Sebastienne Elk

Sebastienne Elk is a pen name I use to blog. It was given to me by a First Nation's friend on a visit to Quebec who said my energy was feminine and strong. Because I'd like to express both of those qualities in my writing, I decided to use the name to write my blog about excess.
While my mother was an avid recycler in the 70's before the town offered recycling pickup (she washed and removed labels from all jars and cans and brought them to the art teacher, she stacked shirt cardboard for future school projects, she picked only vegetables that were not cellophaned ), I became my own recycling person at St. Lawrence University where recycling philosophy and methods were part of the freshman seminar. It was later that I started to be interested in garbage in general.
In 1997, I came across the coffeetable book called "Material World: A Global Family Portrait" by Peter Menzel. The book showcases photos of "regular" families from many different countries surrounded by their possessions, tells a story about the family, and list various statistics about them. The book is beautifully photographed and very interesting! I stumbled upon a line that described the family (I think) in Bhutan that said >> Amount of trash produced in a year: zero. The idea gave me pause at the time, but as the years have passed and my family (and the crap we have) has grown, the notion truly amazes me. It sounds so liberating to live in a family - or a culture- that produces no trash! So now, I think about trash & excess pretty often, and being a trash stalker/ trash talker is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, when I think about garbage, I find that I have a lot of control over how much garbage my family contributes to the landfill; but, on the other hand, I can't see how the world won't one day be buried in trash if we continue to consume as we currently do.
If my "about me" hasn't bored you silly, you might check in some time and read some of my posts. I'd be so happy to hear your thoughts on the subject as well, so shoot me a line!