We are...Conservation of Resources and Alternative Energies

My group, consisting of me, Dane, Michael, and Bayley, did our project on the conservation of resources and alternative energies, or the "green" movement. This movement really started in the early 70's and has only gotten more relevant since then. One of the first events to raise awareness was the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. This alerted politicians of the danger of polluting the earth and started what is now a worldwide movement to lessen our footprint on the Earth we live.

We included a variety of items on our box that all have to do with the common theme. Just a few things that we found were a "green" brochure from Patagonia, some cardboard boxes with "Made in California" written on them, a Piazzas reusable grocery bag, and a bird that we covered in black paint to represent oil. Michael found the brochure while shopping in Seattle, which confirms that anything can be found anywhere and that you must keep your eyes peeled at all times for anything related to your topic. This is especially true with our topic because earth-friendly products are so plentiful. For example, Dane and I just found the two cardboard boxes with "made in California" written on them while walking through Piazzas shopping for organic cereal. We only had to ask the nice clerks if we could take them, and they agreed when we told them it was for a project. Lastly, Dane found the parrot at Diddums, a store with a great variety of party and miscellaneous items. We figured that we could use the bird to represent the 500,000 birds and various other sea creatures that died in the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The black paint shows how the birds' movement would be restricted if fully covered in oil.

I learned a lot about the green movement and alternative energies through the course of this project. I would never have guessed that Earth Day has been going since 1970 or that the Exxon Valdez is still in service over 30 after the tragic incident. My group agreed that a good piece of advice for the next generation of students is to start looking and finding items as soon as possible because it is not possible to find specific items with only one week left until the due date. However, if you know what you are supposed to be looking for then you can just find items during your daily life which makes this project infinitely easier.

-Greg