It’s been a couple of years now since I began this quest to waste less, to live a zero waste lifestyle, to consume less. And the ideas seem to be catching on in the world around me – even cities or municipalities in India are using the language of zero waste to describe new initiatives … More Zero waste is catching on
Last December my family and I took a road trip across the state. We started in Mysore and stayed at The Green Hotel – which is just lovely. It has a wonderful ambiance, good food, and they even compost (although if you look at the photographs below you’ll see it’s not without its problems, including … More Trash n’ Travel
Last week I was in Auroville again for another EcoFemme workshop. I’ll write more about that when I have time, but for now, here is a glimpse of an inspiring exhibition I had the good fortune to catch before it closed. It shows a huge range of informative and interestingly designed items by the school … More Trashion and other upcycled designs
Recently I took a trip from Bengaluru to Delhi by train. It was a wonderful experience, except for all of the trash. Travelling by train, not unlike flying in an aeroplane, means producing a large quantity of trash for many reasons, especially because of all the food and drinks served and consumed along the way. … More Train trash
Last week I was on a Dulquar Salman kick; we downloaded several of his films, which we’ve been enjoying. I was especially excited to see Njaan, which covers a piece of Kerala history I wanted to learn about, but I downloaded the wrong movie. Instead I downloaded Nagaravaridhi Naduvil Njan. We eventually downloaded Njaan and watched it (and it’s a … More Nagaravaridhi Naduvil Njan
Yesterday I saw the mesmerising documentary, Waste Land, which features Brazilian artist Vic Muniz. It follows his journey to the landfill, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, where he begins a project photographing those who scavenge through the rubbish for recyclable goods. Those photographs get enlarged into pieces of art that … More Waste Land
The school year is winding down and now we’ve been working on some activities to share with others. Here is a short skit we did for the school that highlights some of the difficulties we have with waste on our campus. The script: A Day in the Life of a 4thie, or A Trashy Day … More A little play about trash
The last few weeks I’ve been sharing aspects of trash culture with my students. I began with a song my father used to love to sing to me when I was quite young. It is Oscar the Grouch’s song “I Love Trash” from Sesame Street: Then I shared another favourite song of mine by Pete Seeger … More Trash culture
Over the past few months I’ve been working on raising awareness about the importance of composting and making sure one does not mix wet (organic) with dry (plastic, glass, metal, paper) waste. I’m still having trouble helping adults to understand the necessity of this, but the children seem to be very much on board. Last … More From Trash to Trees!
Teaching Trash 