The cartoneros of Argentina are poor people who travel by night to richer neighborhoods where they scavenge the trash for things to reuse and sell. A friend who has spent time in Argentina recommended I post something about their struggle as one of the populations hit hardest by Argentina’s economic collapse five years ago. Rather than attempt to describe their story myself, I direct you to this powerful World Press Review photo essay by Andrea Di Martino (who also took this picture of a young woman leaning against a wall).
Posts Tagged ‘zero waste’
cartoneros
Sunday, September 24, 2006crayella: the umbrella of the future
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Just when I was getting into the hang of voting online every morning, the Umbrella Inside Out has chosen a winner. Now what will I click back to for entertainment?
information diving
Friday, September 22, 2006
On the far-less-commendable side of dumpster diving, information diving is the practice of salvaging (presumably personal) data from discarded hard drives. Luckily, there also appear to be do-gooder types out there saving the computers. Wikipedia lists several organizations who reuse computers, including Geeks Into The Streets, who bill themselves as “an opportunity for people who love computers to bring them to people who might otherwise not have access to them.” Rock on.
plenty on freeganism
Friday, September 22, 2006
Plenty Magazine printed a story on high return on renewable energy
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
The World Watch Institute at the nonpartisan Center for American Progress released a new report today on American investment in and consumption of energy. The document states that: “Next to the Internet, new energy technology has become one of the hottest investment fields for venture capitalists.” Investment in ways to use vegetable oil and waste as fuel has quadrupled over the last several years; and more people seem to be recognizing the potential of harnessing the gasses found in much of what we landfill.
iTunes and AOL give rise to CD Coasters
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
I remember in college when the show Futurama came out, many people I know were very excited. Some of them even convinced me to watch the first episode of the cartoon to see if, indeed, it was as funny as The Simpsons (I will refrain from live-linking here on the assumption that most readers are familiar with the show).
Not being a huge fan of The Simpsons, it’s not surprising that I didn’t end up following Futurama. I will never foget, however, a brief flash in one scene to a planet piled high with thousands of AOL CDROMs (and nothing else) as a nod to the fact that 1) everyone throws them away and 2) that’s where all our trash might end up some day.
So imagine my amusement when, years later, I came accross this CD coaster craft project on About.com. It’s one of hundreds of “Trash to Treasure” projects compiled on the site ranging from corny (avoid the “blue jean” section entirely) to inspired (see above). In fact, an entire section is devoted to ideas for those soon-to-be-obsolete disks once used to store music in the Global North and still used to ship research at cheap rates to the South.
Starbucks and fashion stigma
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
An article over at Groovy Green (the sidebar, folks, it’s all about the sidebar) caught my eye with the catchy headline “How Starbucks Could Have Saved the World“. It’s about disposible coffee cups and incentives not to use them. While discounts for reusing mugs and encouraging people to drink from real cups while in the store are nice gestures, what we really need are some superstar style mavens to declare reusable “in” and disposible “out”. A friend and I were discussing the other day that while it’s one thing to refuse a plastic bag at the deli and tuck your groceries into a Brooklyn-chic tote, it’s another thing entirely to carry your own tupperware to avoid take-out packaging.
radical reuse
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
While searching for material for a ‘trash on the radio’ post, I came across this entertaining and informative transcript in which Terry Gross interviews Peter Coyote, an actor and a member of the now-defunct street theatre group The Diggers. In it, Coyote says that during his era “the feeling was: there’s more than enough to go around and that you could build a creative and even elegant life off the garbage.”
umbrella extravaganza
Monday, September 18, 2006
Phase II of the Umbrella Inside Out competition starts today. If you thought the winning fashion design was impressive, prepare to be amazed by these durable and biodegradable umbrellas of the future.
Village Underground
Friday, September 15, 2006
And no, I’m not talking about the West Village jazz club. The British organization called the Village Underground is a new charity that’s reusing long-forgotten tube carriages (or subway cars to those of us on this side of the Atlantic) by turning them into studio workspaces and small shops for start-up businesses.
via the eco street blog
see also this amusing resource on the underground
ceci n’est pas un parapluie
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
It’s down to three finalists over at the Umbrella Inside Out competition and there’s still time to vote!
umbrella inside out
Monday, September 11, 2006
Today’s the day when Treehugger has promised to start posting the five finalists from their inspired Umbrella Inside Out contest. The idea is to make good use of all those umbrellas thrown away due to poor contruction and turn them into either a better umbrella or fashion item. Either way, the winner will be shown at an ethical fashion show in Paris.
Sidenote: When I was little, my mother read an article about a man who went around collecting broken umbrellas after rain storms and made them into kites. She got us some kite-making books from the library and the next time it rained, we walked around the neighborhood picking discarded umbrellas out of corner trash baskets. I made a bat kite from a black umbrella. She made a more beautiful, but less flyable red box kite. I don’t remember how long it took us, but I do remember many afternoons in the park flying our creations. Also, I remember the pride I felt as a child explaining to anyone who asked that we had made our nifty kites ourselves from things we picked out of the trash.
Kia ora, baby
Saturday, September 9, 2006
Today was the last day to drop off registered entries in the Waitakere City Council Trash to Fashion show in New Zealand. If last year’s winners are any indication, competition this November should be fierce.
great green goods
Thursday, September 7, 2006
Glass coke bottles sanded into elegant bracelets, dinner plates made from traffic lights, a briefcase of stacked take-out chopsticks…Great Green Goods is your one-stop shop for trendy gifts on the web. It’s a shopping blog of recycled materials that spans hippie to chic, compiling new and inspired items from green designers around the world. Whether shopping for that millionth friend’s wedding, your strung-out-chic boyfriend in Williamsburg or your European grandmother, there is something made from someone else’s trash that would make the perfect present!
everydaytrash 