BIOPHILIA
The Biophilia Canvas Bag Series was a public project that spearheaded the development of Big Sustainable Salad. In an effort to engage communities in simple acts of sustainability the biophilia bags were distributed free of charge to 200 people throughout Brooklyn andvQueens, NY. These uniquely designed bags were intended to spark interest in new shopping habits among their recipients and serve as a public message with their eco-vocab.
BIOPHILIA: Love of life or living systems
Bags are designed and hand printed by Jonathan Potts. To see more of his work please visit jonpotts.com
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CANVAS BAG PROJECT/ NEW COLLECTIVE
New Collective is the vision for a network of students who areVdedicated to exploring their community and surrounding environment. The goal of this network is to create and promote community-based projects that emphasize building environmental stewardship and making collective change. New Collective made its first appearance at the Baccalaureate School for Global Education in Long Island City, Queens in the winter of 2007. Students joined to talk about issues of waste, effective ways to stimulate community change and how art can communicate these issues through a workshop series called The Canvas Bag Project.
The Canvas Bag Project focused on the use of shopping bags and their easy reusable alternative: the canvas bag. The workshops were designed to foster a safe space, learning environment that provided access to information and room for dialogue. They also taught the technique of block printing as a hands-on way to put the student’s ideas into action. After students spent time exploring waste in their community and abroad they created an image to expresses their relationship to shopping bag consumption and used their newly acquired printmaking skills to design their very own canvas bag.
In the end the students gained a new understanding of waste and its repercussions on the environment. They also left with a personalized canvas bag that promotes the use of reusable bags and can be shared with family and friends as a learning tool.
If you would like to implement The Canvas Bag Project in your school or youth program please send an email of inquiry to info@bigsustainablesalad.org
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C4ED
In an effort to improve access to climate change information andvengage more communities in work towards securing a sustainable future I have designed the Community Center for Climate Change Education or C4ED. Currently C4ED functions as an idea to be borrowed by communities looking to start something similar. In the mean time I am also applying for grants to set up the first C4ED physically in a community space.
Idea: Community Center for Climate Change Education (C4ED)
Climate change solutions might be said to only be as valuable as the communities that foster their value and work to make them happen. These same communities have the right and the need for climate change education. Currently there is no US government program that actively informs its people of the realities of climate change and how we, today, can make a difference in our own community. Every community needs to acknowledge this challenge and opportunity. C4ED, a model that can be used by any community, can address such challenges and opportunity and provide the support needed to achieve solutions.
What is C4ED?
C4ED is a community driven space that provides access to climate change related information and tools for action. It has on-hand educators and community volunteers representing local issues and initiatives; a lending library dedicated to climate change and community development related readings; a computer lab for research; the development of a community driven topographical map aimed to increase physical and social awareness of the community; and lectures and workshops provided by local politicians, businesses, nonprofit organizations and education institutes.
Goals:
C4ED intends to meet the following goals 1) provide access to information and the tools necessary to address climate change related issues in any community, 2) engage communities in an economic development project with the implementation of C4ED and 3) serve as a model for other communities who wish to connect with each other and investigate what their community needs from them in order to lead a more sustainable future.
Model:
As a model, C4ED provides the basic tools and approaches to sharing climate change related information within any community. These tools consist of: a plan for leveraging space in your community to implement C4ED, development of a lending library and computer lab, ensuring access to professionals and climate change experts, and the development and implementation of a community outreach plan. Each C4ED will manifest itself differently. Some may find that they occupy a vacant storefront, encouraging more people to walk down the block bringing new life to that part of the community, while others may set up in a local school. C4ED’s may also want to address several different community issues. Some examples of these might include starting a local foods program to promote healthier eating and sustainable agriculture, restoring local wetlands or providing workshops on energy saving tips for the home and office. Every community has a climate change related issue that stands out from the rest and the C4ED model will not only help define that issue, but will also prepare a community for acting on it and having the power to make and see a difference.
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THE BLAME GAME
If you were told that the world would end tomorrow who would you blame?
This project sought to give people an opportunity to try and answer an unanswerable question and spend time thinking about where they as an individual, or community, factor into such large equations.
The Blame Game was a public installation for social experimentation at the 2008 Dumb Arts Under the Bridge Festival in Brooklyn, NY. Participants were invited into a “voting booth” protected from natural light where on a small desk the difficult question was inscribed on a plaque and a piece of paper asked for their answer. The enclosed booth was intended to create a private, contemplative environment in which you could choose to spend as much time as needed inside to “place the blame”.
Over the course of six hours 193 individuals visited the booth and gave me their answer anonymously. Once outside the booth the responses varied from people eager to know more about what I thought the answer should be to those who found it to be an introspective exercise of thought.
My ultimate goal for this project was to engage people in thoughts around our planet’s future and where they as individuals and whole communities fit into that equation. The answers were extremely broad (not to mention interesting) and I hope to hold an exhibition of these in the near future.
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