Sculptures, Moving Globe Displays and Other Earth Day Highlights

Did you see the earth move at one of over 40 unique Earth Day events organized by Great Forest this year? It was just our latest creation – a moving, mechanical globe display, which wowed people at two locations.

We made many other big green statements with our signature, attention-getting sculptures constructed out of discarded disposable cups, plastic bottles and cardboard.  Here are some highlights:

Earth-shaped Moving Display

Working with engineers from two buildings over a period of five days, Great Forest consultant Sandra Robishaw constructed two animated globe displays, each complete with a mechanical moving arm “placing” different types of paper into a recycling bin. Watch the VIDEO:

Recycling Globe
Earth-shaped moving display

“We wanted to get the message across that all sorts of paper could be recycled and this display definitely did the trick. People noticed the moving arm. They took lots of pictures and asked many questions.  And that is the purpose of this display. We need to wow people to pull them into the message,” says Robishaw.

Animated Earth The engineers built the model based on Robishaw’s design. It had a core of wood, wrapped with wire mesh and covered with paper mache that Robishaw painted and decorated.

“The property manager insisted that the globe be geographically correct because there were many people working in the building from around the world,” recalls Robishaw. “So I made sure all the continents and oceans were correctly depicted. And I added a smiling face.”

disposable cup structureDisposable Cup Sculpture

How many disposable cups do you send to the landfill each year? Great Forest’s disposable cup sculpture shows you, complete with “To Landfill” gift tags.

 

 

 

 

Kids Workshop

For the first time, Great Forest organized an event for the littlest environmentalists. The hands-on workshop at a 32-story residential building near Times Square attracted children from ages  three to 11. Great Forest consultant consultant Caroline Hazarian led the group on an educational discovery of the life cycle and parts of a plant, and watched over as the children decorated their compostable flower pots. Each child went home with a decorated pot and a planted seed of their choice – most of the children chose daisies and zinnias; only one child selected an herb to plant. The event was a rousing success with the building’s residents!

 Plastic Bottle Tree

In Virginia, Great Forest consultants constructed a “tree”made out of 250 discarded plastic bottles to highlight the large number of bottles that were not being recycled at the seven-building office complex. An earlier waste audit had revealed the vast extent of the problem – Great Forest consultants found enough plastic bottles in the complex’s waste stream to create over 200 bottle trees.

 

 

 

E-Waste Drive

In the Washington D.C. region, Great Forest consultants organized an e-waste collection drive in 24 buildings, partnering with the only R2 certified responsible recycling vendor in the district. This guarantees that the e-waste collected would be properly recycled instead of being exported or sent to a landfill.

Earth Day 2012

Cardboard Tower

Great Forest consultants also recreated several versions of our original cardboard tower made out of cafeteria trays. The latest structures were built with over 600 trays that were discarded (and headed for the landfill) instead of being recycled. The towers literally illustrate the height of waste.

 

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