It’s Good to be Trashy

Since today is Earth Day, I thought a couple beautiful creations comprised of our thrown away junk would be perfect for a post.

My Short Rant

In modern society, everyone seems to consider themselves as at least somewhat of an “environmentalist”. Still, almost no one ever actually makes a move to help out. For example, hardly no one car pools anymore. We throw away water bottles after using them once. Even the dumpster on campus designated for recycling is hardly ever used, the usual excuse being that it’s too far to one side of the apartments. It’s a little ridiculous considering how easy taking that tiny amount of extra time would be.

The Good Stuff

I’ve found several sources of some awesome tire sculptures, but unfortunately I couldn’t find the artist(s).

By molding recycled tires into full-sized horses, sharks, and even a saber-tooth tiger, some true environmentalist has created extremely powerful works of art. Not only are they expertly posed and crafted, they have also opened many eyes to the beauty that taking time to gather trash can really sum up.

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Plastic, Not Paper

One of the more common items that feeds landfills across the world is the plastic bag. Luckily, people have found ways to convert this one-time-use trash into clothing, figurines, and even furniture.

Whether they’re being environmentally friendly or just plain cooky, I don’t know. What is for sure, is that their patience and motivation turned parts of our home’s downfall into beautiful and even useful works of art.

Museo Aero Solar

One artist in particular really decided to raise the bar on the plastic bag idea.

In an effort to “spread awareness about global warming and the evils of plastic (with respect to the environment)”, Argentinian artist Tomas Saraceno designed and created a solar-powered hot air balloon consisting to recycled plastic bags. If that’s not interesting enough, every time the balloon travels the world, a new section is added. This keeps the ride’s color, shape, size, and even techniques constantly evolving, reflecting a major part of Saraceno’s underlying objective.