Cardboard Chair

This week, I decided to research some of the problems that relate to manufacturing cardboard, which is easily the largest municipal solid waste component worldwide. Cardboard is manufactured using pulp, which can only be extracted from trees. Because trees play such a vital art in our environment regulating our oxygen/carbon dioxide levels and maintaining the the rain formation cycle in the world, it makes sense that we should not only attempt to cut down on the amount of cardboard we use but should also attempt to repurpose and reuse the cardboard efficiently and effectively. Since our society relies on cardboard to package and ship products, the only viable solution available to reduce the amount of cardboard would be to find a way to effectively repurpose cardboard. 

 For my project this week, I decided to use some cardboard to create both a functional and aesthetically appealing chair; this unfortunately was an extremely difficult task. For one thing, cutting the cardboard using an xacto knife and scissors was rather difficult since both tools dulled midway through the project and I ended up having to use a saw to cut the remainder of the cardboard and properly fix the minor mishaps that I had made with the knife and scissors. Another problem that I encountered was having the cardboard slabs not properly stick together. Originally, my plan was to use hot glue to stick each of the cardboard pieces together but after realizing that this method was not only ineffective but also extremely time-consuming, I decided to take pieces of string to tie the cardboard bundles together. While this worked without compromising the aesthetics of the project, it was a challenge to make sure that the pieces of cardboard were properly aligned.

 In the future, I intend on finding other items (e.g. paper) to construct recycled art; while the end result was aesthetically appealing and more functional that the previous week's project, I found it far more difficult to construct an art project using cardboard than soda cans since it was more time-consuming to glue and shape.

Can-tastrophe

Recycled Art Project (20 Time Post 2)

 A couple weeks ago, I came across an article revealing that over 10 billion cans have been wasted since the 1970's; rather than recycling cans, most individuals are simply throwing away cans in the trash and causes "cumulative environmental damages" due to the "failure to recycle this metal". Prior to reading this article, I never thought in depth of the importance of recycling aluminum cans due to the large exposure of the importance of recycling water bottles; this provided me with an idea to reduce the amount of aluminum waste by using aluminum cans to create an art project.

  This week, I decided to utilize aluminum cans, bottle caps, and hot glue to create a train figurine. While I was pretty happy with the end result, there were a few setbacks during this process. Due to the absence of an xacto knife, I ended up having to utilize a pair of scissors to cut the cans into various pieces; while this worked effectively, it was a rather time-consuming process. In the near future, I intend on either investing in an xacto knife or using other recycled materials to create a project.

Soda Can Train

20 Time Project (Overview)

  This semester in Anatomy and Physiology, we are implementing 20% of our time in order to pursue a project of our choice to achieve a specific end goal. This project, entitled 20 Time, was originally created by Google to provide employees with the opportunity to create a project regarding his or her interests; this has sparked the creation of Google News and Gmail. 

  After being introduced to the project, I decided that I wanted my project to be environment related; last year, I took APES, and the class exposed me to a plethora of environmental problems including extinction and resource depletion, which made me realize that many of the world's environmental problems stem from producing ample amounts of trash or from being unable to recycle or reuse objects. Combined with my passion for art, I intend on repurposing various materials (e.g. water bottles to an old ladder) into usable objects or an item that may be appealing to look at. 

  Overall, my goal for this project is to persuade other communities where recycling or throwing trash away isn't as prevalent as it is in Saratoga to either recycle or use their unnecessary items to create something or use. To achieve part of this goal, I intend on documenting my process through taking a couple photos of the projects I construct weekly or bi-weekly and providing the steps to create a specific project.