Written by Tilde E.
Interviews by Sol. H and Seojin U.
Sustainable with style, is the new mile.
On the Nov. 9, the 10th graders at MIS presented their Personal Project they have been working on over the summer and the last few months at the Personal Project Exhibition in the LADC.
Sustainability has been a growing interest among students at MIS. Walking around and looking at the tenth graders Personal Project Exhibition, different ideas about the future of sustainable style were presented.
Three different projects focused on fashion and the interior design industry, all linking to the idea of using what we already have.
First off, we met Celine S. shares her passion for sustainable clothing and fashion.
“Sustainability is a very important topic in the present-day world,” she said. “I thought it would be interesting to mix my passion in the clothing/fashion industry, along with doing something that would help create positive change.”
Her idea was to create buttons made of bottle caps to reuse materials, as well as speak about trying to follow a circular economy and look at the global contexts to find topics she was interested in.
Photo by Celine S.
Sustainability is a term which grew large in the late 1900s, coming from the Latin word ‘sustinere’ meaning “to sustain” according to research by McGill University. The term started being used when the western countries discovered the effects industrial and economic activities had on the environment. It is now an important term studied in schools and largely explored. The term states that we meet our current needs but with a goal for future generations to meet their needs as well. This means being mindful of what we consume, produce, and spoil.
Some things individuals can do to contribute to a sustainable society is bring awareness to the issue and come up with different solutions, like reducing meat and fish consumption, reusing materials and being mindful of your carbon footprint.
Another thing individuals can do is focus on slow fashion, such as Marie K. did in her Personal Project.
“I learned the concerns of fast fashion in my Individuals and Societies class,” she said.
She and Jessica L. are two other students focusing on sustainability, but delving into fast fashion and sustainable interior design,’ both relating to the environmental effects.
Jessica L. created an artwork representing the different layers of fast fashion; an outer layer showing the positive effect of fashion, the popular trending designs, and the inner side showing the effects on the environment, as well as labour and slavery.
Photo by Jinny U
Focusing more on a solution to pollution, Marie presented her idea of interior design with examples of improvements that could help with sustainability and recycling, as well as a blog with her main ideas and solutions.
Photo by Jinny U.
These three individuals were students who put in a lot of time and work into these projects, taking their time in summer holidays, working in afternoons, and weekends.
‘Everything turned out how I expected’ Celine S. said.
Bibliography:
University of Alberta. “What Is Sustainability?” University of Alberta, 2013.