The Story of What Happened – Naturally Dyeing Fabrics

November 5, 2015September 1, 2016Leave a comment

My piece for The Story of What Happens details an experience I had working on a project for the class Sustainable Systems. The assignment was to color fabrics with a natural dye using raw scraps from foods or plants. The experiment elapsed for about a week between gathering materials and actually dyeing the fabric, but it was interesting to see this length of time complied into just a few minutes.

My original idea was to just portray this assignment. As we began learning about the different functions on Adobe Premiere, I wanted to change my idea to scenes about my day-to-day life after learning how to use the multi-cam function. However, I decided to stay just using the footage from the dyeing experiment as it would present a stronger piece.

Being able to connect a few of the scenes was difficult. Because this project spanned over such a long period and I jumped between two locations, I had to figure out a way to still connect these jumping scenes together.

For example, there was two points where I skipped from buying supplies from the farmers’ market at Union square and back to my dorm. In order to connect this together, I rearranged some of the stills I used in the film so that it fit better. I also cut down the length of time I spent a the market so that there wasn’t a big focus on it. The Union Square scenes were also turned into black and white to portray that those scenes came before the scenes in the dorm and that there was a distinct disconnect between the scenes.

I also tried to play around with sound. I thought the music went well with the beginning scene where I was walking, which is why I decided to include it mixed in with the sounds of the street noises. I also decided to include a narrative to explain the entire process that occurred to make the story clearer.

Another effect the I wanted to play around with was the position of the clips. In the first scene. I cut the scenes at points that matched the beat of the music. Towards the last scene I created a transparent overlay of one scene on top of another to display two correlating actions happening at once.

The last bit of editing I included was including a title scene. At first I didn’t think about putting it in the film, but in the end it felt appropriate to allow the viewer to know what this video was about as it is a sort of tutorial/process explanation.

The video seemed to simplify the time spent on the project. When viewing the video it, I could still sense the hard work put into dyeing the fabric, but the viewer doesn’t feel the dragging feeling of waiting for the for each part of the experiment to finish. It was interesting to get a sense of how both perspectives felt of actually being there in the moment versus just watching the moment happen.

Natural Dyes

October 8, 2015September 1, 2016Leave a comment

This project turned out to be pretty successful. My partner and I decided to split up the material in half and dye each piece different shades. One was dyed with a more yellow flower while the other was dyed with a purple flower. The yellow flower came out very vibrant the first round of dying. However, the purple flowers didn’t take as well. It dyed, but it came out a very pale shade of purple. It wasn’t until we put in grape peels that the color really came out.

We also chose to just add the petals, buds, stalks, and grape peels so that we get rid of any additional colors that may distort the color during the process of dying. The process was very tedious and took a few hours just to apply the mordant and clean the material. The dying solution took less time to prepare. It is easy to understand why not as many people practice this method of dying as there should be.

For next weeks picnic I have chosen to dye an old towel/rag my roommate was planning on throwing in the waste.

Water: Circle Line

September 25, 2015September 1, 2016Leave a comment

NOTES – Conditions/Issues/Challenges/Successes

Micro-fibers in clothes get into water
800 mil of plastic bottles are used in NYC/year
Exfoliating beads made from plastics in toothpastes or body washes get into the waterway and don’t dissolve once spit out or washed off
Solution: Micro net that captures .3 millimeters
- Made of aluminum
- Catches toothpaste beads, plastic bags, styrofoam
Beware of toothpastes with polyethylene
Plastic have been with us since World War II
- The discovery of bad plastics is very young
Gyre – 5 main gyre in oceans
- Ocean currents bring together all of the trash
- High tech device allowed to determine how much plastic was in water finally developed
- Troll
- Approximately 5.2 trillion particles of plastic was found
Ideas on ideas to sift plastic is becoming difficult
Need to deviate around the idea of disposable items
Newton creek is the backyard of making the city possible
What happens to your body happens to the earth
The earth is breaking down at the same time your body is
Look at the smallest plastic sources
Landfill
- Can see plastics in water
Albatross birds being killed by plastics in their bellies

Clean Water Acts/ Super Fund

The CWA is a federal law that was put in place by the United States in order to govern water pollution. It is a basic structure to regulate pollutants in the water and the quality standards for the surface waters. It also sets wastewater standards. It is now illegal to discharge pollution to navigable waters unless a permit was obtained.

Source: http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act

The Super Fund is a government run fund to clean up the nations hazardous waste sites.

Source: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/

On a scale I would put both of these examples on the 10^5-10^7 scale. Both are held on a national basis. Meaning they aim to clean up the United states. However, if we scale back farther we can see that this would benefit not only our nation, but the surrounding nations and the planet as a whole.

In an illustration I would place side by side a comparison of what would the legislation aims for versus what might happen without these acts to environment. I would want to show a full range of possibilities of what is to come on a global scale.

I would also want to illustrate the issue on a small such as the Albatross birds. One event can end up becoming so impactful that people end up recognizing it as an issue and feel evoked to promote awareness for the problem. However, the scale has to be at the same size as them or else people wound up confused and distracted from the original problem. The scale needs to be relatable to them.

What does it mean for polluters like Exxon when you go online and discover that Newton Creek and Gowanus are Super Fund sites?
I don’t think it is that surprising that these sites might promote the Super Fund websites. Newton Creek and Gowanus directly deal with receiving the waste we create and they directly attack the issue of water pollution and wastefulness by attacking back as the source that caused the problem. These areas are threatened by these types of companies since they have already been made into a dump. In order to at least prevent from any more waste from coming through they defend themselves against polluters by teaming up with government run organizations such as Super Fund.

A diagram of this kind illustrates one of the issues you recorded, but could cover two or more scales – (1) 10 ^ 7 illustrating the federal Act and Super Fund, (2) 10 ^ 0 how the water looked at the surface with industry at the shore ( a picture you captured), and (3) 10 – 2 for worms and fish that may have mutated from the effects of industrial pollution, (4) 10 – 5 for # of recorded cancer occurrences of people who live near Newtown creek and (5) 10 – 8 for how the NYC Billion Oyster Project on Governor’s Island is helping to clean our waterways at a cellular/molecular level to reduce viruses that kill the health of our water’s ecology. So with one large illustration you would have five scales represented – two items captured/ heard on the trip and three items that come from additional research on the topic your heard about briefly on the trip.

As stated before, I chose to illustrate the problem with the Albatross birds. This type of bird is threatened faster than any other types of birds with 17 out of 22 species of albatross being globally threatened for extinction. In order to portray this issue, I sketched it out on five different scales. They are killed in such vast amounts that they can’t breed enough in time.

The albatrosses used fly across the world ocean’s 50 million years ago. Now they are known to be located in all of the world’s oceans except for the North Atlantic. Although they are seen to typically populate the Southern Hemisphere.

Source: http://www.rspb.org.uk/joinandhelp/donations/campaigns/albatross/

10^7 – illustrating a scroll that represents both the CWA and the Super Fund

10^5 and 10^8 – The first part of the drawing shows animal rescue trying to save the endangered birds from their dying natural habitat. The second part is the logo for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds which is an organization that serves to try and preserve these birds. This is to prove with the help of many individuals, the birds have a potential at flourishing once again.

10^0 – Both the Act and the Fund point towards a scene we saw on the boat ride. This is a sketch of when the boat explored the landfill at Newton Creek. At the shoreline there were plastic bags scattered on the rocks and other waste floating in the water. I wanted to display that the Act and Fund were made to regulate these forms of waste and prevent this from further occurring.

10^-2 – This next scale also shows something the Act and Fund were made to prevent. I wanted to depict how the polluted water affected the Albatross birds by drawing one bird with it’s stomach filled with the plastics it eats.

Powers of Ten for Water Datasheet <– Click for excel sheet diagram

Rice Recipe

September 24, 2015September 1, 2016Leave a comment

Ingredients
1 tablespoon canola oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups long-grain rice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 to 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Juice of 3 limes and zest of 2 limes (hold back juice of 1 lime for garnish)
Chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

Directions
Watch how to make this recipe.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add the rice and salt. Cook over a low heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly to make sure the rice doesn’t burn. Add 2 cups of the broth and the juice and zest of 2 limes and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the rice is done. Add more liquid as needed. The rice shouldn’t be sticky.

Just before serving, stir through the juice of 1 lime and lots of chopped cilantro.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/garlic-cilantro-lime-rice-recipe.html?oc=linkback

The Water Debate

September 18, 2015September 18, 2015Leave a comment

Why is water such a big issue? We have systems like the one described above to help replenish our clean water source, right? There is so much of it, yet a lot of it is not really usable for drinking or sanitation purposes. Water is a pretty replenish able resource, but we don’t really think about what happens to the water we use after it comes out of the faucet and down the drain.

Even with these systems, there are still 2.5 billion people in the world who still practice open defecation. This allows human waste which carries deadly bacteria, parasites, and micro organisms to make their way into our water sources.

Nearly 1 billion people are not able to reach clean drinking water, 90% out of 30,000 deaths that occur each week are due to unsanitary drinking water. But the problems don’t just stop there. The water crisis can end up leading to problems with education, health, poverty, and women/children.

There is always room for improvement, and the water crisis is not an end of the world case. The problem is solvable. There are solutions such as rainwater catchments, spring protections, latrines and more. The impact can be tremendous.

We are not the only people as citizens or individuals who can make an impact on the water system. The UN passed a resolution to recognize water and sanitation as “essential to human rights”. They called upon hundreds of nations and international companies to provide the necessary money, tools, and capacity to build to give clean and affordable drinking water. They believe that clean water is needed to push forward ecosystems, businesses, communities, agriculture, and commerce.

The UNGC works with 8368 companies, 161 countries, and 32,919 public reports. It is a comprehensive guidance for companies to teach them about how they can respect the human rights to water and sanitation. Their goal is to “create sustainable and inclusive global economy that delivers lasting benefits to people, communities, and markets.” In order to help guide them, the organization comes up with a business plan that aligns its strategies with the ten principles of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.

Their view on companies is that businesses and industry associations can have a significant influence on corporate sustainability. They would also be established throughout the world and gaining a deep understanding for specific industry trends and needs.

Companies around the world, no matter the size, consult associations for advice on critical issues related to sustainable development and corporate citizenship. These associations are motivated to help these companies with the incentive to improve their own reputation and competition. The associations are also able to get very specific and narrow in on issues specific to certain industries. Businesses and associations also then publicly engage with consumers to spread awareness on how associations can help change and promote sustainability.

On their website, the UNGC maps out a Water Stewardship Maturity Progression to help assess where you are on your water management journey with the help of a progressive path.

There are many other organizations that are now also partnering up with companies to improve sustainability and our water and sanitation systems such as wateractionhub.org which enlists 365 organizations, 197 projects, and 383 project locations.

Sustainablewash.org easily compacted their method into three steps: Actively promote WASH sustainable charter, complete sustainability self-assessment tool, and conduct third-party assessment to decide organization’s adherence.

Even with the progress made so far there are still a lot of questions being asked like “if corps could save the world with all the money they already have, why not just do it?” But I think this is too much of a generalized statement and ignores all the other efforts that needs to go to change and make things more sustainable

Another question that comes up; “is desalination to water shortages?”

This is the process of turning the salty ocean water to clean usable water. It sounds like a good idea since about 96% of our water on the planet is actually made up of the ocean and many areas of the planet facing serious droughts.

However, these processes (reverse osmosis and distillation) takes up a lot of resources and requires a lot of energy, time, and money. It can also end up harming or killing our ocean life. It is a lot more expensive than just turning to our freshwater resources, but there are still companies trying to find their way around this issue. There are corporations looking to help sustain our environment. Forbes publishes the top sustainable companies.

Sources:

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/sanitationbreaking-down-more-than-you-think/

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/water-is-only-part-of-the-solution/

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/is-desalination-the-answer-to-water-shortages/

http://www.charitywater.org/projects/solutions/

http://www.charitywater.org/projects/approach/

http://www.charitywater.org/whywater/

https://www.unglobalcompact.org/take-action/action/water-stewardship-journey

https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/our-work/environment/water

https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/mission

https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/our-work/industry-associations

http://sustainablewash.org/sustainability-stars

Wasteful One-Use-Only Products

September 9, 2015September 1, 2016Leave a comment

When I went to go collect the pieces for my assignment today, I had not realized that the goal was to collect only plastic waste. Instead I ended up trying to clean the square block around my dorm as much as possible. Along the way I realized how much people just chuck and toss away. People had finished consuming the product the containers originally held, so compost wise, they had not wasted a bite. However, once they used that beverage or that food to the most of what could benefit them, they don’t think much about how much they still wasted the containers. These materials that could have been repurposed for something else are now thrown on the streets and sidewalks.

A majority of the items I was able to recycle, because I had collected a bunch of newspapers, bottles, containers, aluminum. Yet, there were still objects that wasn’t as easily disposed of such as batteries, styrofoam, food, and cigarettes. I placed what was recyclable in the recycling chutes outside of my dorm that separated items from paper, plastics, and regular waste.

After researching, I discovered the residential households in NYC is provided with regular curbside and garbage collecting. There are also designated areas throughout the city where city dwellers may dispose of their waste. The only thing residence must do is separate their wastes from their recycling. In The New School dorms, students have trash chutes and recycling rooms on each floor and well as recycling and garbage cans through out each of the university buildings. My home is similar to NYC where we have garbage and recycling collecting on a weekly schedule by the curb of my house,

Many items that I ended up picking up were expected such as cans, bottles, newspapers, and business cards. I think a majority of the things I found, I pretty much expected to find. However, there were some out of the ordinary wastes such as metro cards, car service slip, Listerine packet, plate of fruits, pens, cup of pee, batteries, unopened sauce packets, and patient bracelets. I think most items I found anyone would typically consume as I found mostly take out items for people on the go.

Items I typically consume that are one use are products such as water bottles, detergent bottles, paper, any makeup product containers, boxes of tea bags, plastic bags, produce bags, menstrual products, Ziploc bags, batteries, in cartridges, and paper towels.

I think after this project I started to realize how much we throw away items without really thinking about how much we are really consuming. The other day I was cleaning my bathroom and I am now realizing how many paper towels I had wasted. In stead of using one on a spot to clean, I would use three. Reducing our consumption can really help reduce the amount we scrap. I think the easiest part in my life to save on would be cleaning products, supplies, beauty products, and food

Learning Locally

September 8, 2015September 1, 2016Leave a comment

Last Friday during Sustainable Systems, the class objective was to find a few items and categorize them under the following: our favorite food/plant, a food we have never tried before, and a food/plant we have never even heard of. I walk by the farmer’s market almost everyday when I go to school. I even walked through the market a few times by myself. For some reason this time it was different.

Usually when I go I just browse and breeze pass the items vendors are selling without really thinking much about it. Maybe because this time I had a task at hand I found myself more indulged in getting to know what the market had to offer. This time I really appreciated each item and jumped from stand to stand, excited to see what I could find. Suddenly, I was wishing for more time to try some new items as well as some familiar ones. I think the limited time even made me appreciate what was there even more.

I love raspberries. They reminded me of when I was younger and used to dip them in syrup every night.

My favorite plant became a Sunflower ever since I worked on a painting project with them during my senior year of high school.

It’s funny how sometimes something you never even heard of can easily become one of your new favorite things. I don’t remember what this flower is, but it reminds of very whimsical events.

There are so many types of variations for lettuce I have never heard of before, including the Mesclun Bouquet.

I have heard of people eating ostrich before, but I don’t think I am planning on trying it anytime soon. Although it did look interesting and I was so surprised when I saw the eggs being sold.

Amanda Wu

Parsons Portfolio

Tag: Sustainable Systems