What Is A Nice Garden Doing in A Dump Like This
In the Moment, Rick Carpenter 2002
This is a garden about garbage.
This is a garden about art made from garbage.
This is a garden about recycling garbage that may save our planet.
When I first heard that there was not only a garden at the dump, but that the city of San Francisco also sponsored an “Artist in Residency” program there, I knew that this was something I had to see. The reaction from other people when I said I planned to visit a ”dump garden” was mixed. Some people said, “Cool” and other people wrinkled their noses, asking, “Will it smell?” I set out on the third Thursday of the month when tours are given of the facility, the artist’s studios, and the sculpture garden to find out for myself. Would I be the only person there? I met with a good sized group that had gathered for the tour.
San Francisco is considered one of America’s greenest cities and Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board of Supervisors have enacted a plan to cut greenhouse gases in the city to 20% below the 1990 level by 2012. All kinds of people have come together in San Francisco to make practical changes towards sustainability in their personal lives, and in the community. Recycling garbage is certainly a way where an individual or a family can do something “hands on” to make a difference.
After a discussion of ecological concerns and about the work done at the SF Recycling & Disposal, Inc.’s Solid Waste Transfer and Recycling Center (affectionately known to those in the know as “The Dump”), we donned orange vests, protective glasses and hard hats (the explanation for the wearing of the hats was to prevent us from getting seagull poop in our hair. OK. Sounds good to me!). On the way to the garden we headed into the garbage facility itself.
Standing in the garbage shed was my perfect idea of Hell. Odd bits of refuse continuously banged through a chute placed high up the wall adding to the pile, and yes, it stank. In a way, there was a kind perverse humor for me in this experience. I am known in my family as someone who will go to great lengths to avoid unpleasant things, and for the most part, my experience with trash is a tidy affair. We sort discarded things neatly in their color-coded bins and then it is taken away. Where this trash goes is rarely considered; refuse goes “out there”, to a landfill perhaps; a nether place far away. In the presentation that commenced the tour, we discussed some pressing ecological “time bombs”. By becoming aware of the ”Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, I now know that garbage is in everyone’s face.
Eco Bomb, Francisco Perez Cardona 1991
Crossing the Pacific Ocean in 1997 after competing in a trans-Pacific yacht race, Captain Charles Moore discovered “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, a floating debris field two times the size of Texas. Formed by circular currents called Gyres, debris from the of the perimeter of the Pacific Ocean (garbage from the US, Japan and other nations) is drawn to the still waters of the center. This monstrous accumulation of trash chokes not only the surface of the Pacific, but hundreds of feet into the ocean’s depth.
Particles Dancing, Linda Raynsford 2000
“I want to say one word to you. Just one word…plastics.” This line from the 1967 film, The Graduate is to me like one of those prophecy twists from the ancient Greeks. Yes, there is a future in plastics because it never goes away: plastic stays around forever, becoming smaller and smaller, and ever more deadly.
Unlike natural debris which eventually degrades, plastic remains a polymer even at the molecular level. In the Great Pacific Garbage Patch photodegraded plastic particulates choke the upper water column. Fish ingest the plastic particulate, birds feed this to their chicks, and the plastic enters the food chain.
There is no consensus on how to clean up the massive Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but hopefully we can prevent it from from expanding. San Francisco has banned plastic bags from large stores such as supermarkets. This translates into 5 million fewer plastic bags every month. Other cities, nations have followed suit, or are considering a ban. In my house we now have a collection of re-usable canvas bags that we take with us every time we go shopping. It is actually quite easy to do, something practical in a small way that when done with others has a big impact.
Deborah Munk who led the tour pointed out this bale of paper collected for recycling. Deborah explained that a ton of paper like the one showed here was the equivalent of 17 to 24 trees.
I thought is was so fitting than an envelope from the Sierra Club was found in this bale. One of the oldest grassroots environmental organizations in the United States, the Sierra Club was founded by the preservationist, John Muir. Looking at the image of this paper bale after my visit, I had to call Deborah Munk again to confirm how many trees a bale like this would preserve. I imagined John Muir with his lanky, upright figure and grizzled beard standing before a grove swaying in the breeze; a grove of about seventeen to twenty-four trees.
Conehead Chairs, Norma Yorba 1995
San Francisco recycles an impressive 70% of its garbage. This can be compared to the city of Dallas, Texas which only recycles 2%. In many places change and awareness of environmental concerns is begun by just one person. In San Francisco in the 1970’s the artist Jo Hansen began to sweep the litter strewn sidewalk outside her house and compiled journals of urban detritus. Her personal act of sweeping one sidewalk grew into a celebrated public art practice and citywide anti-litter campaign. As a vocal SF Arts Commissioner, Hanson suggested to Norcal Waste Systems, Inc. and the City of San Francisco that they develop an artist in residence program at the city dump, offering a studio and stipend for artists to create artwork from the waste stream to raise public awareness.
Deborah Munk explained that the artists in the program can only use items from the dump. Shopping carts are used by the artists to gather the materials that they will need assemble and create works of art. As the artists sift through the trash with their carts in tow, they say they are “going shopping”.
Stanley, Dana Albany 2003
A collection of sculptures created by the artists are displayed in the sculpture garden. Placed on the hill above the dump, the garden incorporates some plants rescued from the trash, and the paths were constructed from salvaged concrete from the old Embarcadero freeway that had been torn down after being damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. A show featuring the work of the current artists in residence, David King and Christine Lee is being held this January 23 & 24, 2009.
There are many gardeners that would say that a garden is strictly about plants. I have to admit I am entranced by flowers, striking plant combinations, edible plants, native plants and the like, and I relish and honor the horticultural expertise of the plantsperson. I would argue that gardens have also been about The Idea: the yearnings of the collective unconscious.
The great Mannerist and Baroque gardens were expressions of temporal power; the sublimation of nature manifested as a triumph of civilization. The landscape parks of the 19th century, as well as the “natural” gardens of Robinson and Jekyll can be seen as a reaction to the despoiling of the landscape during the industrial revolution: an expression of the Arcadian ideal. An art garden at a dump speaks to us now: with a planet in peril, each person, each family, every gardener can make a difference to save the Earth we love.
For further information and to visit the garden go to: www.sunsetscavenger.com
Garden tours are held for adults on the third Saturday of each month at 10:00 a.m. The tours are geared to those interested in knowing more about the AIR Program, and for those interested in applying to be one of the artists. Tours also include an overview of the company and the garbage and recycling operations in San Francisco. For safety reasons, the tour is not appropriate for children under 8 years of age. To make a reservation for a Saturday tour, please call Deborah Munk at (415) 330-1415.