Last weekend, Healthy Materials Lab participated in the launch of The New School’s Earth Day campaign so we eagerly got to work. Manufacturers of cleaning products pack their products full of toxics that pollute people’s homes, our air, and our water supply so we decided to highlight the dangers of store bought cleaning products and show people how to make their own healthy and cost efficient alternative.
Eve DeAngelis, a research assistant at Healthy Materials Lab put together a video showing the quick and easy recipe for healthy and sustainable bathroom scrub using only baking soda, castile soap and optional essential oils. Here’s the link to the video: https://bit.ly/2JdUd59
With the help of three Parsons students we made one hundred 4-ounce jars with the New School logo on them full of homemade, healthy bathroom scrub as well as all the ingredients, mixing bowls and spoons for people to make their own on the spot. We had Lavender, peppermint, grapefruit and lemon essential oils to add for a personalized touch of aromatherapy.
It was a busy day in Union Square despite the cold weather and the Healthy Materials Lab booth was jam-packed with bundled up New Yorkers, eager to take home a jar or make their own scrub. The turnout was bigger than expected and we had to re-stock a couple times throughout the day, possibly because we were the only booth giving away something for free!
This weekend, The New School launches a unique contest to raise awareness for this upcoming Earth Day on Sunday, April 22nd. For the contest, New Yorkers will be asked via an announcement on the back of 50,000 MTA subway cards; “How would you make New York City more sustainable?”
Representatives from The New School were in Union Square last weekend and will be there again this Sunday handing out MetroCards with two free trips and helping New Yorkers post their sustainability ideas to social media using the hashtag #NewSchoolNewPath. Anyone who doesn’t receive a MetroCard in Union Square this Earth Day can enter the contest via this link on The New School’s website: http://newschool.edu/newpath
The most exciting part of this initiative is that the winner will receive up to 10,000 dollars in funding as well as mentoring and guidance from New School faculty and students to actually realize their sustainability idea! The idea is to reach out to the wider New York community and ask what changes people want to see being made on a social, environmental or cultural level.
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