Very first blog post!

Many of my friends and family asked me why I did not write a blog during my Peace Corps service. I could never really find a good answer, except for that it just did not feel right at the time. True to how things tend to work themselves out, I am glad that I decided to wait until now. This feels like the right time, and so with that, I start my adventure in blogging by choosing to focus on something that I am very passionate about; Trash for Peace.

In a way this passion chose me. I had always wanted to serve in the Peace Corps, but I discovered my enthusiasm for the environment, sustainability, and development during my service, and more specifically, through the bottle classroom construction project in Granados. This project is what ultimately led me to come up with the idea to start Trash for Peace.

Trash for Peace came about in part as a reaction to my culture shock, to coming back to live in this country after living with such a comparatively small carbon footprint for over three years in Guatemala. I see this organization as a way not only to bring this bottle construction technique back to this country, but to creatively and positively contribute to the slow process of changing our mentality about waste. The idea is to reduce, reuse, and THEN recycle, to ultimately waste less, and to be conscious of how our actions affect our planet and therefore each other. We absolutely cannot ignore how our actions are affecting our planet, and I do not believe it is too late to make progress in reversing some of the damage we have done. Every day I hear about new green technologies, new incredible things we are creating to foster a more sustainable future. Now I may be an optimist yes, but I am not naive. I do realize the capitalist nature of this country especially, and I am aware of much of the unfathomable hurdles that will have to be cleared to really become a "greener" planet. However, I refuse to give up, and I do believe that change, however slow, is still change, and it starts with one person, and sometimes, one action.

My goal is that the Trash for Peace recycle bins we build as communities in schools and other organizations will serve as creative reminders of how much waste we produce, and of the importance of changing our habits for a healthier and more peaceful planet. They are our own small technology that we are contributing, one that will grow and get better with the more people that participate and modify based on their own experience and creativity.

There are so many directions that this organization could go, so many different incredible organizations that are already out there that I could see us partnering with or sharing ideas with, which is what gets me most excited about this venture of Trash for Peace.

I welcome any new ideas and suggestions, either here or on our website, www.trashforpeace.org. In the meantime, this summer myself and two of my counterparts from Guatemala will be participating in the Smithsonian folk life festival in Washington, D.C. On the National mall, we will be building recycle bins out of bottles based on the Trash for Peace method, as well as building part of a bottle wall based on the Pura Vida Atitlan technique. To learn more about this, as well as the other incredible participants of the Smithsonian folk life festival, check out the Washington Post article from Saturday, June 25th:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/peace-corps-culture-goes-on-display-at-the-smithsonian-folklife-festival/2011/06/19/AG4sXHjH_story.html?wprss=rss_style

or the Peace Corps website:

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=about.fiftieth.folklife

Hasta pronto,

Kutner