Waste within Parsons "first year" program

1. time and composition

1.1. most of this class was focused on digital tools such as adobe premiere and in design

1.2. one project required to design and print a book, this included multiple drafts and resulted in wasted paper

1.3. estimated price of material for this class: $10

2. studio

2.1. this class resulted in multiple projects based heavily on material. many prototypes were made.

2.2. students were required to do site specific installations, this resulted in lots of material being left out side and littered.

2.3. estimated price of material for this class: $150

3. seminar

3.1. this class was focused on writing, however teacher did require papers to be printed upon submission

3.2. estimated price of material for this class: $5

4. objects as history

4.1. this class did not require material objects or physical projects to be made

4.2. papers and responses for this class had to be submitted on paper

4.3. estimated price of material for this class: $5

5. Why are required material provided to students? why do students have to pay out of pocket

6. space and materiality

6.1. spent 3 weeks " prototyping cardboard. this material is intended to be sustainable but the sheer amount of it that this course requires is unrealistic because most students live in a dorm room and don't have access to store all their used cardboard/ are not buying many things. people resort to buying cardboard for this class because it is cheaper than buying product that uses cardboard packaging

6.2. students are required to buy at least 3 sheets of plexiglass, this material is not environmentally sustainable and is very expensive, students then cut up plexiglass into small pieces to use for projects, and therefor the plexiglass is hard to reuse and is discarded.

6.3. students are required to buy metal sheets and metal wire to use, this metal is often cut wrong or bent too much and is discarded.

6.4. students are required to make a chair out of wood, large pieces of wood were required, this is hard to find pre-used as a student and students don't have space to store such large pieces of wood in dorm. Wood is purchased cheaply from home depo and used to create very abstract chairs that will most likely never been used

6.5. materials were not provided by school, students pay out of pocket

6.6. Students spend money to buy very specific materials that they would not otherwise use. as a art history major, I was required to take this building class even though I will not use these skills later in my practice nor will I be reuses these materials for future projects

6.7. as students, we typically live in small dorms and don't own cars. the materials and projects for this course are not easily stored in our dorms or transported, meaning that most projects are discarded

6.8. estimated price of material for this class: $300

7. drawing and imaging

7.1. Students are asked to acquire large books of paper, paper is all different types and sized. students are asked to buy glue, rulers, pencils (not standard pencils) pens, charcoal and more. 90% of the paper I purchased for this class was never used. paper was often filled or cut up and therefore could not be re used. past drawings were discarded, and old drawing sketchpads were discarded due to lack of storage space in dorm room.

7.2. materials were not provided by school, students pay out of pocket

7.3. half the course was focused on digital design on photoshop and illustrator

7.4. lots of paper is wasted, materials are expensive

7.5. estimated price of material for this class: $150

8. sustainable systems

8.1. this class focused on the environmental impacts of design and systems

8.2. most materials used in this course were environmentally friendly and encouraged sustainability

8.3. these projects were not great for dorm rooms, such as growing mold, making kombucha, and using natural dyes in shared laundry rooms. this meant that although students were taught about sustainable options, they were not very accessible for shared dorm rooms and therefor students were not eager to continued the practices

8.4. students had to pay for all the materials and projects, such as kombucha, mold, and dyes

8.5. estimated price of material for this class: $200

9. photography elective

9.1. students were required to buy lots of film and paper, lots of projects were trial and error, so film and prints were waisted.

9.2. chemicals used for development process are environmentally harmful

9.3. material for this class was extremely wasteful

9.4. estimated price of material for this class: $350

10. Why are students required to take building and drawing specific courses if it does not relate to their majors? students are wasting money and materials on projects that are ultimately unnecessary