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The other side of recycling
Jan. 14th, 2009 09:08 amI'm trying to get back into reading the newspaper (Christian Science Monitor) every day, a habit that waned over the summer and fall as I got busy and lacked internet at home. The immediate benefit of reading the newspaper is that it's encouraging me to think about subjects I might not think about as much otherwise.
For example, today's paper has a nice story that highlights how economic hard times are impacting recycling programs. More than anything, this story is a good reminder that environmental salvation will never occur through recycling alone; it's still just a waste management system that addresses one aspect of a larger material cycle.
This all relates to an ambitious New Year's resolution that I've been contemplating for a while, but that I don't think I'll actually do [I realize it's a bit late to write about this, but I tend to start New Year's resolutions around January 20].
I've been considering photodocumenting all of my waste production for the course of a year. This would include not just things thrown in the trash, but also items that are recycled or composted. The idea comes from my dissatisfaction with the way that Americans' waste production is portrayed--it's simple enough to develop some sort of numerical estimate about how much trash the average American produces. But what does that numerical estimate actually mean? My hope is that a photodocumentation project would provide a new way of thinking about our connections to material goods. In the very least, it would make me more aware every time I dispose of something, and by nature it would encourage me to waste less [I equate this to how tracking my spending habits makes me less likely to make impulse purchases].
The whole idea raises a whole bunch of other questions and issues: when I'm sharing food or other things with other people, what counts as my waste? I also decided that it would be too gross to include direct human waste products, but how about that q-tip I use in the morning? And what about waste for my cat? Nobody wants to see those things, but isn't that part of the point?
For example, today's paper has a nice story that highlights how economic hard times are impacting recycling programs. More than anything, this story is a good reminder that environmental salvation will never occur through recycling alone; it's still just a waste management system that addresses one aspect of a larger material cycle.
This all relates to an ambitious New Year's resolution that I've been contemplating for a while, but that I don't think I'll actually do [I realize it's a bit late to write about this, but I tend to start New Year's resolutions around January 20].
I've been considering photodocumenting all of my waste production for the course of a year. This would include not just things thrown in the trash, but also items that are recycled or composted. The idea comes from my dissatisfaction with the way that Americans' waste production is portrayed--it's simple enough to develop some sort of numerical estimate about how much trash the average American produces. But what does that numerical estimate actually mean? My hope is that a photodocumentation project would provide a new way of thinking about our connections to material goods. In the very least, it would make me more aware every time I dispose of something, and by nature it would encourage me to waste less [I equate this to how tracking my spending habits makes me less likely to make impulse purchases].
The whole idea raises a whole bunch of other questions and issues: when I'm sharing food or other things with other people, what counts as my waste? I also decided that it would be too gross to include direct human waste products, but how about that q-tip I use in the morning? And what about waste for my cat? Nobody wants to see those things, but isn't that part of the point?
