Monday, September 21, 2009

Some Serious Trash Tracking!

Saturday's Seattle Times featured a front page story on an MIT study to track the flow of our refuse and recyclables. Guess out of sight no longer means out of mind. Turns out Seattle volunteers are attaching tiny transmitters to their garbage and helping chart the journey and final resting places for their trash and unwanted items - which makes us wonder where the old Evil Knievel doll and plastic motorcycle we discarded in the 1970's might be today? Or the Hello Kitty pen from just a few years back? Sadly, they're still out there...somewhere...as is most everything else non-biodegradable that has ever passed through our fingers and our lives. We think it's a fascinating study that could lead to greater individual conservation, if we're willing to face the realities of consumption and our own denial that surrounds it. Heavy stuff, for sure. Kind of like that washing machine you dumped over the embankment down that side road in 1986. It's holding up quite nicely by the way.

Check out the Seattle Times article for yourself, as well as the Trash Tracking site, and a GOOD magazine article on the study.

Seattle Times

Senseable MIT Trashtrack
Good Magazine

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