Elizabeth Royte and her book Garbage Land were among my first and favorite discoveries as a garblogger. On Valentine’s day, it seems appropriate to share this recent piece she did for medium.com on “Sex, trash and nature in the city.”
My favorite thing about this article is that Royte reserves her judgement for the littering, but not the public lovemaking, that goes on in our beloved Prospect Park.
Happy Friday. In lieu of a weekend news roundup, I give you an article so ridiculous it stands on its own. According to this dubious report in Pakistan Daily, Chinese companies are recycling used condoms into colorful hair ties. Now I’ve heard of creative reuses for EXPIRED condoms that have NEVER BEEN USED. Fair enough. But used condoms? While I know the claims that a recycled latex hair tie could give someone AIDS are totoally bogus, the psychological factor is just a little tough to get past. For the same reason I would rather wear a sweater knit from sheep’s wool than dog’s hair and would rather fertilize my garden with animal poo as opposed to human manure. It may not make sense—color me urban and sheltered—but I am not in control of my personal ick factor. But I tangent. The whole reason I was googling condoms and recycling and coming across articles like this little piece of comedy is beacuse I’ve been thinking a lot about green sex this week. It’s an uncomfortable reality that latex condoms add up and end up in landfills. The alternatives aren’t great. There are less convenient methods and less effective condoms. In discussing this with a friend this week, we agreed that there’s a real need for biodegradable condom. You know, one that actually works.
[The photo is one I took at the Toronto AIDS Conference in 2006, a close-up of a very fabulous dress.]
E magazine has an intriguing article this month entitled, “Make Love, Not Waste” about greening your sex life. At a cursory glance, I got a little nervous reading about the fact that latex condoms aren’t biodegradable and that hormonal methods may have a negative impact on the environment. The fact is, the condom and the pill are two of the most effective methods out there, helping women prevent tons of unintended pregnancies. And even without getting into the population control argument (more babies make more trash), the simple fact is that avoiding unintended pregnancies in the first place conserves a whole lot of energy. And that, I think we can all agree, is better for the environment. I agree it would be nice if there were ways to have safe sex that didn’t contribute to landfill waste. But until microbicide research moves along, don’t knock the condom! It can’t be beat for convienance at staving off pregnancy AND disease. Luckily, the article came around to similar conclusions. So, check out E magazine. It’s neat. Oh, the article also addresses another important issue, the need for greener sex toys.
TORCH, a peer education program run by Naral-Prochoice New York, has been working on a trash art project getting high school students to reuse expired condoms in creative ways. The goal is to raise awareness about condoms and the results are being exhibited in a show called “This is My Everyday.” The idea is to make everyday items out of condoms to emphasize that condoms are part of everyday life (I dig the repetition of everyday and the trash theme, it’s like we’re collaborating)! Here are some shots of a lovely sandwich made by one of the students. Yum!
Update: This sandwich was created by Aschly Valladares and Anastasia Georgoulis was the project supervisor.
While the world’s AIDS advocates gathered in Toronto last week to discuss new research, technologies and strategies for tackling the epidemic, artist Adriana Bertini of Brazil filled the conference center with some much needed color, humor and fantastical imagination via a spectacular fashion/sculpture series of dresses made from condoms.
everydaytrash 