🥤 Project overview
The Messages from the Mississippi program brought students from five New Orleans area schools to the banks of the Mississippi River in order to study microplastic pollution within local waterways. Using curriculum and tools designed by the Public Lab community, students built their own BabyLegs aquatic trawls to collect microplastic debris and Community Microscopes to examine the impacts of pollution on coastal Louisiana’s ecosystem and human health. Support from the United States Environmental Protection Agency encouraged students and educators to work together to identify alternative waste management practices and solutions for dependency on single-use plastics that they could employ on school campuses and at home in their own communities.
🎨 Artists’ statement
As residents of a city situated near the mouth of the river, we drink the very same fluvial water that once cooled a refinery up river, and transported a boat carrying food inland, fertilized our plants, and provided a habitat for the fish and wildlife of our region. The pollution compounds and is carried downriver, leaving residents of the Gulf Coast to clean up the mess resulting from consumption habits of the rest of the nation. Through their art and writings, the youth of New Orleans hope to send a message from the mouth of the Mississippi River to encourage stewardship of the water and lands that we share.
🎟️ Event Details
- What: This event showcases artwork, research, and writings by students from Edna Karr, Jefferson Rise, The NET: Gentilly, St. John STEM Magnet Program, and Young Audiences Charter Schools. Messages in art bottles created by each class will be displayed in an interactive exhibit. Light refreshments will be served, and prizes will be awarded to select guests who RSVP using this link.
- Who: Students, family members, educators, and art lovers are all warmly welcomed.
- When: Saturday June 4th from 4 pm - 8 pm
- Where: 3011 North i-10 Service Road East in Metairie, Louisiana
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