june 1st - the home stretch- well this is it, the start of the last month of the trash tour. And perhaps it has something to do with all those prenatal yoga classes that I am taking (for the record- I am not pregnant- just want to learn modifications for my pregnant students), but I am starting to get kinda attached to my trash pile. It still fits somewhat conveniently in a handbag or backpack and weighs about 3 lbs. I read the other day that the average American makes 4.6 lbs of trash a day and I thought it would be interesting to try and keep the weight of my trash under 5 lbs for the entire tour. No guarantees though, as I made the mistake of ordering a coconut water at a Thai restaurant without confirming that it actually came in the coconut...I ended up getting a ridiculously heavy can of coconut "juice" with the can weighing probably half a pound - empty! (no joke)...it was somewhat authentic as it came from Thailand and I can only imagine the shipping costs for a full case of these things. Well live and learn I guess...it's a great souvenir of the trash tour and I loved every sip of the juice as my beverage intake has been primarily water, raw juice and almond milk based for the duration of the tour. But I will definitely be doing some research before ordering coconut water at a restaurant in the future.

Here are some of the most recent pics of the trash as I am flying to Colorado in a couple days and fearful that airport security might try to take my trash because it resembles some sort of a hazard (or they just can't figure out why anyone would do this!)...hopefully it survives the journey.

may 19th - *HALF WAY THROUGH* (day 50)- my apologies for not writing in a while...but I'm a YogaSlacker...what did you expect? It's actually been a crazy past couple of weeks with SLACRO FEST being a huge success and a whole lot of slackers crashing my apartment. The trash continues to slowly collect and as this is the half way point, I thought it would be great to show some images. Thanks to Esther Bell for the photo shoot and video footage...hopefully we'll have something on the web soon!

to the right are images from a photo shoot with Esther Bell, taken half way through the trash tour (day 50) (www.estherbell.com) she is doing a video documentary of my trash tour and trying to spread the word to broadcasters and the like

Sorry the images got cropped a bit...to see the full size ones please visit: www.adicarter.com/trashtour

(in reverse chronological order)

APRIL

April 23 - "This bag is not plastic" was the green cursive writing on a very cute canvas bag that I saw a girl carrying on the subway today. After an amazing Earth Day yesterday, teaching about sustainability and talking about my trash, seeing this anti-plastic message the day after was inspiring. I was about to talk to the girl and tell her how cool her bag was when I noticed she had 2 plastic bags in her other hand. Suddenly my heart sank...oh...maybe it wasn't as inspiring as I had previously thought...perhaps, she is trying to make an anti-eco statement about how silly we are for trying to carrying our own bags...or maybe being green is hip now and she was jumping on the trend. My mind quickly jumped through all of these possible scenarios and then I started to take a closer look at her plastic bags. They were slightly worn and the corners had holes in them. In fact, they resembled the bundle of plastic bags the I had in my backpack at that very moment to purchase fruits and vegetables with so as not to take new ones. And then I thought...perhaps this girl is just like me. I never did talk to her as my stop came up quickly and I had to jump off the train, however I was reminded of a valuable lesson in those couple moments: every time we point the finger there are 3 fingers pointing back at us...we can not assume anyone is doing more or less for the planet, we can just spread the word and hope others are inspired to follow our lead.

April 20 - HAPPY HERBALISM DAY! After returning from an amazing trip to Fredonia University to teach AcroYoga workshops...I realized that the future of the planet is in good hands. These college seniors and juniors were so inspiring and loved learning about the trash tour and what can be done to be more mindful in the reduction of trash and recycling. One of the highlights of the trash tour so far was getting on an airplane at 6am the other morning with my trash. I hardly travel with anything to begin with and now I was carrying a clear plastic bag with itemized trash inside...security did not know what to do with me. Fortunately the pope was scheduled to arrive 2 hours after my departure from JFK so they had bigger things to worry about. Once they decided that clearly my trash could not be explosive in anyway and that it was only potentially harmful to myself and my mental state, the lady laughed at me and sent me on my way with a "you go girl...save the planet"...and at least I will try my best.

April 14 - I am totally inspired by what amazing friends I have! People go out of their way to provide me with glasses and ceramic dishes (so that I don't have to use disposable ones) at parties, and someone even offered to unwrap a green bar for me so that the trash wouldn't be "officially" mine. I laughed and declined the offer as I somehow felt responsible, even if someone else was producing the trash for me. It was so cute when my friend actually apologized for throwing something away in front of me and all I could express was gratitude that she was inspired to think twice about what she was throwing away. My goal is never to shame anyone for the decisions they make- especially the one to produce trash as it is practically encouraged in this disposable culture that we live in. My objective is to lead by example, offer sollutions, and educate until the word spreads. And for everyone who has thought twice about what they throw out I know that the seeds are planted and they are starting to cultivate a mindfulness about this practice of trash. And with mindfulness and a desire to create change, I truely believe anything is possible. I encountered a really brilliant quote the other day, given by Al Gore in his lecture New thinking on the climate crisis: "if you want to go quickly...go alone, if you want to go far...go together. We have to go far quickly. So we have to have a change in consciousness, a change in commitment a new sense of urgency, a new appreciation of the priviledge that we have in undertaking this challenge (dealing with climate change)" view the entire talk on TED. For me, hearing this has made all the difference.

April 7 - just when you think you have gone an entire day without producing any trash (it is possible!)...you come home, open your mail box and there is a ton of junk mail awaiting you. Most people would say this is not their problem, but I feel somewhat responsible since these businesses got my name and address and decided that I really do need more credit cards. I guess it is all part of the practice - eating foods that don't come in packaging, re-using plastic bags and food containers, not purchasing goods on-line (which requires packaging to ship)...and now...calling every credit card company and mail order catalog shipping department to ask to be kindly removed from the mailing list. It is not a difficult thing to do, but to do it without getting angry at these people for contributing to "my trash mobile" is truely a practice in patience and acceptance that our actions as individuals are always influenced by others and our surroundings.

April 3 - it's amazing what a difference 3 days can make in the way you live your life. Grabbing a quick meal on the run now takes intricate planning so as to not create any trash. And just when you think you can pat yourself on the back for going an entire day without creating any trash, you grab a delicious mushroom skewer appetizer at a cocktail party and realize that the lovely bamboo skewer that you just ate off of, will ultimately become trash. Or, in my case, you pocket the skewer as it has now become something that you use to hold your hair up with. I guess what it all comes down to is thinking before you act. Or simply put, mindfulness. We often times act out of habit and this is where we tend to slip- the daily rituals and routines that we take for granted- disposable plastic drinking containers, plastic utensils and plastic bags all are readily made available for us and we rarely ask at what cost? What I have learned most during these past 3 days is to ask the questions: why? from where did it come? and where is it going? before I decide to consume something. Often times this is enough to make me reconsider and chose a more sustainable option for meals, transportation and evening activities.

April 1 - let the rules of the trash tour be defined as such:

1) I will not be carrying any garbage- garbage is compostable material such as food scraps, toilet paper, dental floss, q-tips...you know, any of the really gross stuff. These items biodegrate in the earth and often times provide additional nutrients to soil.

2) Should I decide that a trash item is a potential bio-hazard, i.e. contains bacteria or a non-solid substance that could potentially leak, spill, spread or contaminate, I assure I will not be carrying this either as the purpose of this project is to educate not endanger in any way.

3) I will not carry trash from packages that are sent to me from other people especially for work/fundraising related reasons (such as boxes from sponsors with product donations and the like). Cardboard is very heavy and the packing materials are primarily paper which is extremely bulky and will take up too much space in the trash mobile. I prefer to reserve this space for trash that I produce through my personal consumption and that I can use to educate about the food, beverages and products we as individuals chose to consume on a daily basis. So sorry to anyone who had the brilliant idea of sending me a "care package" filled with their trash to see what I'd do with it...cute...but I ain't carrying it.

MARCH

March 29 - Nothing like the impending threat of traveling with your trash for 3 months to make you get a jump start on your spring cleaning to remove anything that could potentially become trash (and extra weight to carry). I found a thrown out suitcase on the street which I had the distinct pleasure of tearing apart today (to the soundtrack of Nirvana) so as to have a frame with wheels to transport the bag with all my trash...aka the trash mobile. Below are some before and after shots.

take one discarded suitcase that you find on the street...tear it to shreads and you might just find a frame inside suitable to provide the wheels for the trash mobile. The plastic bags were sewn together to create the actual bag which will travel on the frame...images to come when it starts getting full of trash.

March 1, 2008 - the fun starts in just one month...to prepare for this madness I am already starting to switch to unpackaged food and trying to remove my name from all credit card mailing lists as well as catalog subscriptions. Wondering how to make my own soy, almond or hemp milk as I seem to go through at least a carton of the stuff a week...if anyone knows how please let me know. The "trash mobile" a clear plastic wheelie bag that I will be traveling with that has the contents of my trash inside and is labeled with the catch phrase "ASK ME ABOUT MY JUNK" is in the works...I intend to make it myself by sewing together used clear plastic bags and somehow attaching it to a wheelie frame from a discarded roll on bag or something of that sort. again, if you have any ideas- please give a shout out.