Waste Land

What an incredibly creative, inspiring, joyous and wonderful film Waste Land is.

Just released at the Sydney Film Festival about the artist Vik Muniz and a team of garbage (recyclable material) scavengers in the world's largest landfill in Rio.

Watch the trailer here and interview with the film maker Lucy Walker here

Transforming garbage into contemporary art. A process of transformation all around.

Look out for Countdown to Zero about nuclear weapons, also by Lucy Walker later this year.

Life, love and a plastic bag.

This is so beautiful, poignant and brilliant. The story of life, love and the sea. 

Futurestates Plastic Bag

                                                          

Plastiki sets sail.

I wrote about the amazing David de Rothschild and his wonderful Plastiki made from plastic bottles and recycled materials last year.  It is sailing across the world to raise awareness about ocean pollution and inspire rethinking about waste.

The Plastiki set sail from San Francisco this weekend, and will reach Sydney in 100 days. See more here Plastiki  and here Plastiki.

The Plastiki has solar power, a vertical vegetable garden and is fully recyclable at the end of its journey. It is put together with a glue made from cashew nuts and sugar.

Brilliant innovation with an adventurous spirit.

Wishing them all a safe, happy and successful voyage, and we all look forward to welcoming them to Sydney later this year.

Follow the adventures here The Plastiki here Plastiki on Twitter and here Plastiki on Facebook.

Tick tock ....

This cute little birdie will cheep cheep cheep you awake. Download it onto your phone, and pop it in the bird house while you sleep sweetly. http://www.luckybite.com/luckybits/

The cup that lives longer than you do.

 

Each year American throw away 25,000,000,000 Styrofoam cups. Even 500 years from now, the foam coffee cup used this morning will be sitting in landfill.

Artist Tara Donovan is showing at this year's Adelaide Biennale. Apart we are together. 

http://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/servlet/Web?s=2290869&p=tara_donovan

Donovan uses everyday manufactured materials such as Styrofoam cups, sticky tape and drinking straws to create large scale sculptures that often have a biomorphic quality. Her sculptures must be assembled and disassembled carefully, which sometimes involve an extremely tedious process. With regards to her artistic process, Donovan explained that she chooses the material before she decides what can be done with it. She noted in an interview that she thinks "in terms of infinity, of the materials expanding."

A far more creative use than just sending the cups to landfill. 

Have a look here at some more wild statistics of the waste the USA alone generates.

http://www.epa.gov/reg3wcmd/solidwasterecyclingfacts.htm

Styrofoam also swims around in the ocean and ends up in places like this foamy beach. There is no away. 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/inpeninsulacoastside/detail?entry_id=55995