Saving the Planet One Plastic Bag at a Time

Many may remember last year's aluminum can drive held by members of the Warren Art Building. This year a new campaign has been set in motion, collecting plastic bags in honor of Earth Day on April 22nd. Last year's project started out when Professor Kenneth Morton of the Chemistry Department suggested constructing an exhibit that would demonstrate the amount of CO2 the world uses. Thus began the process of careful consideration as to what would be the most efficient way to go about the project. In the end Julie Rabun, Associate Professor of Art, with help from other individuals such as Susan Karr, professor of Biology, started collecting aluminum cans that were made into an exhibit and later recycled.

The idea to do another project this year came about when Ms. Rabun considered that the freshman in her "Intro to Liberal Arts" class would need required service hours to complete the class. In addition Ms. Rabun teaches a 400 level class called "Visual Communication Center," the class responsible for the Ampersand Literary Journal and other similar materials.

"These two classes working together on this year's project would be a great way to promote awareness and make people think (about recycling)," said Rabun.

According to Rabun, last year the project "went over well (but it was) very labor intensive." It was decided that collecting plastic bags would require less cleaning, and thus would be a less labor intensive way to again accomplish their goal. Rabun said the idea of the project is to "not only to promote awareness, but get students involved and learning about problems associated with plastic bags."

Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year. And, according to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year."

The plan for right now is to set up an exhibit in front of the columns by the Warren Art Building using the plastic bags and dental floss to hold them together. "We have a lot of ideas of what the instillation will look like" said Rabun. But the exact design for the exhibit will remain somewhat of a mystery until closer to time.

Rabun hopes the exhibit will not only touch the hearts of students on campus, but will also get the word out to the surrounding community about the harm of plastic bags in landfills. She points out that it takes hundreds of years in a landfill for non- biodegradable (bags) to break down. Additionally, she pointed to the harm to animals ingesting the plastic bags as they break down.

"Students learn better by being actively involved," stated Rabun.

She hopes this activity will help instill a desire to recycle, as well as build students' confidence about participating in these kinds of services in the future.

Stephanye Gay, a student in the Visual Communication Center class that will be participating, said, "It is exciting to do something that gets the campus involved." She recalled the car that was put on display on Henderson Lawn last year during "Alcohol Awareness Week. She hopes this display can draw the same level of curiosity and attention from students.

"For me as an artist, it's really cool to do a full instillation. (It's) not an opportunity that comes up very often," said Gay.

The Warren Art Building will be collecting bags at least through March.

"This project is different than the average service opportunity.it really explores the topic of recycling in a very different way," said Rabun.