It’s been 3 years since we did this project hardcore. Wow, time flies. Happy New Years! It looks like I am now a monthly blogger and though I hope to post more frequently, I’m not going to make a resolution about it. I am posting now though-aren’t you glad? Yippee!
Kyle and I finally watched Garbage! which was made around the time we finished our own project.It was a great documentary-it comes highly recommended by me. The premise, in case are not familiar with the movie, is that Andrew Niscar (the film maker) ropes friends into agreeing to keep all their garbage for three months, and also to allowing different experts into their home to explain what their consumption was doing to the world as a whole.I loved how each action was followed to it’s source-it un-abstracted the concept of cause and effect. I wanted the city wide composting segment to spell things out a bit more though. They explained that all the plastic gets sorted and put into landfill, but they didn’t go further to say what that means for diapers-they aren’t compostable at all. They are just getting a detour to the composting centre to help the waste diversion numbers.
I can understand why he wanted the family to try and continue their regular output, so viewers could see what an average person is doing to the earth and our health, but I don’t think I could have done it. The project was different from ours and I think perhaps more accessible to people because the protagonists were regular people, rather than “Weirdy Beardy’s” like Kyle and I (the same person who introduced me to that phrase also called us side show freaks, but that’s kind off of topic). I also had a few questions, like Why didn’t Andrew Niskar keep his own garbage for three months instead of roping his friend’s into it, and what are they doing to change in their output now?
Most of the facts in the film were very familiar to me, but I did learn one thing that shocked and disappointed me, but at the same time fueled me opinion that recycling is not the answer. Tetra Packs with the little plastic spout will not be recycled unless that spout is cut of first and thrown out. I am going to write the company that makes Yu rice milk and ask them to change the packaging. The old style of Tetra Pack is just fine. Even better, maybe I should go back to making our own rice milk….with the amount of cheese and yogurt we have been consuming we probably don’t need the calcium enriched beverage anymore.
Say No to Trash 
re calcium: according to research studies (many of which can be found in The China Study) state that animal protein leaches calcium out of the body. Just a point in favour of going dairy-free. (It’s my favourite food cause, as you know. *poke poke*)
Also, with the tetra paks, is that everywhere all over the world or just where the documentary was made or what? I ask because Toronto is forever changing what is and is not acceptable to put in the blue bin. Until recently, you couldn’t put bottle lids in and now you can. But only for plastic bottles — not for glass.
Very confusing.
Glad to see you posting here again!
Garbage! was made in Toronto fairly recently so I’m confident that is the case for Toronto now, and because it accepts more than Kingston I assume Kingston is the same, but I will call. Those little plastic tops aren’t recyclable at all so unless someone at the plant is cutting them all off (which I highly doubt is happening anywhere), it’s all garbage (as they explained it is in Toronto). You should watch the movie in your spare time (ha ha ha).
I was thinking that he chose to film friends and not himself for two reasons.
One, they have kids. People always tell us “oh, it must be so easy for you not to produce garbage – you don’t have kids”. Showing a family is, apparently, more accessible and interesting to a wider audience.
Two, it’s really hard to film yourself and have the same kind of character development and epiphanies as you would get from a third person “fly on the wall” kind of filmmaker.
Anyway, I also recommend this film. I wish he showed how doing the project impacted the family’s everyday life afterwards. There was an implication that they would change their consumption habits, but it didn’t actually get shown. For example, did they decide to use cloth diapers on their next child?
That’s exactly what I said! Maybe he’ll make a sequel?
Environmental issue is always been a good and interesting topic. It portrays the negative aspects of human activity. Global warming is one of the result of it. I do think that if everyone of us has an exact knowledge on how to conserve and recycle things we can fight against it.