SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH ART & DESIGN

The Adventure Makerspace & Design Lab programs are ongoing as we are always producing items for our own trips as well as looking for new projects to benefit others and their communities. We also sell items we create with our students, partners, and volunteers to help raise funds for our the programs.

A recent community Makerspace event was in partnership with Patagonia. Our students took a repair course at the Patagonia store in Manhattan and were then given lightly worn or damaged outerwear garments to take up to the Lab at CatRock Ventures to repair. Students packed the Makerspace and supported each other in patching these jackets and outerwear. Each student was able to repair one item as a holiday gift for a family member and one item for themselves.

The Adventure Makerspace & Design Lab is a unique makerspace program where students repair, design and help produce their own outdoor gear using both high-tech and low-tech tools such as computers, 3D printers, and sewing machines.

Students learn the basics of repair and design in order to keep their clothing and outdoor gear functioning longer to help support the environment by cutting down on consumption. They also learn how to repurpose used gear reinforcing their role in the environmental sustainability movement.

CLIMATE CHANGE QUILT

We’ve partnered with local schools (Belmont, PS.159, PS.315, PS.86, and Summer Bridge Program) to teach Climate Change through art. Students are learning about the environment at a young age to change the narrative on how we view waste for the future. Each student makes one quilt square on their stand on climate change which will be pieced together as a quilt per school. Then we will take all the quilts we make to Washington DC to display and make a change.

UP-CYCLING PATAGONIA GEAR

Our team coming up with creative ways to Up-Cycle Patagonia scraps from the quilt. We’re doing this to offset the amount of waste that goes into the landfill. Fashion is the number 2 pollutant in the world and we’re doing our part turning waste into wearable pieces.

OUTDOOR GEAR REPAIR

Up-Cycling is an environmentally friendly way of transforming something we would normally through away - like a torn jacket or a milk cartoon- into something new. Up-Cycling is a fun way to use creative thinking. Each year we teach students how to repair jackets and other gear. Extending the use of our clothing and other things helps reduce waste - which is good for the environment.