is matched only by the effortlessness of their carrying out; in many cases this is simply a matter of changing old habits. So I began researching ways to change. One of the first things that I discovered was that putting food, such as rice for example, into the refrigerator while it is still hot pushes the refrigerator to use more electricity to maintain its temperature; thus one should allow hot food to cool to room temperature before placing it in the fridge. No sacrifices necessary in this situation, just a matter of waiting. Another strategy was boycotting plastic and packaging, especially bags, cups and bottles, unless absolutely necessary. In virtually every store, practically every solitary item larger than the palm of one’s hand is bagged; thus I had to be assertive. Countless times it felt like my item(s) had already disappeared into the bag before I could even open my mouth; but I was resolute and would request “No bag, please” or “Oh, I don’t need a bag” and the item was taken out. When lunchtime came around at school, I would never buy a drink in a plastic bottle, but turned to the water fountain instead. Which was no real sacrifice for me because only rarely do I drink anything but water (with the occasional glass of milk at breakfast and, of course, alcohol). Where food was concerned, I tried my best to buy local products, in order to cut down on the transportation required to bring the food to me. Naturally, this led me to local farmer’s markets. I walked out empty handed of several grocery stores whose complete range of produce came from international sources (mostly Mexico). As far as bags and logistics were concerned, I made a few exceptions when it came to buying in bulk, such as couscous and granola, for this way I could buy a long-term supply of something with only one trip and only one bag. The next sphere of change concerned my personal transportation, the best mode of which was obviously man powered, such as biking or walking. I live close to school, so I walk to class. I traveled almost completely by foot (making exceptions only when absolutely necessary), making use of my local stores for food and clothing. As far as clothing is concerned, the best route was to buy second hand. If the thrift store did’t have what I needed, there was always ebay, as well as several other online forums where people buy, sell and trade goods and clothes, such as Craigslist or Styleforum. When it came to electricity, I became a stickler for eliminating ‘ghost’ or ‘vampire’ power, that power consumed by appliances and devices even when they are not in use, merely plugged in; to combat this leakage of unused power I unplugged all of my appliances, turned off all of my power strips when I wasn’t using them; it was really easy. Another thing, I learned was that saving water also saves energy. I was surprised to learn that washing dishes by hand uses more water and energy than washing a full load of dishes in a dishwasher on a ‘no heat’ or  ‘energy saver’ setting. A key word there is full load: I never washed the dishes in the dishwasher until it was truly full. Speaking of water, I did do one thing that took me slightly out of my comfort zone; I have always been fond of taking voluptuously long hot showers in the winter (in the summer I take only cold showers, usually quite brief) so I thought I would push myself a bit and commit myself to taking only sponge baths in order to save water. In case one doesn’t know, a sponge bath involves filling a bucket up with water and using only that water to lather up and then rinse off.  I used a small red bucket, and it worked well. Eventually I got a little tired of it, so I decided to fill the bucket up via the shower head, in order to count just how long it took to fill up the bucket; that way I could know how many seconds of shower time I was allowed. It came out to about 45 seconds; thus I could hop in the shower, turn the water on only for a brief moment to wet my skin in order to facilitate the lathering process, then lather and then turn the water back on for a good 40 second rinse.  I found this more hospitable than the sponge bath. Last of all I set myself one larger goal to attempt: convincing my father to turn to a green power source. Somewhat to my surprise, he sounded kind of interested and promised to look into it; so I waited. When I never heard back, I called and he said that he was a little put off by a newspaper article which described green power as having a much larger portion of its price going to overhead costs than does normal power. We talked about the issue some more, and decided that we will conduct further research together; it looks promising. This would be a fairly big reduction if it succeeds!

Looking back at my microscopic examination of the carbon impact of my daily activities, I have two feelings. The first is one of satisfaction since I do believe that when taken together these small changes can make a difference; no one should overlook them. We all need to take time to examine the things that we normally overlook. On the other hand, I feel that these small reductions are not enough, even despite the fact that my footprint was already low to begin with.  For the next step, I would very much like to undertake a project of a nature less reductive and more pro-active.

PHOTOS

http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u282/Jhowell_02/Carbon%20Footprint/?albumview=grid