A presentation of the barriers fear presents to engaging people in sustainable waste behaviors

1. Confronting the Fear of Waste How emotions interfere in changing waste practices 1 Elizabeth O’Connell Sustainability Education Ph.D. Candidate Prescott College

2. Why look at waste? Modern consumption creates unusable waste Waste is invisible to most consumers Waste disposal has hazardous consequences Waste practices such as reusing, recycling, and composting need to become established norms 2 Ackerman (1997), Why Do We Recycle?; DeGraff et al.(2001), Affluenza; Rathje (1989), Rubbish! Royte (2005), Garbage Land; Strasser (2000), Waste and Want; Williams (2005), Waste Treatment and Disposal

3. 3 Imagine an item of great value…

4. 4 Imagine it was lostin this…

5. 5 “Waste frightens us.” – Kevin Lynch (1990) Waste represents death Waste triggers shame and denial Waste is associated with lower social status Waste can be hazardous ArisPrawaba – “death by the waste”

6. 6 Waste has always been buried 1000 years of shells in Maine, USA Modern landfill in Pennsylvania, USA

7. 7 Waste has always been burned Household trash being burned Modern incinerator in U.S.

8. 8 People bury their dead Ancient Syrian grave site Colombian graveyard Muslim burial painting

9. 9 People burn their dead Ancient Greek funeral urn wall painting Hindu funeral pyrein Nepal

10. 10 Waste, shame, and denial Waste can signify a failure to find use for an object. (Strasser, 1999) People who work with waste suffer from negative stigmatization (Gutberlet & Jayme, 2010) Waste is concealed from view. (Hawkins, 2006)

12. Overcoming the fear of waste Connecting new emotions with waste through: Art Music Ritual Education (Vik Muniz- “Pictures of Garbage – Mother and) child” 13

13. 14 Noble & Webster – “Dirty White Trash” (1998)

14. 15 Young at Art – Fashion Show (2010)

15. 16 Waste Musicians http://web.mac.com/bashthetrash/Wecome/Home_Page.html Donald Knaack Bash the Trash http://www.junkmusic.org/index.php http://www.usl.org.uk/ Urban Strawberry Lunch

16. 17

17. 18 Donald Knack “Utah Uprising” (2003)

18. 19 Ritual as a coping mechanism Egyptian burial painting Colombian funeral rites People have used ritual to deal with death and loss for centuries. (Windle,1995)

19. 20 Rituals in waste practices Composting can serve as a ritual of renewal. (Windle, 1995) Recycling is becoming aritual in many social groups. (Hawkins, 2006)

20. 21 Consumer Education As people understand the connection between their consumptive choices and waste generation, they can make more sustainable consumption choices. (DeGraaf et al, 2005) Eliminating confusion and establishing trust around recycling programs improves public participation. (DeFeo & DeGisi, 2010; Fahy, 2005)

21. 22 Waste does not have to be feared As people alter their view of waste practices to preserve resources for future generations, emotional barriers to sustainable waste management can be overcome. Tom Deininger-“Self-portrait” (2011)

22. Ackerman, F. (1997). Why do we recycle?. Washington, D.C.: Island Press. De Graaf, J., Wann, D., Naylor, T. H., & Progress, R. (2001). Affluenza: The all consuming epidemic. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Pub. Douglas, M. (1966). Purity and danger (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. Gutberlet, J., & Jayme, B. O. (2010). The story of my face: how environmental stewards perceive stigmatization (re)produced by discourse. Sustainability, 2(11), 3339-3353. Hawkins, G. (2006). The ethics of waste: how we relate to rubbish. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc. Lynch, K. (1990). Wasting away: An exploration of waste: What it is, how it happens, why we fear it, how to do it well. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books. Rathje, W. L., & Murphy, C. (1992). Rubbish!: The archaeology of garbage. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. Royte, E. (2005). Garbage land: On the secret trail of trash. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Co. Strasser, S. (2000). Waste and want: A social history of trash. New York, NY: Owl Books. Tammemagi, H. (1999). The waste crisis: Landfills, incinerators, and the search for a sustainable future. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Williams, P. T. (2005). Waste treatment and disposal. London, UK: Wiley. Windle, P. (1995). The ecology of grief. In T. Roszak, M. E. Gomes & A. D. Kanner (Eds.), Ecopsychology: Restoring the earth, healing the mind (pp. 136-148). San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books. Featured Artists’ websites http://arisprabawa.wordpress.com http://web.mac.com/bashthetrash/Wecome/Home_Page.html http://www.junkmusic.org/index.php http://www.tomdeiningerart.com/works.html http://www.timnobleandsuewebster.com/ http://www.usl.org.uk/ http://www.vikmuniz.net/ References