Whisking our Worries Away with our Trash

We’re so conditioned. This treatment of resources is encouraged by our profit seeking systems. It’s become normalized behavior to see precious resources packaged into goods, full of embodied energy, carbon, and labor, piled up on the street and not flinch. People may walk by and sniff it out to see if anything is worth saving, but that’s an imperfect solution and things degrade quickly when they’re left on the street, even when set out in perfect condition.

This system says materials are more valuable as garbage than keeping them in and moving them through our local economy. Who benefits from this practice? In whose interest is it for us to lack attachment to our belongings, making it ever easier to cycle through things as fast as possible? This infinite consumption wrecks havoc on ecosystems and increases pressure on our planetary boundaries which are straining under a climate emergency.

Every week or so, when the streets are cleared, the process just resets. Whisking things out of sight to alleviate the human guilt and discomfort of what is really happening does not feel like a just or equitable solution to a crisis of over consumption. Burying it faraway and out of sight resolves nothing, but enables everything.

I’ll be at the #climatestrike in SF on Friday, walking in solidarity with today’s youth who deserve a future on a livable planet. Are you planning on participating?

#climatejusticenow