Museum of the Anthropocene Lab

Getting Started: What is Your Object Made Of?

Many of you will have picked objects with several components-- sneakers, for example, often include leather or cloth, rubber, perhaps metal grommets, etc.  As you look at your object, think: what materials are put together to create your object?  Start with by listing broad categories: metal, cloth, plastic, wiring.  

Next, try to get more specific in one of the following ways: 

• If your item has a tag that lists materials, you're set! Move to the next step
• If you know the name/manufacturer of your item, try doing a search for the manufacturer and item to see what you can find
• Wikipedia will often list components of items. 

Next Steps: Gather Background Information on Your Object or a Component of It.

Before you start digging too much, take a moment to look up your object in Gale Ebooks (below).  Gale encyclopedia articles will give you context that you can use to connect your object to the Planetary Boundaries or Sustainability Development Goals (below) as well as a summary of the issue. 

Try searching for your object and environment (such as T-Shirt and environment.)

Also try focusing on one of your object's components and focusing on the environmental impact of its production, consumption, or waste in the environment.  (For example, your T-Shirt might be made of cotton and rayon.)

Next Steps: Connect Your Object to the Planetary Boundaries and Sustainability Goals

Now that you have an initial sense of some of the environmental impacts of your object, continue by studying the Planetary Boundaries and UN Sustainable Development Goals (linked below).  What goals or boundaries might your object be connected to?

Next Steps: Deepen Your Research

Now, that you've identified possible goals and boundaries, start digging through the catalog, databases and websites below.   

Use your initial research to try changing your keywords.  For example, in the initial T-shirt example, your keywords might be cotton and fertilizer or rayon and waste.

Try searching for your keywords in conjunction with Planetary Boundaries or Sustainability Development Goals as well.   Here, for example, you might search for Fast Fashion and poverty. 

If you do find a result in that you can't find in full-text, you can contact reference (https://library.cod.edu/ask) to ask for help in locating the full article or check Journal Locator to see if we have the article in full-text in a library database, 

Final Steps: Gather Last Data and Information in Google

Search Google and use the box below to evaluate your sources for credibility.