reduce, reuse, Freecycle, recycle
Freecycle.org
After you’ve reduced your consumption, reused what you can, and before you send the leftovers to the recycling facility, consider Freecycling!
Freecycling is a free service that connects people with free resources to those who need/want them. The goal is to reduce waste, landfill use, and to create community.
This is how it works:
- Sign up for the email list that serves your area
- Read up on the guidelines for participating (they’re very simple, but important)
- If you have something to give away: post information to the email list
- If you see something you want: contact the person to arrange pick up
- If you are looking for something you want: post a “wanted” notice to the group
You can get your emails in a few different formats:
You can get each post in a seperate email, or you can get it compiled in what is called a “digest” (pictured at right). Choose which is easiest for you to manage.
-thanks to AmeriCorps friends who turned me on to this-
unemployment becomes FUNemployment
A short documentary of interviews with people who turned being laid off into an opportunity to pursue inspired action. (35mins). Watch it for free on Hulu.com and visit the official documentary site to see more stories of FUNemployment and upload your own story.
-thanks to Ryan-
Partcipate in world wide art projects
Internet based collaborative art projects are a great way to tap into a creative, inspired community. The instructions are often simple, but the results of the sum of every individuals submission creates a complex overview of how a lot of people relate to a single idea. The similarities pop out and the individuality shines. It’s like joining an art team!
Assignment #63 Make an encouraging banner. Mira and Martha New York, New York USA
A project from artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher that invites you to accept one of the 70 assignments they have made up for you to accomplish. Projects range from taking pictures, writing, sculpting, making a sign, creating an encounter, and uncovering yourself.
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"Brilliant Fridge" from Jackie Lehmann
The instructions are simple: Get your camera, open your fridge, take a picture of the inside of your fridge, submit it.
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Brain of Draw Your Brain founder, Ním Wunnan
Draw a picture of your brain that shows what occupies your thoughts and feelings. Submit
Complaint Choirs
Complaints Choir of St. Petersburg, 2006 Photo: Yuriy Rumiantsev
Complaint Choirs are a beautiful art happening where people’s complaints are turned into song that everyone is welcome to sing together. Literally SING them.
Complaints Choir of St. Petersburg, 2006 Photo: Yuriy Rumiantsev
“The idea started in Finland, where there is a word for people who complain simultaneously, valituskuoro, which translates as complaints choir. About six years ago Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen and his wife, Tellervo Kalleinen, both visual artists living in Helsinki, began discussing the possibility of turning this metaphorical concept into something quite literal. People spend so much energy complaining, they reasoned, so why not harness all that energy into something positive?” – New York Times (click link for full article)
Complaints Choir of Helsinki, 2006 Photo: Heidi Piiroinen
Visit the offical Complaint Choir website’s to learn how to organize your OWN complaint choir in 9 easy steps
Read the New York Times article (which is how I first read about Complaint Choirs) describing a recent Tokyo performance.
– Thanks Christopher for the Fuel –
Interview: Emily C-D
Interview with Emily C-D
How would you define your title?
ARTIST:
Muralist-Sculptor-Illustrator-Draftswoman-Designer
Teacher of kids
Student of the world
Curious collector of forgotten things
How long have you been doing this work?
I have been drawing and building from my imagination for as long as I can remember. As a profession, I have been working as an artist since about 2005 when I painted my first mural. Since then my interest in art and my environment has branched out to include many more community mural opportunities, teaching art to kids in after-school programs, illustrating stories for newspapers and magazines, curating exhibits and organizing events at my warehouse space in Baltimore, wandering the world in search of different materials and inspiration, and coming back with new creations to prove once again that our planet is full of boundless beauty and possibility.
How did you find yourself in this line of work?
I don’t know how not to be. I am totally compelled to create! I work in a wide variety of mediums and circumstances, and this versatility and my total dedication to thriftiness somehow combine to allow me to make my living as an artist. Contrary to popular belief, I am not hungry. If I love anything more than art, it is food, and I cook and devour my meals with great gusto!
What are the most important “issues” that you feel you work deals with?
Excess of production and consumption
Unequal access to education and opportunity
Wastefulness of material society
Tension between order and chaos
Philosophy of re-purposing
Power of color
Celebration
What are some of the challenges of working with community? How do you deal with these? What are the truisms that have come out of this learning that you could share to others working with communities?
The biggest challenge in any collaboration is balancing everyones different ideas, histories, and truths in order to come to a compromise that everyone feels they have a hand in. It is also important to seek out input from people within a community that might not come forward with their opinions without being outright invited. A challenge I’ve often dealt with is a lot of community projects are possible because a small neighborhood organization or even a well-meaning group from outside the community raises funds. It is important to remember that the objectives of one group do not necessarily reflect the interests of everyone in the community. And probably only extremely well researched, thoroughly thought out projects performed over a span of several years can truly touch everyone within a community in a meaningful way. But that’s ok. Not every mural has to change the lives of every person who puts a brush to it, every passerby who considers its meaning. Sometimes it is enough that the kid who threw rocks at me at the beginning of a summer program ended up being the kid with the best attendance and enthusiasm by the end.
What have you learned from working with youth?
That they have a lot to teach me! Young people are very clever, amazing sources of wild imagination and unchecked creativity. They are truly very fun creatures to collaborate with.
What is it about community art that you feel makes it the best vehicle for dealing with the above issues?
Art that exists in community spaces is visual proof of positive change. I love to work with bright colors because they draw people into a space!
How do you, personally, benefit from the work you do?
It makes me happy to connect with people through collaborative acts of color. I feel more like a citizen of the world. And based on conversations with students and parents and passerby, I’m pretty sure that my enthusiasm has touched some people. That means a lot. If I can inspire other people to find within themselves the power of creation, then I feel my work is meaningful.
For more on Emily C-D please visit www.emilycd.com
The Fun Theory
Volkswagen is putting money toward social projects that try to use fun as a vehicle for more responsible, healthier choices and behavior.
make pasta better for the earth
A New York Times article explains that you only need 1.5qts of water per pound of pasta, as opposed to the 4-6 the packaging recommends.
Also, put your pasta in the water while you are waiting for it to boil. It will use less energy to cook.
Wonders
Biking for Balance
Two cyclists are bicycling coast to coast across the united states to raise awareness for environmental issues.
-thanks Dave-
Our Brightest Fire 