The authors of one of the best seasonal cookbooks ever are putting together a new book that "will help readers meet the challenges facing the earth and our communities by offering realistic alternatives to many of the consumer choices they make everyday."
Simply Sustainable will feature practical tips and experiences from contributors around the world - click here to submit your ideas.
Ah, 2010 is looking better already...
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Making treasures
This week the environmental education team hosted a program in "trash formation" with a group called the Asosyasyon pou Konbat Fatra Plastik (the Association Against Plastic Trash, or the AKFP). We invited nine extra-interested kids from our Environmental Agents program to participate in the 5-day training.
The goal was to learn how to make these:
- which are fashioned from snack wrappers and strips of cardboard (cut from USAID vegetable oil shipping boxes, naturally). Not only is this a creative way to transform unsightly used packaging into something useful and pleasing, it gives these kids the tools to start a small business if they choose.
They divided into teams, each person cutting, folding, and stitching together the long strips.
After a day or so, they warmed up to each other and passed the time having fun hanging out.
See? It's not a sweatshop!
(Remember the Agent on the far right? That's Silmique, who rocked the mountaintop tree planting day a few weeks ago. He confirmed overachieverness today when he mentioned that he's already started making these bags at home in the evenings. No, he says, his hands aren't sore from all this detailed finger-work.)
A few of the finished products:
So this is a dream development project, right? It offers a creative solution to Haiti's ubiquitous trash problem and provides a way for kids to make money and protect the environment.
Win-win...almost. I do think it's a great project, given a few caveats:
1. "All Haitians have is trash, and they make such great things with it!" True, there is a lot of trash here, but there is a danger in thinking that empty plastic wrappers are the only resource this country has. Making these items can be seen as a true act of creativity, since Haitians aren't obligated to work with these materials any more than Americans are.
2. Finding plastic trash is easy, but finding carboard is surprisingly difficult. It can be had, but having it might present too much of a challenge to starting a business.
3. Where is the market for these bags? At $15-20 US each, they're out of the price range of the average Dezam area resident - and as Frantzo pointed out, you can buy a goat for that kind of money, which will reproduce and create a return on your investment.
(If I could step on a tiny soapbox for a minute: price is actually a really interesting question. $20 is next to nothing for a week's worth of work, but all too often tourists and travelers are on the hunt for bargain-basement souvenirs and treasures: "I got this great handmade X for $2!" We in the developed world need to change the way we financially value the labor of others, regardless of where they live.)
4. Reusing does nothing to reduce consumption, of course still the primary way to reduce trash production.
I am encouraged by the fact that these issues are being addressed by AKFP and my Haitian coworkers. This morning they discussed the idea of having multiple price points to allow more working- and middle-class Haitians to afford the bags. They discussed the value in using these bags with pride, showcasing local handiwork. They recognized that this is a stopgap measure while we all work on reducing consumption.
And that discussion, my friends, is something of a development dream come true.
The goal was to learn how to make these:
- which are fashioned from snack wrappers and strips of cardboard (cut from USAID vegetable oil shipping boxes, naturally). Not only is this a creative way to transform unsightly used packaging into something useful and pleasing, it gives these kids the tools to start a small business if they choose.They divided into teams, each person cutting, folding, and stitching together the long strips.
After a day or so, they warmed up to each other and passed the time having fun hanging out.
See? It's not a sweatshop!
(Remember the Agent on the far right? That's Silmique, who rocked the mountaintop tree planting day a few weeks ago. He confirmed overachieverness today when he mentioned that he's already started making these bags at home in the evenings. No, he says, his hands aren't sore from all this detailed finger-work.)A few of the finished products:
So this is a dream development project, right? It offers a creative solution to Haiti's ubiquitous trash problem and provides a way for kids to make money and protect the environment.
Win-win...almost. I do think it's a great project, given a few caveats:
1. "All Haitians have is trash, and they make such great things with it!" True, there is a lot of trash here, but there is a danger in thinking that empty plastic wrappers are the only resource this country has. Making these items can be seen as a true act of creativity, since Haitians aren't obligated to work with these materials any more than Americans are.
2. Finding plastic trash is easy, but finding carboard is surprisingly difficult. It can be had, but having it might present too much of a challenge to starting a business.
3. Where is the market for these bags? At $15-20 US each, they're out of the price range of the average Dezam area resident - and as Frantzo pointed out, you can buy a goat for that kind of money, which will reproduce and create a return on your investment.
(If I could step on a tiny soapbox for a minute: price is actually a really interesting question. $20 is next to nothing for a week's worth of work, but all too often tourists and travelers are on the hunt for bargain-basement souvenirs and treasures: "I got this great handmade X for $2!" We in the developed world need to change the way we financially value the labor of others, regardless of where they live.)
4. Reusing does nothing to reduce consumption, of course still the primary way to reduce trash production.
I am encouraged by the fact that these issues are being addressed by AKFP and my Haitian coworkers. This morning they discussed the idea of having multiple price points to allow more working- and middle-class Haitians to afford the bags. They discussed the value in using these bags with pride, showcasing local handiwork. They recognized that this is a stopgap measure while we all work on reducing consumption.
And that discussion, my friends, is something of a development dream come true.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Fete Saut D'eau/Fet Sodo
Last Sunday, after a yummy birthday breakfast for Bryan (strawberry preserves! baked oatmeal!), we headed to the waterfall down the road for the annual week-long Vodou/Catholic festival. Yes, that's right: Vodou and Catholic. The Catholics celebrate the Vierge-Miracle, or the appearance of the Virgin Mary in a palm tree near the waterfall in 1847, while the Vodouisants come to pray to Erzulie, the goddess of love (often considered the Vodou equivalent of the Virgin Mary). Handily enough, both festivals run from July 7-16.
The waterfall itself is gorgeous enough to be a draw any time of year. We wore bathing suits and hiked up to stand under the rushing water, laughing with the dozens of people around us. It was the first time in a long time I've been around more than two ethnic groups (i.e., Haitians and me), since Sunday seemed to be some sort of UN/MINUSTAH visiting time.
Yesterday afternoon a few members of our team decided they wanted to check out the festival (for the first time ever, a fact I find somewhat astonishing considering that Dezam is pretty close to Sodo). Since the main part of the festival was supposed to be happening last night through this morning, we tagged along to see what we could see. What a difference a few days make! The waterfall was so loaded with people we didn't even attempt to bathe.
Along the road headed up to the entrance point, spur-of-the-moment rara bands sang and danced.
People stopped to light candles and leave offerings - rum, herbs, and plastic rosaries - at various places along the road.
We couldn't figure out what this carcass in the tree was - goat, perhaps?
Things were pretty similar last year, apparently, although it seems like the road has really improved since 2001 - now you can actually drive nearly all the way to the entrance point if there's space for a vehicle to pass.
I was glad we went yesterday for the sake of the experience, but overall it was one of the worst days we've had in Haiti. People were wildly aggressive: making fun of the blan, throwing things, telling us we weren't allowed there. I was cursed at more times yesterday than I ever have been in my life. I think our Haitian teammates were pretty surprised at the things people were yelling - and fortunately they went out of their way to look out for us.
Since this sort of unofficially kicks off the summer festival season in Haiti, many participants will head from Sodo to Limonad to Veret and onward. For me, though, this is the end of the party line.
The waterfall itself is gorgeous enough to be a draw any time of year. We wore bathing suits and hiked up to stand under the rushing water, laughing with the dozens of people around us. It was the first time in a long time I've been around more than two ethnic groups (i.e., Haitians and me), since Sunday seemed to be some sort of UN/MINUSTAH visiting time.
Yesterday afternoon a few members of our team decided they wanted to check out the festival (for the first time ever, a fact I find somewhat astonishing considering that Dezam is pretty close to Sodo). Since the main part of the festival was supposed to be happening last night through this morning, we tagged along to see what we could see. What a difference a few days make! The waterfall was so loaded with people we didn't even attempt to bathe.
Along the road headed up to the entrance point, spur-of-the-moment rara bands sang and danced.
People stopped to light candles and leave offerings - rum, herbs, and plastic rosaries - at various places along the road.
We couldn't figure out what this carcass in the tree was - goat, perhaps?
Things were pretty similar last year, apparently, although it seems like the road has really improved since 2001 - now you can actually drive nearly all the way to the entrance point if there's space for a vehicle to pass.I was glad we went yesterday for the sake of the experience, but overall it was one of the worst days we've had in Haiti. People were wildly aggressive: making fun of the blan, throwing things, telling us we weren't allowed there. I was cursed at more times yesterday than I ever have been in my life. I think our Haitian teammates were pretty surprised at the things people were yelling - and fortunately they went out of their way to look out for us.
Since this sort of unofficially kicks off the summer festival season in Haiti, many participants will head from Sodo to Limonad to Veret and onward. For me, though, this is the end of the party line.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Plastic: in the end, how we did.
June is over and we're now allowed to buy toilet paper and dish soap again. It's a bit irksome that it's impossible to acquire basic necessities without also acquiring a container that will be with us way past the lifespan of the product. In addition to our previously posted "sin list," I will confess to acquiring the following:
- An unseen plastic seal on an otherwise metal-lidded glass jar
- 3 plastic bags
- 2 medication packages (diarrhea gets old but quick.)
- 5 lids on otherwise non-plastic containers
- 18 buttons (technically durable goods, but still...)
- Saran Wrap (!)
While some of these were humblingly avoidable, we couldn't find a way around others.
The point of this month, however, was not to feel bad about mistakes but rather to heighten our awareness of our consumer plastic consumption. It forces me to ask: is what I'm about to purchase actually a necessity? Is there a creative way to solve this problem, a way that doesn't need that plastic push? It also helped me see the patterns in my purchasing and work toward alleviating those demands. It's true that I won't be able to cut out my plastic usage entirely, but simple changes can have a long-lasting impact (e.g., think of how many yogurt containers I didn't buy since I started making my own).
As Alexis pointed out, the ability to generate trash is sometimes a sign of upward mobility: it's no accident that it's much easier to be plastic-free here in Dezam, the least-affluent place we've ever lived. For those of us who aspire to live simply so that all may simply live, maybe the ubiquity of plastic can remind us that we are among the haves of the world. And maybe taking steps to reduce our consumption can be an act of creative solidarity with those who don't have the option of paper or plastic.
- An unseen plastic seal on an otherwise metal-lidded glass jar
- 3 plastic bags
- 2 medication packages (diarrhea gets old but quick.)
- 5 lids on otherwise non-plastic containers
- 18 buttons (technically durable goods, but still...)
- Saran Wrap (!)
While some of these were humblingly avoidable, we couldn't find a way around others.
The point of this month, however, was not to feel bad about mistakes but rather to heighten our awareness of our consumer plastic consumption. It forces me to ask: is what I'm about to purchase actually a necessity? Is there a creative way to solve this problem, a way that doesn't need that plastic push? It also helped me see the patterns in my purchasing and work toward alleviating those demands. It's true that I won't be able to cut out my plastic usage entirely, but simple changes can have a long-lasting impact (e.g., think of how many yogurt containers I didn't buy since I started making my own).
As Alexis pointed out, the ability to generate trash is sometimes a sign of upward mobility: it's no accident that it's much easier to be plastic-free here in Dezam, the least-affluent place we've ever lived. For those of us who aspire to live simply so that all may simply live, maybe the ubiquity of plastic can remind us that we are among the haves of the world. And maybe taking steps to reduce our consumption can be an act of creative solidarity with those who don't have the option of paper or plastic.
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