How Pac-Man Can Teach Sustainability

This past weekend, I found myself wandering around Boston at 1am in the rain with some of my friends searching for a dry coffee shop to duck into, (A rather long story involving some misinformation about the open hours of a certain place). It wasn't a complete loss, however, because while we were out we happened upon some very intriguing sculptures.

It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the spheres are actually models of the globe, with powerful images painted on them.

 

The can in the upper left-hand corner represents the chemicals and pollution we dump into our oceans.
(My interpretation of the Pac-Man and other video game characters is that
the video game consoles were very toxic to the environment
when they were disposed of).

 

I apologize for the poor photo quality, these were taken on my phone, and the glare from all of the surrounding lights was horrendous.

Stumbling upon this reminded me of a discussion I had in my Eco-rep class last week about how the arts can be so influential in revolutionary movements. They can be used to our advantage to help advocate causes like learning about climate change and pollution, in a very unique and eye-catching way. Everyone who looks at this sculpture is free to interpret its message in their own way, which makes it more effective because they're coming to their own conclusion rather than being told what's happening and what to think about it.

I got to thinking about how even by being creative, I can do something to make a difference in this movement. A new goal that I have from this experience is to create some artwork portraying the harm being done to our planet.

To Recycle or Not to Recycle?

Confession: I'm addicted to Chobani Greek yogurt.

And as a person trying to reduce her impact on the environment, I always recycle the plastic containers that my yogurt comes in. However, I came across something recently that shocked me; sometimes recycling certain things can be more harmful than just throwing them away. How is this possible? Isn't it better to reuse things than to put them in a landfill where they won't decompose for thousands of years? Rachel Cernansky explains this seemingly absurd statement in her article, "When Recycling is Bad for the Environment."

Does this mean that even recycling is a lost cause? Of course not, it just means that it is crucial to be educated about the process so that what gets recycled is actually helpful, not harmful, to the planet.

In fact, Cernansky points out that our current level of recycling is as helpful as removing 39.6 million cars from the road. But that number can easily be much higher if more information about recycling plastics is offered to people. What makes the recycling of plastic much more challenging than recycling glass, metal, and paper is the inconsistency of its make-up. Different types of plastic contain different additives, so they cannot all be melted down together to make new material. Companies put a number on the plastic container, usually inside the 3-arrow recycle symbol, depending on which type of plastic it is. For example, water and soda bottles are plastic #1, whereas milk jugs are plastic #2.

 I had never realized there was so much more to it than just throwing all plastics in the recycling bin in order to help the environment; learning about the different types and whether or not they can be recycled in my area is crucial, or else I may have kept causing more harm than good.

Starting Small (But better than not at all!)

In my blog, I plan to share information about living sustainably. Some of it will be information that I research, and some will be ideas and things I come upon on my own, or learn about in an Eco-rep class I have at college. I'm all about finding little things I can change in my habits towards more environmentally friendly ways, and if you think it's something that you're willing to try too - go for it - that's the goal! This will be a sort of log of my self-improvement through more sustainable habit changes.

I personally started small - by vowing to turn off the power strip in my room when I'm not using it and when I sleep. Ever heard of vampire power? Despite the fact that the term sounds cool, it's actually the sucking of energy into cords and gadgets plugged into outlets, even when they're done charging or not being used. In Nathan Chandler's article, "How Smart Power Strips Work," he mentions that on average, power strips cause between 5 and 10 percent of the energy consumption in households! As long as they're turned on, they are drawing energy, and sending that lovely electric bill up higher.

So my phone charger, coffee maker, and desk lamp which seem so innocent sitting on my desk have been stealthily sucking power all this time...

Forming new habits takes conscious effort, but after a week of pivoting at the door to run back and turn off my power strip, it's started to come naturally. It feels accomplishing to make small changes. And my life isn't being inconvenienced in any way by pressing a button right before leaving my room or going to sleep.

So what goals would you set for yourself?