Do you have a junk drawer?
Mine is a default filing location for all those things that don't belong anywhere else -- miscellaneous things that I can't throw out.
It's not that I'm a pack rat, it's just that I hate the thought of garbaging something potentially useful.
In less wealthy countries all of the things in my drawer would be resources. Why throw out these manufactured products that could have more of a life than the landfill? Does this collection make me feel rich? Or am I hoarding trash because of a Depression mentality developed from my mother's stories of making do with little.
In India scouring dumps and garbages provides an economy for otherwise disenfranchised people. In India, trash pickers provide the vital service of recycling. Check Chintan Environmental Resource and Action Group (http://www.chintan-india.org/) for more details on that.
Inspired by a course I'm taking at UVIC this summer (Indigenous Education)--a course taught by an inspiring teacher--I plan to empty this junk drawer.
I want to look at what's in the hodge podge mixture. I want to let go of old stuff that's not useful any more. I want to make space for good stuff, new stuff, stuff that I don't even know about yet.
I'll keep you posted.
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