Sunday, April 22, 2018

Environment - EARTH DAY

Plastic is everywhere. It sits in our landfills, fills our oceans, and threatens wildlife and plant species. It can be overwhelming to think about. Here is ONE simple thing we can all do - ditch polyester clothing and switch to natural fibers.

This isn't to say that growing and manufacturing natural fibers isn't fraught with its own environmental issues such as increased water usage with for example, cotton plants. Changes in theses industries does need to be more widespread to safeguard the environment. And as you can see with this example alone, there will be ecologically responsible and irresponsible companies. Everything is connected.

But for the moment, let's focus on PLASTICS. As a consumer, we have a powerful voice. Asking for, and supporting the natural fiber industry, and more specifically eco responsible farmers, manufacturers, designers and retailers, will help to reduce the use of polyester, a plastic fiber. Plastic material we know takes years to break down and, as it does, presents even more of a threat to plants, animals and us as it enters our food chain. And, with even smaller pieces of plastic entering our environment, it becomes more difficult to clean up. Switching to natural fibers for our clothing, bedding and other home textile goods is a great start. Examples of natural fibers include: cotton, hemp (yes, from the cannibus family, but with a chemical makeup different from marijuana cannibus), linen (made from flax plant fibers), and bamboo. These fabrics are available, and will become more so if you as a consumer opt to buy products made with natural fibers.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Morgan Book Project

This year the Morgan Book Project has expanded! Students from grades 3-12 participate, there are more schools, more books to judge and more judges.
As always, the books are quite wonderful. Subjects align with common core curriculum.

The books are judged on art, writing and technical skill.

Some of the subject matter can be quite moving such as in this example where the student was writing about coming to this country as a new immigrant.
This year the final 12 books plus the Director's Choice award will be on exhibit for one month (previously 2 weeks). The special awards will be announced at the award ceremony on May 11 and will be posted online.

Congratulations to ALL the participants. Your extraordinary work made it enormously difficult to decide on only 12.

Thank you to everyone at the Museum for making this possible and especially to Jennifer for hosting us and keeping us on track.

To see the books on exhibit, visit The Morgan Library and Museum.

You can view previous posts about this program by searching my blog.

UPDATE: Link to the Special Awards on view at the library in May