Serious Questions?

 

Does it smell?

Nope. Trash doesn’t smell. Garbage smells. Garbage has organic matter in it. Remove the organic matter from the equation by composting it and there is no smell anymore. Cool.

How much did you actually make?

Picture a queen sized bed mattress and box spring. That much. I haven’t weighed it yet. I will. In addition to the trash I have, I composted approximately 120 quarts of organic matter.

Does it attract bugs and animals?

Nope. Trash doesn’t smell. Garbage smells. Garbage has organic matter in it. Remove the organic matter from the equation by composting it and there is no smell anymore. Cool.

Where did you keep it?

In a closet in my kitchen in various crates, bags and plastic containers.

What will  you do with it now?

Find an artist who is far more visually creative than I am. I am very creative in other ways. You know, ways like, “maybe I should keep all of my trash for a year.” I’m must less visually acute and inventive. If you’re that artist, let me know. I want to turn it into a fascinating, unique, beautiful, revealing, biographical piece that people will want to see. This has some serious potential.

Why did you do this?

Easy answer – because I care so deeply about the earth and the people who inhabit it that I want to know as much as I can and do as much as I can to contribute positively. In some roundabout way I believe this project does that.

 

Deep answer – because I have a very close, very intimate relationship with the earth. I have been taking people to the mountains on journeys for over a decade. Every year I spend multiple days alone in the mountains, fasting, contemplating life, myself, my ego, my community, my place in existence. I have relearned how to communicate directly with the planet, with the animals and with all of the things people don’t think we can speak to – trees, rocks, plants, etc. No, I don’t need drugs to do this. After all of these years, the earth and I talk about many things. She came up with this idea and asked me to do it. If you can’t handle this answer and it makes you feel weird and makes me sound like an ungrounded, new age, freak to you, that’s ok. I invite you to spend significant time in nature and simply see for yourself what happens. I feel good about who I am.