Welcome to Earth Day Carol

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Earth Day Carol is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. In the dynamic free app version, Plastic Bottle Scrooge is visited by the ghosts Plastic Past, Plastic Present, and Plastic Future. The app was developed by a diverse group of creators, Torran Anderson, Jack Hunter, Michelle Parker-Rock and Evan Fram, all volunteers, who found a unique way to communicate the important message of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. For ongoing information visit this website www.EarthDayCarol.org often and join us in an Earth Day adventure. Contact us at info@earthdaycarol.org.

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Recycled Art from Lulu Walker Elementary–Plastic Bottle Scrooge

Thank you to Caroline Rondeau at Lulu Walker Elementary for sharing her great Earth Day art project with us. Caroline is a special education teacher who read Earth Day Carol with her 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. After reading the story she shared some of the factoids about plastic and recycling with her students. Then the students made their own Scrooge bottles from old water bottles–they made a face on it and included three or four factoids.

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Earth Day Art from Lourdes Catholic School

We love hearing how you celebrated Earth Day! Thank you to Lucy Bigelow and her 5th Grade class at Lourdes Catholic School in Nogales, AZ for sharing their Earth Day art.

Here’s the the assignment Lucy Bigelow gave her class:

Art/Science Project: Earth Day Art
Create an Art Project using recycled items that you would normally throw away. The themes are: “Earth Day Carol,” “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” or “What the Earth means to me.” We will submit pictures of the art work to the Earth Day Carol website. You can watch the Earth Day Carol on YouTube or download the free app: Earth Day Carol. And remember to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!

Here are the students’ recycled artwork:

Earth Day Carol by Juan Carlos Ruiz 5

Earth Day Carol by Juan Carlos Ruiz

 

 

 

 

 

Earth Day Scene 2a by Diego Canett

 

 

Earth Day Scene by Diego Canett

 

 

 

Earth Day Carol by Juan Carlos Ruiz 2

 

 

Earth Day Carol by Juan Carlos Ruiz

 

 

 

 

 

Robot by Zarina Gonzalez

 

Robot by Zarina Gonzalez

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robot by Julian Rivas

 

Robot by Julian Rivas

 

 

 

 

 

 

Re-clock by Maria F. Zaied

 

 

Re-clock by Maria F. Zaied

 

 

 

 

 

LA Hat by David Quezada

 

LA Hat by David Quezada

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can Plane by Carolina Pesqueira

 

Can Plane by Carolina Pesqueira

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bird Feeder by Ximena Parra

 

Bird Feeder by Ximena Parra

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 little guys by Jose Ramon, Fernanda, and Hector

 

3 little guys by Jose Ramon, Fernanda, and Hector

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s what the students’ wrote about there projects:

Electrobot by Julian Rivas
The title of my robot is Electrobot, and his name is “Patricia”. Well, I made it with 16 pieces, like caps, cereal boxes, and water bottles. So, I used the bottles for arms and legs, and the boxes for the arms, head and stomach. I used the caps for eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Something that inspired was that because everybody is throwing plastic away, and well, I wanted to reuse it.

The Re-clock by Maria F. Zaied
I made a clock made out of the top of a plastic box. I did it because I thought that it would be very creative to do it. The numbers of the clock are made of trash cut into numbers. But the best part of my project is that it works! It really tells the time, and I could hang it in my house and we would be inspired to reuse, reduce, and recycle.

Surfer by Sebastian Armenta (pictured under “Roboter”)
I made a surfer with straws, parts of a soda can, aluminum paper, and carton. I made Surfer, because I like to play at the beach, but I do not know how to surf. But when I go to the beach, they are going to give me surfing lessons. I like Surfer because he is really cool, and he is the best surfer of Hawaii, in the huge waves.

Scrooge and Styrofoam by Juan Carlos Ruiz
What inspired me was that the 2nd scene was the first ghost in the movie and it’s my favorite one. I used a to-go container, scissors, three bottles, the plastic bags, and a cup and tape.

Bird Feeder by Ximena Parra
I made a bird feeder because in my house a lot of birds fly. I got an orange juice bottle and I cut a circle in the middle. Then I cut the other side and then I made a little hole on both sides and I put a wooden spoon in it. I poured the food and I made a hole on top of the lid. Then I printed some pictures and glued them to the bottle. And that’s how I made my bird feeder.

Ghostly Night by Diego Canett
I recycled a cereal box, water bottle, broken glass, a plastic bag, and some poster board. I got the idea from Earth Day Carol when the ghost of plastic present visited Plastic Bottle Scrooge.

Can Plane by Carolina Pesqueira
I got inspired to make an airplane by a man who I saw across the border selling these huge can airplanes. Since my mom drinks a lot of soda, we had cans all over the house, so I thought, why not use the cans and make a plane.

LA Hat by David Quezada
I made a hat. It is made with an ice-cream bucket, a feather, a bed sheet, and some rope. I can’t take all the credit because my grandmother helped me.

Roboter by Zarina Gonzalez
I called my robot the Roboter. I used 21 things to make “Roboter”. I used 2 boxes to make the head and the belly. The belly opens and has a lot of structures working. I used 2 light bulbs  for the eyes. I used the ink of the printer for the legs. I used a broken hose for the arms and a stick for the mouth. It inspired me because I thought it would be cool and creative making a robot with only recycled things!

Soda Jewelry by Annette Garcia (not pictured)
I made some bracelets and a belt made out of old ribbon and a used shoe lace. I also used some soda can lids to add so it wouldn’t look so boring. I thought it was pretty cool! I really liked finding old things and turning them into something else!

 

 

 

We’d love to see your photographs and hear your updates of how you used Earth Day Carol with your students. Contact us at: info@earthdaycarol.org

Greenkus: Haikus for Earth Day

One of the Earth Day activity ideas in our For Teacher section is to write haikus with students. Here are some examples I put together:

 

inside the landfill
there’s nothing to do but wait
–trash reminiscing

 

our plastic bottles
buried alive with caps on
dreaming of sunlight

 

decomposing peel
amongst friends in the compost
with wet wiggling worms

 

the plastic fork says:
“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
for the planet—Please!”
Torran

Have some Greenkus for Earth Day you want to share? Send them to us at: info@earthdaycarol.org

We’d love to know how you celebrated Earth Day this year!

Making Art Out of Trash

Looking for an Earth Day activity to do with students on Monday? Visit the For Teachers page to get ideas about how to use Earth Day Carol in the classroom.

Creating recycled art is a fun project for students of all ages. Textile artist Elizabeth Fram has an amazing Recycled Art page showing how she created a scene from the story using items she found around the house.  You can see how she turned this:

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Into this:

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Earth Day Carol in The Progressive

 

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http://progressive.org/

Thank you very much to The Progressive for featuring the Earth Day Carol app on the bottom right-hand corner of their web-pages. We appreciate your support for the project!

Earth Day is on Monday and we want to share this free app with as many people as possible. We’d love it if you posted Earth Day Carol on your website/Facebook page or sent it to interested groups. Here’s a blurb you can use to help spread the word about Scrooge’s Earth Day Adventure:

Free app for Earth Day (April 22nd)
Earth Day Carol is a green retelling of Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol with a Plastic Bottle Scrooge being visited by the ghosts Plastic Past, Plastic Present, and Plastic Future.  This environmental resource explores Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, through animation, pop-up factoids, and a narration by actress Janet Varney (The voice of Korra on Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra).
 
Download Earth Day Carol for free at:
 
Apple devices:
 
Android (Google Play):
 
Kindle Fire (Amazon):
 
Nook devices:
 
To see the illustrated story visit: http://earthdaycarol.org/?page_id=293

App Narration by Janet Varney

Thank you to Janet Varney for the hilarious new narration on the app. Janet recorded the narration and it was edited by Jon Rustad at Famous Bakery Music.

Janet Varney’s cornucopia of fun showbiz stuff spans the spectrum, from nearly winning Ken Marino’s heart in the Ben Stiller-produced series, “Burning Love,” to producing and hosting the popular weekly Nerdist podcast, “The JV Club,” to hosting and producing stories for the Huffington Post’s streaming network, HuffPost Live. Janet co-founded the SF Sketchfest that, during each January/February of the past 12 years, has made San Francisco a comedy mecca. Janet’s voice spends its spare time in Republic City, where, as Korra in Nickelodeon’s immensely popular series, “The Legend of Korra,” she’s been reluctantly learning to airbend. janetvarney.com

 

 

Recycled Fabric Art by Maitri Sojourner

Maitri Sojourner shared that “recycled art is near and dear to my heart, as I use recycled fabrics in my art,  and have been a recycler since my college years.”  Maitri purchases clothing at thrift stores and garage sales to cut up for her art, and has used discontinued sample books from upholstery stores.  Maitri’s friends also sleuth out unusual fabrics for her.  A friend recently gave her a beautiful royal blue silk robe that cost just $3 at a local thrift shop–Maitri is busy turning it into sky!  Maitri draws out her design on paper—rather like a cartoon, then transfers the shapes onto fabric, backs each piece with a double-sided heat-sensitive adhesive (available  by the yard from fabric stores), and adheres the piece to either paper or fabric.   Maitri says, “It’s fun to repurpose items—it’s a bit like a treasure hunt–and it’s just the right thing to do—REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE!!!”2012-10-11 15.10.071--Once There Was A Potter-e-mail size

Maitri splits her time between the Pacific Northwest in Washington and Oro Valley in Arizona. Read her artist statement in the About section. She can be reached at maitrisojourner@comcast.net