090: Trash Academy - Communicating Consumption and Waste through Activism & Advocacy with Ron Whyte

Trash Academy, a project of Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Environmental Justice department, is an intergenerational collaboration of young people, seasoned activists, artists, non-profits, local government, and concerned citizens of diverse backgrounds. These interventions are geared to complicate and deepen people’s understanding of litter, consumption, and waste and shift attitudes from passive acceptance to proactive responses to the waste stream. Collectively, they design projects that add surprising and interesting elements to the urban landscape using fun group activities and games, teach-ins, workshops, and three Trash Mobiles providing on-site art and creativity studios at neighborhood events and locales.

Today’s Sponsors: 

Climate Talks is a new podcast exploring sustainability and the ways that we communicate about the climate. Catch season 1 now as host Sophia Li interviews climate optimists, investigating the steps we can take to work towards a more sustainable future. https://pod.link/1592523204

In this episode Marjorie and Ron discuss:

• Some of the challenges with waste in Philadelphia and how Trash Academy is educating people of all ages about the true impact of waste in our communities
• How the Trash Mobile and other activities use concepts like gamification to have a lasting impact that traditional PSAs and non-interactive signage have not been able to accomplish
• How parents can help their children better understand the concept of trash
• Good first steps for how to get involved in issues you care about in your own community

Resources mentioned in today's episode:

• Vanessa Nakate - read her UN profile here: https://www.un.org/youthenvoy/vanessa-nakate/
• • Vanessa’s organization: Youth for Future Africa: https://www.facebook.com/YOUTH-for-Future-Africa-112041190182345/
• Archive.org, is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson: http://www.rachelcarson.org/SilentSpring.aspx

Connect with Trash Academy:

• Website: https://www.trashacademy.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trash.academy/

Connect with Marjorie Alexander:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asustainablemind/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SustainableMind
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/asustainablemind/
• Website: http://www.asustainablemind.com  

Interested in sponsoring or supporting A Sustainable Mind? Visit our sponsorship page at ASustainableMind.com/sponsor!