Waste land "follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro" (Waste Land). The documentary invites you into the world of Jardim Gramacho and gives you a look into the lives of some of the workers who spend almost every waking hour there. You quickly learn that this community isn't a group of garbage pickers, but that they are people who are working to earn a living and who care about the "trash" at Jardim Gramacho. The documentary introduces you to one of the visionaries and creators a special group of people at the garbage dumb. To get a better understanding of the issues and problems this documentary is portraying I have included a clip from the documentaries website...
"In 1995, Rio’s sanitation department began to rehabilitate the landfill and formalise the job of the catador, granting licenses to catadores as well as enforcing basic safety standards, like the banning of children from the landfill. They also began a pilot project to create a carbon negative power plant fuelled by urban solid waste. On their side, the catadores formed ACAMJG, the Association of Recycling Pickers of Jardim Gramacho, whose president, Tião Santos, is featured in WASTE LAND. ACAMJG lead the way in community development. Under Tião’s leadership, ACAMJG has created a decentralized system of recycling collection in neighboring municipalities; the creation of a recycling center, professional recognition of the catador, enabling catadores to be contracted for their services, the creation of a 24 hour medical clinic, and the construction of a daycare center and skills training center. In addition to their community initiatives, ACAMJG leads a national movement for greater professional recognition for the catador and support from the federal government and has teamed up with other movements across South America to hold the first international conference of catadores in São Paulo in November 2009." (Waste Land)
One of the first things I thought of while watching this video was India. In 2010, I had the opportunity to go to India with an organization called Truthseekers International. They are a "Christ-Centered reconciliation movement committed to spiritual and social freedom for India's oppressed" (Truthseekers). While I want to write on and on about the wonderful ministry of Truthseekers, I will stick to the point of this post ---> TRASH. While in India, I was blown away by the amount of trash and garbage that was scattered everywhere! When preparing for my time in India, I thought and "prepared" about the differences of the nation I was going to (as best as I could). Trash and the actual physical state of the land that I was going did not ever enter my mind. Upon arriving I was shocked at how dirty the land was because of all the trash, waste, litter, garbage, or whatever you want to call it. I just kept thinking to myself about the trash, and would be sad that their beautiful nation was overcome by such an amount of trash. There is so much beauty all around, but it had a tendency of being overlooked because of trash.
What else would/should I have expected though? In a nation comprised of over a billion people, there will be a lot of trash. A billion people have a lot of waste. Especially in a country such as India, where they are not focused on issues like trash when the are concerned with having enough basic and other important needs like food, water, shelter, raising a family, having a job. Trash isn't on a level of priority for them.
My point in bringing this up is that I don't think about trash very often. I am a recycler and I try to reduce the amount of trash I produce, but in the grand scheme of things I don't think about trash globally ever, if at all very often. This documentary was uplifting to watch because we were able to see what can happen when Tião and others have a dream and fight for their dream until it becomes true. They went against the critics who said this vision of theirs would never happen, they went against their friends and family who went against their ideas for their community development and fought for what they believed in and wanted for their community. They have made an impact in thousands of lives and have shed a light on issues such as waste, the importance of recycling, the lives and conditions of trash pickers, among many other things.
Take a look at Waste Land's website to find more about the documentary and read about the art created out of "waste and trash". There is power in this film and the people who took the time to share their life experiences with us.
Please look at the Waste Land and Truthseekers websites and learn more!
Waste Land website
Truthseekers International website
One of my favorite quotes from the movie:
"I'd rather want everything and have nothing, than have everything and want nothing. Because at least when you want something your life has a meaning: it's worthwhile. From the moment you think you have everything, you have to search for meaning in other things. I spent half my life wanting everything and having nothing; and now I have everything and I don't want anything. These days I'm starting to see things in a simpler way; I don't have as much material ambition as I used to. When I was poor I only wanted material things: I just wanted to have things. I had to buy a lot of crap to get rid of that complex." - Vik Muniz
Thanks for reading! Happy thoughts :)
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