Earth Equity News

The Learning in Trash. By Britt Bravo, Worldchanging.com, August 26, 2008. "Late last month I interviewed Ari Derfel... of Back to Earth, about saving all of his trash for one year. Below is an edited transcript of our interview... Ari Derfel: What inspired me to save a year of trash? I was sitting having dinner with some friends... We began to lament the concept of trash. What came up in conversation was, 'Where is away?' that magical place things go. As the conversation evolved, [I became curious] to know... what [it would be] like if 'away' [was] in my house... I started in December of 2006... I learned what I spent most of my money on because by watching a pile of trash grow over a year, I really began to see... my consumption habits... The second thing that I learned really powerfully [was]... what I put in my body... Then, I learned [that] most trash... [is] food packaging... I mean, we've only been packaging food for 50, 60 or 75 years. So... [it seems] we should be able to undo the problem [relatively quickly]... Then I learned that if I composted everything organic, which I [do], trash doesn't smell... Most folks think of... trash... [as] really disgusting. [But] that's not the case... [I also learned]... [how truly] compelling and interesting [what I did is, because]... I'm still talking about it regularly, and people are [still] asking questions... [I wanted to] really challenge myself to face my consumption, face my habits, face myself by looking at what it is I produce, and what I waste, [and thereby] see a way to change myself... because I've got to live with me, and... there ain't no one else going to do it.... [And now]... I've absolutely changed the way I consume. I mean, every time my hand touches something now, I feel the whole story of where it was manufactured, and where it was shipped, and how it moved, and where it's going to end up. I buy a lot fewer things, and I waste a lot less, and I reuse a lot more."