382eco-blog

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This is the leftovers of my salad; I wasn't able to take any pictures the day of our picnic and the photos that were taken were with professional cameras of the entire fare! I picked lemon balm, clover, beef greens, dandelion leaves and flowers, and withheld the comfrey in the group meal but added it to my own plate. I bought blueberries and sunflowers seeds from a farmers market along with dressing ingredients which included: one egg, local cheese, vinegar, vegetable oil (I could only confirm this to be local to the northeast so unfortunately this is a cheat), and half and half.

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Plant scavenger hunt

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For this project, Jess, Sean, and myself constructed a bench out of found wood to house a birdhouse. Initially I wanted to focus more on the actual housing (beeholes, birdhouses for various birds, and possibly even bat houses, which we could attach to preexisting trees or structures throughout campus.) but the construction of the bench took way. I was very worried about its durability and stability but luckily it does comfortably seat one person! We planned to have it hold strictly birdhouses on the back panel, but unfortunately this would have compromised its balance. Instead we focused solely on a robin perch box, placed on top of the bench and facing away from where people would have their backs. We did run out of wood at some point, but luckily we were able to finish to first box. Jess brought her own paint and we plan to stand this outside the SOA green space. Could I do this project over again I would focus primarily on the actual animal habitats and worry about the 'art' later. Hopefully I can refocus my efforts on future solo projects.

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Barrow fill in

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Not made by me, but pertinent. I plan to attend this and see if I can connect all of the organizations I’ve reach out to together (unless that’s already been done as advertised by the poster).

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Filling in the swales!

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Original attempt, trashed in favor of flyers.

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Detail photos of consumption journal

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1st Journal

+3L plastic bottle of Crangrape juice

+1.77L plastic bottle of Pomwonderful

+355mL glass bottle of Blue Moon and metal bottle cap

Hickory Farms plastic/cardboard box including: cardboard cover, sausage plastic cover and paper insert label, sausage casing, cheese plastic cover and paper insert label, and a plastic/cardboard cracker box

+Small glass mustard jar (saved and reused for other sauces)

+5 crumpled sheets of lined notebook paper

styrofoam to go box with chicken bones inside

styrofoam to go cup with plastic lid (lid was recycled)

3 wilted cabbage leaves

94+ ‘half-sized’ paper towel/napkins (tissues may have been included but this excludes toilet paper flushed or tossed away in the bathroom, so the number is likely over 100 just for one week)

15 cotton balls

+370mL glass bottle of Jarritos

+2 plain paper bags

2 metal/plastic squeeze ‘to go’ pouches for fruit sauces and their plastic caps (caps were recycled, pouches were not)

+small cardboard box

+small clear plastic box

CVS prescription bag and attached paperwork

+prescription bottle

+7.37oz plastic bag of cassava chips

2, 2.05oz bags of plantain chips, possibly plastic w/ metallic interior lining

+1 plastic cup

+2 foil wrappers for dark chocolate (paper labels were not found)

+355mL metal can of ginger ale

+3, 500mL plastic water bottles and caps

7 tea bags and their seven paper wrappers

+3 plastic spoons

+cardboard toilet paper roll

a mass of hair

+cardboard tea box

ball of crumpled aluminum foil containing various food leftovers

+4 crumpled receipts (all small)

1 plastic/paper instant oatmeal cup with plastic peel off lid

+plastic sauce container (peel off plastic/metallic top lost)

+7 paper college campus flyers left in mailbox

2 Qtips

loose food, mostly hulled pumpkin seeds and peanuts from a spill, chicken bones (2+, excluding those from the to-go box), and stale plantain and yuca chips

a few misc items such as lost earnings and their backs, pennies, small scrap pieces of paper and plastic, and a shoelace were found as well

All items with a + in front were recycled unless otherwise specified

This journal does not account for bathroom trash, but an effort was made to transfer all ‘sanitary’ disposables to the bin from which this collection was counted. Nor does it fully include the cigarette buttes I’ve disposed of for the last week, though I can estimate that amount to be at four. No lights were turned on, but the TV was almost always on.  According to the national average, my small, INSIGNIA 16′ LCD monitor produces 6lbs of CO2 pollution per month. I figured that it’s been on at least 7 hours of every weekday, give or take, on switched off for the weekends included. 

I’ve also charged my laptop and phone over night every one of these 7 days, but according to a Forbes article, this isn’t a huge addition to my carbon footprint (the average person reportedly spends $10 or less a year keeping their ‘gadgets’ charged).

I’ve driven about 36 miles according to my odometer, though I’m having difficulty calculating this into my overall consumption.

I’ve done laundry only once this week, but that use 40 gallons of water (excluding the energy put into drying, which I did do). I make my own detergent and reuse wool dryer sheets, however.  According to the national average, most showerheads use 2.5 gallons of water per minute. I’ve taken 4, 30-minute showers, so: 30*2.5=75, 75*4=300 (more or less).

I can’t fully account for everything (such as how many times I’ve flushed a toilet or how long I’ve had the water on for when I brush my teeth or wash my hands, or my usage of electronics outside my apartment) but this exercise has helped me to analyze where my strengths and weaknesses lie when it comes to consumption. I think I can rely on reusable bottles more so than the disposable ones I refill, and I could definitely cut back on my paper towel use! If I were to shower for 10 minutes 5 times a week, I’d be doing 50 minutes of weekly showering instead of 120. 

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Working on typing these up for legibility and convenience: the first consumption journal

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As of now, water consumption journal begins 1/31

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CONSUMPTION: PROJECT PROPOSAL

Based off of the data I’ve collected in my consumption journal, I would like to address my main areas of concern: water usage and aspects of my garbage, namely paper and container waste. While I do utilize reusable containers, wares, and cutlery for food, I still accumulate a lot of plastic wrappings and bottles. I think I can completely eliminate my water bottle usage just by upping my efforts, and record every instance I use water in a more quantitative fashion than I had with my journal. I’ll include laundry, showers, toilet flushes, teeth brushing, hand washing, etc.

I can also cut back on buying, and also recycle much of the excess I do create when I do buy.  This is a simple solution especially now that I am more aware of the kind of trash I tend to produce.

The biggest problem however is my dependency on napkin products. I use paper towels, tissues, and toilet paper at least 15 times a day, and while some of these can’t be helped, I do think I can limit my near 100 level down to ¼ of that. I want to collect the ones I do throw away (usually used to clean up spilled liquids or to dispose of things I don’t want just sitting in my metal can, or even things I just don’t want to touch) and bind them together into a visual representation of my consumption. Judging by the samples I pulled from the 7 day trash collection, they’re actually visually interesting: they were a variety of colors due to paint, wine, juice, makeup, chalk, and even food stains. I also go through a variety of different kinds of paper product, some are heavy quilted and others more fibrous and thin and sheer. I think I can make a journal out of them and use it to record my efforts with saving water, though I need to test out how well a used paper towel will read after I write on it.

I also make my own laundry sheets, and personally find them to be visually appealing as well. I think I can use two for the ‘cover’ of this journal. Any excess products can be photographed or worked into some sort of ‘consumption quilt’.

So with this vague outline in mind, I’m thinking the end product will be a found object sort of collage/journal. I do want to balance the visual side of it with hard numbers because I’m a little alarmed at how much water I really use and want to address that as well, though the main focus is the recycled journal.