Wow - just wow! Fascinating photographic representations of our waste.

[CrispyQ]

Chris Jordan: http://www.chrisjordan.com/

View all the exhibits - they are fascinating. I heard about Jordan's work in the article "Waste Not, Want Not" by Bill McKibben, here: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/20-1

snip...

Our wasteful habits wouldn't matter much if there were just a few of us-a Neanderthal hunting band could have discarded six plastic water bottles apiece every day with no real effect except someday puzzling anthropologists. But the volumes we manage are something else. Chris Jordan is the photographer laureate of waste-his most recent project, "Running the Numbers," uses exquisite images to show the 106,000 aluminum cans Americans toss every 30 seconds, or the 1 million plastic cups distributed on US airline flights every 6 hours, or the 2 million plastic beverage bottles we run through every 5 minutes, or the 426,000 cell phones we discard every day, or the 1.14 million brown paper supermarket bags we use each hour, or the 60,000 plastic bags we use every 5 seconds, or the 15 million sheets of office paper we use every 5 minutes, or the 170,000 Energizer batteries produced every 15 minutes. The simple amount of stuff it takes-energy especially-to manage this kind of throughput makes it daunting to even think about our waste problem. (Meanwhile, the next time someone tells you that population is at the root of our troubles, remind them that the average American uses more energy between the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve and dinner on January 2 than the average, say, Tanzanian consumes in a year. Population matters, but it really matters when you multiply it by proximity to Costco.)

===

[Deja Q]

1. Mass culture should be sheep, not fish...

Then again, both critters are tasty... :9

[bluebellbaby]

2. but it really matters when you multiply it by proximity to Costco

So...me living closer to BJ's (Costo's for New York)...makes it worse...

WOW:)

[pretzel4gore]

3. you know why this situ exists?

because it's easier, more convenient, to be a enviro tapeworm then follow the 'waste not, want not' idea, which goes against the easy profits exploiting a resource, or situation, provide IF the exploiter(s) remembers that 'he who hesitates is lost' and therefore hurries to get his cut, asap and fukk you jakk...
MAYBE it was the basis of big lies we planned the world's future on, and maybe the lies (one quick example of the 'big lie' incorporated into popular culture is of course the sinking of Titanic, which was made to appear by media as a drama full of brave heroes and a great tragedy etc but that's ONLY if one forgets 600 of the 1500 Titanic dead were LOCKED UP, like prisoners, in the ship's lower quarters- and that destroys anything else anyone try to say, for their profit, etc, since it's too awful to imagine; thus they ignore it...)
There are literally thousands of examples of lies- Columbus never discovered america, but he did lead the organized thieves who seized control of it, Africa was never a 'dark continent' despite history books saying that, and the allied west's ruling elite were on hitler's side leading up to dubia dubia two despite the constant mantra of lies the hushtory books had factored in, at great expense, in the years since. Churchill was a silly fop who was saved by ww2, just like junyer bush was saved by 911...
btw, greed is god, aint it?

[RC]

4. More proof that our shear numbers have out stripped the ability of

the earth to support us.

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. Recommended, and here's another blip from the link

.
.
.

(Meanwhile, the next time someone tells you that population is at the root of our troubles, remind them that the average American uses more energy between the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve and dinner on January 2 than the average, say, Tanzanian consumes in a year. Population matters, but it really matters when you multiply it by proximity to Costco.)

Would you like me to go on? Americans discard enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet every three months-and aluminum represents less than 1 percent of our solid waste stream. We toss 14 percent of the food we buy at the store. More than 46,000 pieces of plastic debris float on each square mile of ocean.


well worth the read

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/20-1

[handmade34]

6. excellent!

[anigbrowl]

7. It's good stuff, but I hate sloppy reasoning of the following kind...

"remind them that the average American uses more energy between the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve and dinner on January 2 than the average, say, Tanzanian consumes in a year"

Well yeah. Most of the US is fuck of a lot colder in winter than Tanzania, which has one of the world's most benevolent climates, with temperatures ranging from about 15 to 30 degrees (centigrade - that's about 60 to 90 degrees for you quaint farenheit users). I totally agree we should use less energy, but comparing the energy use in a northern winter period with a subtropical paradise is a touch misleading and gives people an excuse to ignore the broader point.

[BlooInBloo]

8. Pretty cool stuff...

[Oilwellian]

9. Jordan gave me permission to create this video

He's a great guy and his work is stunning. It's unfortunate YouTube clarity sucks so much. I've been thinking of uploading it to Vimeo for a sharper image.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9FoGUjk880

[Karenina]

10. Good stuff, Oilwellian!

LOVE the soundtrack!

[MrScorpio]

11. ADDICTED TO PLASTIC will be on Sundance Channel this morning @ 9AM ET

http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/atp.html