New York is dirty, there is trash everywhere on the streets, it constantly smells like fumes, and people are stubborn. All of these New York factors have somehow made me even more environmentally conscious throughout the years. The fact that so many of these issues are prominent around us in our daily lives should make us feel the urgency to act upon cleaning up our surroundings: or at least slow down its pollution.
My idea for the final project is to teach people small steps to becoming eco-friendly in an urban environment such as New York. I’ve noticed that a lot of people do want to be “green” but think they either do not have the tools, the knowledge, or the up-bringing to do so. For instance, many were not taught to recycle as children and still do not know how to go about starting, so instead this is something they just ignore.
To help these people, and to make their lives easier I would like to create a series of quick videos demonstrating simple household tricks for those interested in helping the environment just by making a couple of small changes in their lifestyle. I want to stress that every seemingly minor action can have an enormous effect on the larger picture of cleaning our environment if we all learn to incorporate eco-friendly actions into our daily life.
Brief Outline:
1. Account of the state of the environment in NYC to give people an idea of the magnitude of pollution. T his will help raise awareness and show people the facts.
2. Create social media channels (YouTube, Instagram) where I will post “tips” photos and videos.
3. Find people to get involved and test out my project to see if it is a valuable technique that people enjoy. I was really inspired by Madison Love’s project from last year and how she managed to get people to test out her thesis. I’d like to do something similarly along those lines and document people’s reactions.
4.Video ideas:
- Introduction: Facts
- Theme 1: Water
- Theme 2: Trash
- Theme 3: Food
- Theme 4: Energy
- Conclusion: Reactions