Monday, February 11, 2008

Supporting (and searching for) Beauty

When I read about Project Support Beauty in Nature, it didn't take long for me to think of the biggest problem area in my surroundings.


I know. Yikes. While I realize that a parking lot is not exactly "nature," it is my environment. And kids play out there too. So, here's how this problem occurs:

Too little space (from couches, mattresses, etc. wedged in at awkward angles)
+ too many people's trash (because the neighboring complex seems to prefer our dumpster to theirs)
= overflowing nastiness.

What could we do about this in a short amount when we don't even know where this seemingly endless supply of furniture comes from? After considering a number of more complicated options, we settled on something very simple.


A flyer. It asks people to donate the furniture rather than throwing it out and gives the number for the Salvation Army. (They pick up furniture, etc. free of charge.) Because of the local demographic, I also did one in Spanish.

My very brave hubby taped them on to the front of the dumpster.


Will this small step make any difference? Will people take the time to call? I don't know. All we can do is try, right? And I think it's worth a shot.


In other news: I tried to get us a recycling bin this week, too, but that's still up in the air. We recycle anyway, but it'd sure be nice not to have to drive in order to do it.

Did you do something in the past two weeks to make your world a little more cleaner or greener? Please share! :) And if you blogged about it, add a link to your post.

3 comments:

  1. I LOVE THIS IDEA!! (not shouting, just enthusiastic) To be even more effective, you might try calling the management of your complex and the one that seems to choose to dump in yours, and see if they would let you post the fliers in their lobbies. People might be even more likely to make those phone calls if they haven't already hauled the furniture down to the dumpster. What a good thing you've done!

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  2. Thanks so much! I appreciate the suggestions too. Where I live is actually a set of condos with no central office/management and kind of a dysfunctional HOA. Fliers at the apt. complex next door might be worth a shot. The reason we didn't start there is we have a theory that the massive amount of furniture *could* possibly be coming from the management cleaning out abandoned apts. Worth asking, though, you're right.

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  3. YOU ARE AWESOME.

    This was a fantastic idea! So many people who drop their furniture there probably just had no idea that there was an easy alternative. And having the vision to put it in Spanish, too, was excellent.

    Kudos to you and your husband. You guys are part of the solution.

    :-D

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