Turning Waste Into Food

5/24/23

It was another 110-degree day and no magic shower from the water tower came down so we stayed inside. We wanted to go grocery shopping but it was just too hot so we decided to try to see what we could make and barter for food with, with the passerbys at the nearest post.

I started looking at what we could make with the trash we are producing and trash left littered across the desert. The most abundant types of litter are plastic bags and plastic water bottles so we found a way to weave the plastic bags, creating plarn (plastic bag yarn), and melt the plastic water bottles into beads. The process was long and tenuous, melting the plastic bottles caused fumes so we had to go outside and face the 110-degree heat. I was not too excited about that. However, we managed to make a lot of art to barter with.

As luck would have it, we struck a deal with three travelers passing by, managing to barter our art for all sorts of food that we have not had access to since we got here, including cheese, smoked salmon, chocolate, and coffee! I only partook in the cheese and salmon, though I ended up paying for it later, getting stomach aches from the processed food. Here we are feeling like we are missing out on something but in reality, the food we can’t get out here is the food we should avoid anyways to stay healthy…Well some of it, I really miss mangos, coconuts, and avocados.