TEAM GIANT GREEN MAN

Post date: Feb 27, 2011 9:40:10 PM

group members: Jason Wilkins, Dan Lipson, Emily So

For our project, we mashed together information we gathered on how much food waste is produced by the eateries on campus at CMU, by asking managers and rummaging through trash at the eateries. Initially we were going to make an interactive map of the campus which showed the amount of food waste each eatery produced. When we started to gather data, the managers couldn't give us definite estimates or did not waste much at all. We then also found out that the kitchens compost their pre-consumer and post-consumer waste.

As the focus of our project, we decided to make an "installation" piece that would spread awareness of food waste and its effects on the environment. The sculpture is a cut-out of a figure made of foam core and painted green, holding a banana peel and placed next to any garbage can. We went to each building with eateries and placed the figure next to a garbage can and observed people's reactions. Many viewers were either intimidated or alarmed by the installation piece, but others who took the time to read what the giant green man had to say were intrigued by the food waste factoids.

attached is a picture of the GIANT GREEN MAN in action.