Lorelei Huff, Georgia Military College,
Early Education & Artist
Artist's Statement
Creating work that brings attention to the misuse and waste in our every day lives is important in creating change in our culture. Most my work is out of the personal desire to reuse, recycle, and repurpose items in my everyday life. Some work is work such as this Green Goddess work of repurposed 'trash' and one use bags to show the amount of consumption in the average American's daily life so that change can occur. "Approximately 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year. That’s more than 1,200 bags per US resident, per year... An estimated 12 million barrels of oil is required to make that many plastic bags..." and "Only 1 to 2% of plastic bags in the USA end up getting recycled." Envirosax.
Plastic Bag Statistics -
Solutions -
- The average family accumulates 60 plastic bags in only four trips to the grocery store
- Over 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year worldwide
- According to Algalita Marine Research Foundation, these plastic bags cause the death of many marine animals (fish, sea turtles, etc.), every year when animals mistake them for food
- The U.S. goes through 100 billion single-use plastic bags
- Plastic bags are the second-most common type of ocean refuse
- Every square mile of ocean has about 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in it
- Plastic bags remain toxic even after they break down
Solutions -
- Switching to reusable bags carried to the store could significantly impact the amount of plastic used daily, weekly, and yearly
- The solution is not switching to paper bags or compostable plastic bags. A study on the life cycle of three types of disposable bags (single-use plastic, paper, and compostable plastic) showed that both compostable plastic and paper bags require more material per bag in the manufacturing process. This means "higher consumption of raw materials in the manufacture of the bags...[and] greater energy in bag manufacturing and greater fuel use in the transport of the finished product. ...The added requirements of manufacturing energy and transport for the compostable and paper bag systems far exceed the raw material use in the standard plastic bag system." (from a peer reviewed Boustead Consulting & Associates report)
Short Bio
Lorelei Huff was introduced to Earth Day during an Earth Day Celebration in elementary school at South Side Elementary School, Johnson City, Tennessee. Around 3rd grade Lorelei began encouraging and educating her family about recycling and being earth friendly. Over the years Lorelei became a vegetarian for many reasons including helping the environment; she increased the amount of recycling and reusing in her life; and she learned to upcycle in artwork for environmental advocacy. Lorelei lives her life as sustainable as possible while working to increase environmental awareness through her actions, petitions, education, and art projects. Lorelei will be graduating from GMC in July and then continuing on to her four year degree.