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| finding trash with heart... |
Well, we have to say that our trash pick in uptown Oakland and over to Lake Merritt on Sunday afternoon was pretty much as awesome as trash-picking can get. Good conversations, thought-provoking finds, a public poetry reading and, oh yeah, lots of trash cleaned from the streets! Altogether we were seven volunteers and spent almost three solid hours cleaning and bagging trash, and chronicling some of these experiences, thanks to our steady cameraman Mike.
There's lots more to say of course but instead of my trying to summarize it I wonder: if you were on the pick, what's one memorable experience you had? Connection you made? Thing you found? Picking technique you developed? Or other memorable aspect of the afternoon?
And if you weren't on the pick, but were there in spirit or involved in picking somewhere else, we'd love to hear your pickin' thoughts too!
Hi, This is Ray ! I was happy to eat a BLT Sandwich at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe in Downtown Oakland while waiting to meet the group for the pick...BLT was delicious, and gave me a lot of energy to pick up trash off the streets, that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteMy memorable picks were picks in red....
I found a useful pair of red chopsticks,
and a not-so-useful tube of bright red lipstick left on top of a metal box thingy where the traffic signal fuses probably are probably housed...you know, those lightly green colored boxes on street corners that no one questions or notices...
I wonder if street cleaning actually happens on some streets. We were cleaning a side street, and the gutters didn't look like they were ever swept, even though there was a street cleaning sign (which stated 3 days/week). Claire's theory was that it gave the city an excuse to ticket cars. Or perhaps people don't remember to move their cars, so the street sweeper needs to skip the block.
ReplyDelete@Ray, I remember your pick was colored in red. What have you done with the chopsticks and the lipstick? Last I remember you were going to put that lipstick to good use on a painting...
ReplyDelete@Youki Totally--I think the whole street sweeping thing is a ruse. Like how police officers sweep through parks at night and tell people sleeping on benches to get up and "move along, move along"...the city doesn't like it when people start gathering in places they don't pay for. (think about the nightly watering down of UN Plaza at Civic Center in SF). Where did the term "loitering" come from, anyway? It makes me wonder.
It's funny to think back to a pick from a few days ago. Right now I remember the people, the chatter, and the sunshine, soaking up the sun's rays for several hours while winding through the streets. I like the approach of "following the trash", of discovering new turns and corners and streets and 'leaving behind a trail of clean'. Even though it may be tiring or may make me uncomfortable. I definitely was aware of my own appearance--my culture, my race, my class, etc. in the direct interactions and indirect exchanges we have with the place. I kind of wish we had got to join the Keep Oakland Beautiful people the day before on Bancroft Ave. in east Oakland, meet hundreds of other pickers. They are out there, somewhere, somewhen...
On one block, 14th street or maybe 15th a man approached me, held out his crumpled up, empty chip bag and mumbled something. It took me a minute to realize he was giving me his trash, I was after all out there collecting trash.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a number of flickr photos of hair weaves abandonded on Oakland streets http://www.flickr.com/groups/weavewatch/pool/with/2335499647/ Sunday was the first time I've seen the phenomenon in person.
Hi everyone! This was my first pick and I thoroughly enjoyed it! What a great way to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon!! Focusing on trash for the afternoon made me realize just how much there is around the city--especially cigarette butts...
ReplyDeleteAccording to this 2004 CDC report (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5444a2.htm), there are 45.3 million smokers in the US, which is 20.8% of the population. The average number of cigarettes smoked per day is 16.8, which means there are 761,040,000 cigarettes smoked per day in the US. Given the average cigarette butt is ~3 cm, in one day all the cigarettes butts put end to end would measure 22,831,200 meters= 22,831.2 km; in one year: 8,333,388,000 m
At it's closest, Jupiter is 628,743,036 km from the Earth. Sooo.... If we all worked together, it would take 75.4 years to accumulate enough cigarette butts to reach Jupiter. If we did it together as a planet, it would probably be A LOT less. :-)
Eugenator: Good work on those butt statistics! We can do it! Let's start gettin those butts together, and build the butt ladder to Jupiter!
ReplyDelete@Eugene - good butt and Jupiter info. Thanks. This talk of lining up butts reminds me of an anti-smoking campaign from many years ago that went something like - "If you lined up every cigarette in the world end to end ... (wait for it) ... you wouldn't have time to smoke a single one." My young mind instantly saw both the cleverness of this claim (didn't see that punchline coming) as well as the fallacy - Of course I'd have time to smoke - I mean first of all, I'm just lining up cigarettes not repairing a watch or removing a gall bladder - I could do this one-handed plus most of the time the cigarette is just dangling from my lips - and secondly, HELLO! Apparently I'm in possession of every cigarette in the world so ....
ReplyDeleteBut I digress. Sunday was a good pick. The weather was excellent. The pickings were anything but slim. Nice being in downtown Oakland - finishing with the lake in view was a treat. Looking forward to next time.