Someone, somewhere wants it !
In October it is planned to have in the Church an ecologically themed service in which our attention will be drawn to one of our Unitarian guiding principles “respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part”
This article is to draw attention to one of the practical ways in which we might lessen our impact on the environment and so thread more lightly on this amazing, fragile, glistening, swirling blue ball on which we make our annual trip around the sun.
It is common knowledge that an unacceptable amount of useful material, produced at no little human and ecological cost, is unhappily referred to as “rubbish” or “trash” and is consigned to landfill. Anyone who has heard that wonderful Guy Clark song “Stuff that Works” will be aware of the alternative possibility that this article is intended to inspire.
The idea is simple: Log on to www.jumbletown.ie and there you will find a website where you can offer the people of the planet whatever it is you no longer need and others can offer you a variety of useful objects which might otherwise be prematurely consigned to a skip.
There is a second site working along the same lines at http://www.dublinwaste.ie/free_trade.php
This free giving and free receiving is encouraged by our local authorities overburdened as they are with the problem of dealing with the mountain of waste generated by a throw away mentality that is one of the downsides afflicting our more affluent society.
Items observed in Dublin Waste as this article was being prepared:
An iPod nano
A DVD player
A baby changing table (which looked brand new)
A massage plinth
A lightweight walking frame
A stair Lift
And of course furniture items too numerous to mention
Apart from furniture items Fran and I have passed on computer and photographic equipment, electrical items and even an overgrown houseplant, the latter much appreciated by its new owner (who incidentally arrived with an unexpected gift for us of a less mature and much more manageable specimen!).
We have recently given away one computer desk and have been given a more suitable one by someone else. On the 26th August after the service here we gave away two pine chests and when our recipient had departed with her treasure we picked up a wonderful old planter from a lady who no longer had use for it. Now we are on the lookout for a small fruit tree to take up residence in the planter! This giving and receiving is really a lot of fun.
So there it is - your chance to lower the strain on your overburdened attic, reduce your physical (and mental) clutter and an opportunity to pick up a gem or two along the way. The jumbletown population is 6.4 billion (and growing) and as the website reminds us “Someone somewhere wants it!)
Tony Brady
PS (If you see someone nicknamed “wantnot” on the jumbletown website then you will know it is me. Don’t forget to let me know how you get on!)
An OECD report in March 2006 stated that Ireland produces more waste per capita than any other developed nation in the world, including the USA. Every man, woman, and child in Ireland produces 760 kg of "waste" per year.
The EU average is around 520kg per capita. Forfas, the Irish-government advisory board, reported in June 2006 that the waste picture in Ireland was 777kg per capita - even worse than that described in the OECD report.
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