Written by Deepthi Sendilkumar
Recipe by Klara Zietlow
This month we celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd, marking the 50th anniversary since the beginning of Earth Day. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin was inspired by an oil spill in January 1969 and created Earth Day to represent the emerging awareness of air and water pollution. Now, all across the globe, Earth Day is celebrated as a conscious reminder to protect our planet.
In the spirit of Earth Day, Spira’s Product Development Intern: Klara Zietlow presents an at-home activity to make your very own biomaterial at home. From a young age, Klara has always had a keen interest in the environment, specifically the impacts of plastic pollution. Due to plastics’ vast presence, she quickly realized that to combat the effects of plastic pollution, a sustainable plastic replacement is needed. A 7th-grade project researching fish waste to create bioplastics started Klara’s journey of researching and creating sustainable materials at home. During high school, Klara began to research biomaterials and using an at-home kit she created fibers from gelatin. Soon after, Klara began to start her social media and YouTube journey sharing blog posts and videos on her research and experiments.
Constantly curious, Klara would spend her time learning more about biomaterials from swabbing Petri dishes to experimenting with hydroponics. During her research, Klara discovered spirulina. Wanting to make a real-world impact, Klara reached out to Elliot Roth, Spira’s founder, to learn more about Spira and how she can help. Now as a product development intern, Klara creates unique recipes and bioplastics using Spira’s natural pigments. This is one, we can all do together!
