Aug 20 2009
The new wave of social scientists
By Kate Hennessy & Amanda Hoh
Scrumping. Verb: The art of finding free food in the street, mostly from large fruit trees that overhang people’s yards or are in public places.
Surely, also, the delicate first cousin of dumpster diving: the art of retrieving perfectly edible food from dumpsters.*
Scrumping is just one of the 100 social “experiments” listed on www.livelocal.org.au – a website that aims to help people re-connect with their immediate environment – and exist more sustainably – by living locally.
Video extraordinaire Amanda Hoh visited the ‘InsideOut: Growing Communities‘ installation at LiveFutures 2020 last Saturday and talked to researcher Natalie Rowland about the project and how it ties in with Live Local.
Myself and my partner were, in fact, two of the people “interviewed” in the Botanicals room on the future of our native seedlings.
It sounds a bit dippy but it was truly amazing how much more connected I felt to my plant after doing the interview. I feel much more accountable to the survival of little Cali, as I am sure Tyler does with ‘BJ’.
See some other videos of “social experiments” currently flourishing on the Live Local website.
Riding My Bike Between Work and Home
* I can vouch for the fact that dumpster diving continues to nourish shrewd urbanites. A large share-house I know get virtually all their fruit and vege from a certain city dumpster. On return from their mission they lay the harvest out and admire it.
It usually covers their huge kitchen table: a sight to behold and quite sickening when you realise it had all been thrown away… They make big soups and freeze them and have even had a strawberry daiquiri party when they scavenged about 50 punnets of strawberries one evening!
I was lucky enough to take home several plants. they have been watered, and are sitting waiting to be put in the ground. they are happy though as they watch the compost and organic materials going into the ground ready to feed them.
I must say that i feel much more responsible for the health of my plants after engaging with the exhibit at live futures.
There is definitely something about creating community via the process.
Here’s to veges fressh from the garden.