Residents of the small Canadian town of Fernie, B.C., will mark this Thursday’s 40th anniversary of Earth Day with their 4th annual Flashy but Trashy Fashion Show. The show highlights people of all ages from the community who demonstrate their flair for creative re-use by modeling outfits made of such materials as biodegradable packing peanuts, coffee filters, flour sacs, and bubble wrap.
See a video from last year’s Flashy but Trashy show.
Displays of creative re-use are fun for both the participant and the viewer. Last year my daughter and her friends took part in a local Eco-Fashion show, at which they modeled their hand-made creations, all of which were made using re-purposed materials.
When Earth Day began in 1970, it heralded a new era of thinking about conservation of our land, air, water and other resources. At the U.S. government level, it sparked the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. On a personal level, many people began caring for the planet in a variety of ways they hadn’t before.
Take just one area: paper recycling. Between 1960 and 2006 paper and paperboard recycling rates have increased from 17% to more than 50%, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which offers this information about how to reduce, re-use and recycle various materials.
Here are more recycling statistics from around the world.
Here is a map of Earth Day events around the world.
Last but not least, with a nod to the folks in Fernie, this is a picture of me in 1987, wearing a dress created from recycled play money and ready to hit the eco-town.
Video: Beyond Recycling, Photos: Susan Sachs Lipman, Los Angeles Times Magazine
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