My first memory of composting is from autumn 2004. My best friend and I were in the midst of a leaf fight. I have no idea if this is a normal kid’s game or just something two kids racing towards a sugar crash created in a fit of boredom. The rules of the game were simple: find any leaf and chuck it at your opponent.
I work for a big retailer.
I live for real sustainability.
These sides of me are at odds like Miley Stewart and Hannah Montana.
Okay. Yes, my alternate persona isn’t a pop icon or a sorta unpopular middle-schooler. But, hear me out — the Miley-me, the real me, is a hippie adjacent who has nightmares about discarded K-cups. The Hannah-me, my work persona, actively helps people by fast fashion and 24 packs of bottled waters.
On nearly every shift, I see something that makes my teeth grind beneath my hand-stitched, ethically-made fabric mask. Generally it’s something small — like having…
NOTE: this is the original of a piece I reworked/reposted here.
https://curiosityshots.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Girton-Road-2.m4a
2016 marked the unimaginable. The start of the end — or the end — of the short film platform, Vine. In October of that same year, Twitter announced that starting the following January, Vine would put in place a permanent lock on users, preventing them from posting videos. Twitter’s decision to move away from the micro-video world ultimately led to the rise of a new platform, the (in)famous TikTok-then known as Musical.ly. With this new platform came the rise of viral challenges.
Collective grief has been around since the formation of tribes and communities, but it has adapted in recent years to match where we connect most — online.
When my grandpa passed away in early 2013, I was devastated. We all were. He was the ever-patient patriarch of our family and community. Throughout his funeral service and shiva, I cried. The moment my silent heaves stopped, my eyes would meet someone else’s and I’d start all over again. After his funeral, I took to Facebook with an in memoriam. It was a simple post — his life dates along with a sepia-tinted photo of him from his youth. The memorial felt like an appropriate testimony to his nature, classic and dignified. Hours later, when I logged back on…
A friendly guide to turn that paralyzing dread into progress
If there was ever a time to have a colony of butterflies growing in your belly, it’s now.
As wildfires rage in the west, tropical storms batter the south, and leaders refuse to take any action, let alone pass a comprehensive green plan that target the biggest polluters (the 100 companies producing 70% of carbon emissions), the threat of global warming is no longer looming on the horizon. It’s here. And every day, that threatening front moves further inland.
Many of us are feeling higher levels of that clenched jaw, vibrational anxiety known as eco-anxiety. While it’s normal, it isn’t…
I didn’t see a single Sasquatch in the three weeks I spent in the Pacific North West. Instead, I saw some of the most environmentally friendly cityscapes.
We had barely left the bus terminal when our guide cheerfully boomed into his headset, “Some of you might have heard a faint buzzing since you got on the bus. If not, take a listen.” He paused. “Now you hear it, right? Because we have the lowest noise pollution of any large city you can hear the four beehives at work on the Vancouver Convention Centre’s green roof!”
This was the first of many progressive, city-sponsored sustainability efforts pointed out on that tour. And rightly so – Vancouver has plenty of awe-inspiring marvels in its cityscape.
After announcing their Greenest…
This isn’t another essay on masks.
This is another essay on pandemic innovation.
BC (Before Coronavirus), regular mask use to prevent the spread of illness and keep pollution out of our delicate lungs was commonplace in East Asian countries. By 2013, face masks became a fashion statement. Masks that represented the styles of kawaii, Gyaru, Fairy Kei, Lolita, Harajuku, and even smog couture entered mainstream streetwear in Japan, China, and South Korea, and through online communities.
After a brief re-education on accessibility, I came across this Tweet of a socially distanced concert with wide aisles, flexible seating arrangements, and a huge Jumbotron on stage. My mind immediately raced with all the possibilities for an inclusive future.
In the five months since the initial coronavirus lockdowns started we’ve seen tremendous changes in all aspects of our lives — from the way we move throughout the day to the conversations we’re engaging in. As someone who’s taken more neoclassical art history courses than she’d care to admit, I am well aware of and sympathetic towards ‘eat the rich’ sentiments. Still, if you had asked me six months ago if calls to Defund the Police or Eat the Rich were coming from people on all sides or just from radical leftists, I would’ve dropped my croissant right then and…
Weeks or maybe months ago — I’m not sure, time is much less precise during Stay at Home — my thumb led me to an Instagram post that showed acne in a fresh, unashamed, unfiltered light. At least it was all these things to me. These photos highlighted acne and the picture-perfect imperfections of real skin on all genders, ages, and colors. I live with the ever-present bumps on my skin, but rarely have I seen acne so clearly displayed on social media and even rarer yet seen acne as something that just is rather than something to be cured.
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Alexis Bondy
🌎 🌱 Image credit: Alice Butenko (@alivka)
