Alot of trash

[check out the collage at Orion Magazine]

For 365 days, Tim Gaudreau took meticulous photographs of everything he threw away, after which, he ended up becoming more aware of what he was throwing away, thus limiting his consumption quite a bit. One can either opt to call the cat obsessive-compulsive or a shrewd documentarian; its clear that at the very end, when one is confronted with an entire chronicle of waste they have generated, it serves to make one look hard at one's own pattern of consumption.

I'm sure that if I took similar pictures of my trash, I would be equally astounded at my own behavior. I already am somewhat disgusted but I don't have the pics to prove it. It's strange, to say the least, when I see treats or toys touted as 'eco-friendly', but they're in a 24-pack and individually packaged and wrapped in plastic. To 'preserve freshness' I suppose. I find it interesting how the cups and/or cup sleeves of the Starbucks say that they're made of '10% post consumer waste' and how this exemplifies their commitment to be a part of the solution of saving the environment. Why they aren't made of more than a mere 10% I don't know. It may also lead people to get the wrong idea about ways to go more eco and give some a false sense of eco security, a certain 'smug' which an entire South Park episode was based on-why not bring your own mug to the coffee shop?