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How Do You Like Your Coffee?
If this gorgeous dresser was a cup of coffee it would be Turkish, robust, dark, slightly sweet. It savors patience over speed, respects tradition, and expects you to know how to avoid the grinds. Its perfect match is someone who loves craft over convenience and staring at tiny details. The opposite of this dresser is an instant coffee pod with sweetened creamer.
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Not Everything on the Curb is Fast Furniture
Our society is built on disposability at every level: culturally, economically, politically. While we champion investments in frictionless consumption—think one click, free overnight delivery—our systems of refurbishment, reuse, and redistribution remain woefully underfunded, difficult, expensive, and stigmatized. That’s how an old couch that’s made to last, but out of date, receives the same end-of-life treatment as a single-use couch made with glued together wood chips. Our system wasn’t built to tell the difference. Extractive systems, that prioritize disposal first, that externalize costs, that stigmatize labor and second hand goods, and that equate imperfect pieces with useless, are the challenge. Regenerative, place-based solutions are the opportunity.
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A Collective Blind Spot
Hidden in plain sight. In every town I visit, I find discarded furniture. I’m never looking for it. I’m just not blind to it in the way others are. No matter how much a piece stands out, once absorbed into the local rhythms, life dances around it like it’s not even there. It’s one of our collective blind spots. Why does every community seem to suffer from this same affliction? What does this mean locally, and at scale? More dump trucks? More startups? How did we get here? While it may be easy and popular to blame fast furniture, the situation is deeper, more complex. Who has benefited most from…
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Another Day, Another Free Pile
They’re so common in these parts. Passersby know the drill—take what you like and move on. Sounds nice and generous and in many ways it is, but it’s also a massive challenge. We can’t nurture a system of reuse one free pile at a time. Stuff perishes on the street, which takes it from having some value to no value, quickly. Tons of money is spent cleaning up stuff that is all over the place–Oakland has over 2,700 illegal dumping instances every month. Is there room to dedicate some money to collect, consolidate, refurbish, and redistribute/resell the stuff instead? We’ve been taught to look at street furniture first as waste.…
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Garage Sales in the Era of Free Piles
When I saw this sign last weekend, I did a double take. A garage sale, I remember thinking, people still do those? Upon reflection, I can see that’s a crazy first reaction, but not necessarily where I live. As Lucy and I walked on, I thought about how my neighborhood is really a big, dispersed, unattended garage sale. I often feel like I’m roaming the aisles of a thrift store when I’m out walking my dog. Our streets are covered in free stuff: whether in boxes or splayed on the sidewalk, there are piles of books, clothes, shoes, homewares, car seats, sports equipment, picture frames, art, vases, high chairs, dishes,…
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Panel on Sustainable Textiles: Moving Towards a Circular Economy
It was an honor last night to be part of a panel discussion about what a circular economy of textiles can and should be: transformational for individuals, artists, skilled labor, creatives, sheep farmers, the community, and ecosystems. That is my kind of future visioning. Here are some takeaway notes as captured by the moderator, Sy Baker: 👉 There is immense potential for decentralization and democratization👉A Sharing Economy exists–but needs to be expanded upon👉We must get more comfortable with imperfection👉Transparency is key👉Repair is essential–and can be modernized👉People are trying to do the right thing.Thanks @stopwaste for hosting us and thanks to @fibershed_ , @calpsc and Connie Ulasewicz for your efforts that…
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“Don’t Want it? Neither Do We.”
The ad on this bus reads, “Don’t want it? Neither do we.” The image prominently features a faded, slouchy red couch. The couch sits atop a trash heap that looks as if it was scooped straight out of the landfill. The pile includes rocks, dirt, plastic containers, and other bits of detritus. Though worn, this couch has all of its parts and is not ripped, broken, or damaged beyond repair. The fine print on the ad encourages people to contact their service provider to schedule a bulky waste pickup. Another way to say: to avoid it ending up on the street, we’ll come and dump it in the landfill for…
