3/19

I have planned to meet with Ann Ormand, the Director of Arts, Business and Culture in Andover. Some questions I hope to ask her are: Where in town were you thinking of putting the art exhibit? Would all of the art need to be weatherproof? What do you hope the outcome of the recycled art to be? What inspired you to bring this to Andover? Why specifically recycled art? What do you think the recycled art will bring to Andover? What are your hopes for the instillation? I hope to learn the specifics of the art installation and what inspired her to start this.

She is planning a recycled art instillation in Andover. There will be a art gallery/ show on April 22nd (Earth Day). Three out of the five elementary schools will be creating pieces out of recycled materials. I think this gallery will bring people together and have kids understand a little bit about the trash process at a young age. After the gallery, Ann will be asking stores in downtown Andover if they would like to display these art pieces. This will not only draw people into the stores but will make Andover a more environmentally minded town. She said that she would be happy to store my sculpture when it is not in display at a store.

3/18- Trash Whale

Mr. Conrad informed me about a school that created a whale out of chicken wire and filled it with trash. I immediately tried to contact them to learn more about it since it is so similar to my tangible. I emailed the principle and he forwarded my email to Camie Dyess who began this project. She told me all about their process of creating the Trash Whale. Her inspiration for creating this was for kids to “feel” the harm of plastic in the oceans instead of just talking about the plastic’s damages.

“We began asking other classes to collect plastics found in the recycling bins or trash cans around school. Soon enough, we gathered bins and bins of single use plastics. While the kids were excited and mesmerized by the amount of trash that was filling the bins, we began building trash whale out of chicken wire in secret. Over the course of the week, we displayed the carcass of Trash Whale: first with plastics and trash around it. The next day, the debris made its way into the body of the whale. Finally Trash Whale was suspended in the air to reveal the trash/plastics that was collected (and used) by the kids. Throughout this display, we never told the kids what it meant. We wanted them to have a conversation about it on their own, to let them question and share their thoughts with one another. The next week, we showed the article of the actual whale and their minds were blown.”

In result of the whale, when kids went home they inspired their families to make changes by cutting out the use of Ziplock bags. Dyess says, “I truly feel art is not about how well you draw or make things, but how you’re able to create something that will spark conversation.”

Camie Dyess cdyess@powayusd.com

3/14

I created two surveys, a before and after, for students in AP Environmental Science. For my surveys I wanted to hear what plastic means to people in my grade. I sent my survey out as an assignment for students in AP Environmental Science. Ms Cutler had an assignment on the schedule named "plastic challenge" so I took that and added my surveys and for students to bring in their clean single-use plastic for me to use in my plastic wave sculpture. The first survey I made was for students to take before they attempted to go a day without plastic. In the first survey, I wanted to find out if people believe in the promise of the recycling bin. I also wanted to hear how much effort people put in to disposing their trash. To do this I asked about how often they sort their trash and what they believe is the majority of their trash. When you know where the majority of trash is coming from then people can think of ways to reduce it to make the largest impact in waste reduction. After the students attempted to go a day without using any single-use plastic, I created a survey for them to analyze how it went for them. In my second survey, I wanted to find out if people my age are able to reduce their waste. I asked questions about the process of reducing their waste and how this experience has changed their lifestyles. If students are taught young how to sort their waste and how to shop mindfully then I believe they will be more likely to continue living like this into adulthood.

3/11

People do not see the full scale problem with plastic. When they are using everyday single-use disposable plastic items, they are not thinking about its harms on the environment. When someone has the choice between a glass bottle and a plastic bottle, it is better to choose the glass bottle because it can be infinitely recycled. But the plastic bottle is usually less expensive and lighter. I am beginning to get the sense that people feel that plastic is necessary in their lives. In my AP Environmental class, we began the waste unit and My teacher, Ms. Cutler, talked about how plastic items are necessary in the medical field for dialysis. What needs to change is the cut out of single-use disposable products.

3/10

After speaking with Teresa Kaufman, an art teacher at High Plain Elementary, I have a further developed plan for my sculpture. She gave me a device that can melt plastic; it is a hotter version of a hair dryer. I will use this to melt water bottles into different shapes to convey the free flowing nature of a wave. I now have a box full of plastic bags and a recycling bin and a trash bin full of plastic containers. Now I will need to get chicken wire to use to create the shape of the wave and cardboard for the base.

3/3

There was hope when The Ocean Cleanup announced their project to clean the oceans but sadly, at the end of December, it broke. We are at a time when technologies that can help fix the problems we have created are emerging. With these new technologies we may be able to use plastic but in a more sustainable way. Recently, it was discovered that a certain bacteria could eat plastic. This is groundbreaking since plastic which normally takes hundreds of years to break down could now take only a few days. This mutant bacteria is only at a small scale and cannot yet fix all of our plastic problems. We can’t rely on new technologies to save our wasteful lifestyle. I believe part of the problem is because people do not understand the problem with using single-use plastic.

Six out of seven responses of my survey said that they would be more likely to sort their waste if it was easier to get to the trash bins and if there was more time in the lunchroom. This proves that people feel rushed into disposing their lunch remains and end up throwing all of their trash in one bin. A solution to this is to simply avoid plastic and throw all waste in the compost where it will create soil that will help the Earth. I have found that the lunch I buy from school can be completely plastic-free. I bring my own fork in case I need it and the rest is compostable (the tray and the food). Another response to this question claimed that more awareness to where the trash is going could make people consider separating their trash and reducing their plastic. A solution to this could be to put a sign on the trash bins with a couple quick facts about where it all goes.

3/1

I hope people will feel guilt and the need for change when they look at a pile of plastic. Not only is it just a pile of plastic but a wave made of plastic. Oceans are filling with plastic and the fact that by 2050 plastic will outweigh fish in the ocean proves that it is harming the oceans. There are five gyres in the oceans where trash collects.

Jack Johnson is a cofounder of Kōkua Hawaii Foundation to create the Plastic Free Pipeline Project. They used trash that they found on beaches to create a wave where you can stand on the surfboard and pretend to ride the wave of trash. Kathleen Egan also created something similar called the Plastic Wave. It was created out of plastic bottles where you could also stand on a surfboard and pretend to ride the plastic wave.

Seeing lots of plastic will hopefully install the need for people to want to change their ways and use less plastic. I want this to inspire others to end their use of plastics. Since this sculpture will be of a wave, I hope for it to emphasize the harm of plastics in the ocean.

2/26

Over break I created a lot of waste. Life got in the way. I should not make up any excuse except for the fact that I am lazy. I went out to eat and brought home leftovers in two plastic containers and a styrofoam box. I should have brought containers. People should take a greater responsibility for the plastic they waste. But, at the same time it is next to impossible to go without touching plastic and reducing the amount of plastic use does not feel like enough.

When I was talking to teachers at my school during a faculty meeting, Ms. Valenti brought attention to the fact that many reusable items are made from plastic and are often thrown away if they break or are not used often enough. I had a water bottle from Eddie Bauer that I loved because it had grips to hold it and a straw to sip from. This water bottle began to leak and I later found that it had a crack so I went out and bought a new one that was the same version and the same thing happened. Plastic is celebrated for being durable and easy when it still does have it’s imperfections.

I recently watched a video on someone going a month without plastic. I learned that Costa Rica is actually going towards banning all plastics and making people pay a tax to use plastic. This is genius! All countries must move towards this if we are ever going to stop plastic. There are now more microplastics in the ocean than there are stars in the galaxy.

In the grand scheme of things the zero-waste movement seems to be pretty small. While a group of people in the world have been reducing their plastic, everyone else continues to use items made of plastic wrapped in plastic that is wrapped in more plastic. Not only is plastic harmful after it is used, the process to create plastic is from oil. Using oil is nonrenewable and therefore not sustainable. I feel like I am constantly thinking about what will happen to the earth if we keep living like this.

2/12

I feel like I am cheating zero-waste. I have not collected 100% of my waste and it is a very hard shift in my life. My trash so far is made up of wrappers from a CLIF bar, pop tart and candies my friend gave me from Sweden, items from my track meets (metal spikes, lane number stickers, medal wrappers) and receipts from getting a train ticket. I definitely think I can continue to cut down on my trash. Some strategies I have used so far have been bringing my own reusable metal fork, cloth napkin, and metal water bottle. To be better I will need to eat less packaged foods and prepared when going out to eat. I also have continued to use my shampoo and conditioner that is in plastic bottles and I will need to purchase shampoo and conditioner bars from Lush. After my track meet on Friday, we had a team dinner at a Chicken and Waffle restaurant and my food was served in a styrofoam box. I felt extremely guilty for not bringing my own plate or container and I had no way to bring it home to clean and use in my sculpture.