Huzzah!

[beachlass]

In one of those rare moments when procrastination pays off, I checked our local landfill schedule to see the fees for electronic waste, only to discover that they've been re-cateogorized as "e-waste recyclables" and drop off is free of charge.

So we loaded a moniter, hard drive, imac and television into the car and took an afternoon drive to the dump! And now I have much more floor space in my back sunroom. We also did some sorting of the craft drawers, and picking up on the floor; and snagged a bagfull of various odds and ends for the garbage.

The downside - I'm pretty sure "e-waste recycling" is code for shipping my toxic unwanted electronics to somewhere like China where someone will break them apart with their bare hands, at the cost of their health and living environment.*  So maybe I should look for an overseas charity when I get paid at the end of the week.


*If you ever have a chance to see Edward Burtynsky's documentary Manufactured Landscapes, I HIGHLY recommend it; a visually stunning journey into the shaping of landscape through rampant industrialization. It includes a trip to a village in China where people are taking apart electronics by hand to reclaim metals.

(no subject)

[beachlass]

 
Clutter has such a profound impact on my/our lives - from the visual clutter that comes from all the surfaces being piled; which has been linked with anxiety/depression; to personal finances (remember that cheque I found, or when we buy duplicates because we can't find the one we already own, or when we pay for storage spaces) - clutter affects us; and for me at least, I want to live in a less cluttered house because I want a better life.

But our clutter has a deeper impact; a global one. My jaunt to get rid of my "free" e-waste reminded me of the likely home of my old computers. I first watched Ed Burtynsky's film Manufactured Landscapes on an airplane - flying to Winnipeg, probably. And from the astonish opening shot (no, really - mind-blowing) - the film transformed my understanding of the global systems of manufacture. The doc focuses on China; on how the very landscapes are transformed by processes of manufacturing - from extraction of resources to power generation; assembly lines to the fate of huge ocean freighters used in transport.

Burtynsky is a large format photographer, and the film capture quite a bit of his way of seeing as they follow him from site to site.

So - not a film about clutter per se; but certainly our consumption and subsequent difficulties about letting go are all part of the same systems that are manufacturing landscapes around the world.

( Manufactured Landscapes )

(I think DW is having some video embed problems, but there is a link)