Charity Fair - Journey of Stuff 11/30

This week, we began to create our Charity Fair Journey of Stuff map. This year, my group is supporting the Children's Defense Fund by selling handmade tote bags. The map above shows the journey all of the materials took to get to us before we made our bags. Using this information, we needed to calculate our Carbon Footprint. 

On the map, we added the manufacturer(s) of our raw materials. To make our tote bags, we used bed sheets, sewing thread, fabric paint, wax paper, and buttons. We had to look up the manufacturer(s) of the materials online. This was difficult because we hadn't actually bought any of the materials we needed; we had them all laying around the house. We used walmart.com and michaels.com to research how much we would've spend on the materials and where each material was manufactured.

Next we needed to decide if our materials traveled by train, airplane or truck. If the item was manufactured in another continent, it traveled by plane. If the item was manufactured in the same continent, it traveled by train. If it was manufactured in the same country, it traveled by truck. All of our materials were manufactured in the United States (as you can see from the map), so they were transported by truck to get to Walmart and Michaels. They took a car to get from the stores to our school (also on the map).

After placing the destinations and drawing the lines between them, we used the number of miles each material traveled to calculate our carbon footprint. In total, we used 1207.6219 grams of carbon dioxide/kg. 

S&EP: SP2 - Using Models

While we were doing this, we were definitely using models as we created this interactive map. The map shows the distances from manufacturer to retailer, retailer to school, and it gives lots of information, like how far each item traveled separately or all together. Using an interactive map is helpful because you can insert all the information you want and find any information you want.

XCC: Structure and Function

In order for manufacturers to produce and ship their products, they need a working structure. They need a working system that ensures that all products are shipped to where they need to be in time. Things like mode of transport, time and cost can also pop up. Manufacturers need to make sure that the products are being shipped on the proper mode of transport by the time they need to be. They also have to keep in mind finances like gas money for trucks. All of these things build the structure so that the manufacturers can function.