Out of sight, out of mind

The 2014 mid-term elections are over, and at least 62 new members of the U.S. Congress will be taking office on 3 January 2015. Many will be accompanied by new staff, not all of them familiar with science and science policy. Compounding the ambiguity that always comes with new legislators is that the leadership of the Senate has changed from Democratic to Republican. It is as yet unknown where the new leaders and committee chairs will stand on science policy issues, but so far, science has not been declared among the priorities put forward by either party. All of this is taking place just as many of science's long-time legislative champions are retiring. Overall research and development spending has already fallen 16% in inflation-adjusted dollars from fiscal year (FY) 2010 to the FY 2015 budget request. The federal government's investment in science and technology now stands at roughly 0.78% of the economy, the lowest point in 50 years. This is the right time for scientists to introduce themselves to their new legislators, congratulate them on their election, offer their services if needed on policy matters that would benefit from science input, and emphasize the importance of science to the country.


Katarina Goodge
We are now in the era of eco-consciousness being the responsible consumer behavior. We must be diligent and vigilant consumers when making both purchasing and disposal decisions. This work is a message for both the new trend towards recycled plastic fiber products and the plastic bag ban. This swimsuit was made from 25 brown LDPE grocery bags and 50 white LDPE grocery bags. The bags were collected within a mile of being originally used. The bags were not transported anywhere to be recycled. Instead the bags were cut into strips and used as "plarn" to knit this swimsuit. No chemical or thermal processes were needed; only mechanical. By cutting the plastic bags into strips and winding it into yarn, the tensile properties were enhanced, and 100% of the product was able to be reused. This swimsuit is wearable and inherently advantageous for its end use due to its hydrophobicity. This swimsuit is one solution to a wicked problem. One solution will not fix everything, but a million small solutions all custom-tailored to the specific scenario will fix more than we think. Do not mindlessly throw your waste away where it gets shipped off; out of sight, out of mind. Sit with your waste. Get creative with your waste. Do not let your waste leave your sight, find mindfulness through your waste.

Mary Miller (CSG)
Sakiori is the Japanese technique using strips of recycled cotton clothing and scraps to make new fabric. These examples use my own stash of woolen rags and silk scarves from second-hand stores.

Lynda May Xepoleas
Pre-consumer textile waste, recycled invisible zipper, and cotton thread. Collision explores the application of apparel computer aided design software for the upcycling of pre-consumer textile waste, excess fiber, yarn, or fabric generated during the manufacturing of apparel (Hawley, 2006). According to MacQuillen (2011) standard production methods only use about 85% of the fabric bolt, while the other 15% is left on the cutting floor. Compared the upcycling of second-hand clothing, pre-consumer textile waste is quite easy to upcycle because of the volume produced and the consistency of the size or shape of each cut-off. Collision made use of pre-consumer textile waste collected from manufacturers and subcontractors working under the direction of United Dry Goods in Bengaluru, India. Once it was determined how much yardage had been collected, an appropriate trend projected by WGSN for S/S 21 that matched the color story of the textile waste was selected. The patterns for Collision were drafted manually and digitized using the apparel computer aided design software, EFI Optitex. Afterwards, the dimensions of each cut-off were superimposed on top of the digitized pattern pieces to determine how the textile waste should be orientated in order to optimize each cut-off. The file was then used to laser cut each pattern piece and construct the garment.

Sherry Haefele
Alyce Anderson founded and led for many years a sewing group called EAT (Exploring Advanced Techniques). Her creativity in reusing fabric inspired many a class. Under her direction we cut up many worn T Shirts into strips, folded them, and sewed them onto a canvas base to make a colorful rug. It's not insignificant that her daughter Karen Steffy is organizing this show.

Sherry Haefele
Another EAT group project used worn bath towels as a foundation for sewing and flipping strips of fabric to make a bath mat. With batting for insulation, smaller towels and washcloths could become potholders.

Corinna Loeckenhoff
Pillow cover made from fabric scraps acquired at the recent deaccession sale of the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection.

Margaret Dunne Taxidermy by Rachel Rohwer
They say we dress to express ourselves. What if our inner demons were personified through our dress? If we wore our greed, what would it look like?
Our humanity is festering in consumerism.

How much of it is left?
Let's apply our innate revulsion to rats, to humankind. Rats spread disease and live in our filth; they eat our trash. In this time of a pandemic, not only do we also spread disease, people hoard personal care items without considering the health of those who are more at-risk. In the age of fast fashion, we toss our clothing into landfills; we do not consider whose health was sacrificed for increased productivity or whose wages were cut for a lower price.
We need to break the vicious capitalist need for 'progress'. The slope cannot increase indefinitely. This Earth has limited resources. We must consume less and regain our humanity.