Life In Plastic
If you have followed me for some time, you’re likely aware I routinely #trashrun during my running workouts and post blurbs in my Instagram stories about my hauls. This started in June 2019 when I began seriously training again. I’d head out on my runs and, without fail, pass significant numbers of cans, bottles, take out containers, food wrappers, chew tins, bags, you name it.
A ‘successful” trash run | spring 2020
Running had always been therapeutic for me growing up. However, as I worked back into it, I couldn’t help but notice how trashed the roads and trails were that I frequented. It was this concerning visual nuisance that kept eating away at me with each mile. A few miles in one morning, I finally became annoyed enough I just stopped mid stride and picked the damn stuff up. I had no bag, no pockets, but I filled my hands and stuck a couple cans in the crook of my elbows and when I had no more room to carry garbage, turned around and headed for home, albeit at a much slower pace. That day in June I realized there was a simple change I could make to clean up my community and make a (small) difference while out running. Really, anyone can do this. Walking, running, hiking? Bring a bag for anything you encounter.
Since then, most runs I head out with a bag, (or two, or three) and go about my route, pausing every so often to clean up the roadways, ditches, and margins. For anyone thinking, ‘what’s the big deal, it’s just a few cans?’, I can assure you, it most certainly is not. Only three times have I returned with no trash. Two of those were on dedicated college research forestland trails, which tend to have less trash to begin with. Outside of the fact that plastic remains intact (even as it begins to fragment into smaller pieces) for easily 400 years, it is a detriment to the health of our ecosystems and communities. Besides, what kind of self-absorbed person thinks littering isn’t an issue? That their garbage isn’t their problem and can be tossed out the window freely -- out of sight, out of mind. Perhaps the same people that go to extra lengths to create messes for janitorial staff to deal with, or those that leave outdoor recreation sites littered with waste for the next patrons to encounter and pack out?
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Life In Plastic (stabilized/dyed Bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum | 2020)
In addition to clearing debris from the roadways, I try to avoid working with plastic and unnecessary waste in my art too. I tend to avoid certain finishes, products and stabilized wood options. In the woodturning and woodworking communities plasticizers, like epoxies and resins, have been around for some time, but have only recently seen a huge surge in popularity. Possibly thanks to the many powder and liquid pigments that can be added to these products to artificially color or accent an otherwise plain bit of lumber? If you’ve seen one of the ever-popular river tables, or charcuterie boards with a seam of resin running through them, you know what I’m talking about! I can understand the visual appeal, but I’m not a fan. As a turner, cutting into stabilized wood blanks feels as though you’re carving into a small block of concrete. There’s a definite disconnect between what the wood used to be and what it’s been transformed into -- anatomically altered as those vessel elements filled with a hardening liquid plastic.
I chose to not adhere to my general avoidance of plasticized wood for this piece, however. Life in Plastic, features two stabilized wood blanks turned into the shape of bottles, entrapped in tangled fishing line and a plastic six-pack ring. The intent was to create a visual collection of items that, unfortunately, will be around for many years. Stabilized wood products do not decay well like its unaltered relatives--it can be tough when water can’t permeate fully plasticized cells. Monofilament fishing line takes easily 500-600 years to degrade, and those six-pack rings, which when tossed aside can readily kill avian, mammalian and aquatic species through strangulation or being misidentified as food. This piece is meant to make you ponder your relationship to plastic and waste in general.
Picking up trash is merely addressing the symptoms of a throw-away culture rooted in hyper-consumption, where it is more cost effective in the short term to get that single-use item than to forgo the product or find an alternative. This is not an easy discussion. Some of the issues lie in socio-economic or environmental concerns that already plaque a population. Think about all the communities that don’t have access to a reliable, clean source of drinking water, here in the US and across the globe. Plastic-packaged water becomes liquid gold in terms of access to basic needs.
The final word goes to you. What do you think? Is our ever-increasing life in plastic as fantastic as it was once promised? How have you seen consumerist waste impact your community? What is something you will do to change our reliance on a plasticized existence? If you’re a woodturner or woodworker, what is your relationship with stabilized products? How do you work to minimize the waste created through your project productions? Leave a comment below!
One small action, performed by many people, can many a huge impact.