点废成绿 Greening the Beige (GtB) is an eco-minded arts collective and not-for-profit community network dedicated to nurturing awareness of environmental issues. 点废成绿 GtB promotes and celebrates earth friendly artists and organizations in Beijing.
"Why are we being forced to choose between the economy and the environment? We tend to forget that without an environment we would not have an economy, as everything we consume and I mean everything comes from our environment."
~ Franke James (contemporary artist, photographer, writer)
Beijing's landfills are getting full fast! Reduce the "trash" you throw away by purchasing products with minimal packaging. Look for reusable, recyclable, and biodegrable items and remember to carry your reusable shopping bags!
Dorothy had it right – all you gotta do is click your heels three times…
Over the last 3 years “Greening the Beige” has become a way for me to feel more at home here. It’s a way to bridge art, education, community, communication, and urban healing. It’s a fantastic excuse to bring together everything I enjoy about Beijing, and life in general. In a way, it’s a culmination of all the places I’ve ever called “home”.
Beijing is the most recent of several places I refer to as home. Prior to moving here, home was in San Francisco, where I left my heart, friends (and all my stuff!). Once a year I called Black Rock City, Nevada -- the spectacular ancient lake bed desert site of Burning Man, which is getting ready to rise again, right about now -- home, too.
Last but definitely not least, there’s Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I was born and raised – just a 40 minute highway drive from Detroit. For the first 9 years of my life I spent every weekend in the Motor City (and surrounding metro area) with my grandparents, so in a way, it’s like home, too.
I’m always the first to admit that I’m just making GtB up as I go along. But to quote something along the lines Einstein once said, all good ideas come from elsewhere. As such, Greening the Beige is modeled after (r)evolutionary people, places, and principles.
The Detroit Dream Temple is one example of a model for GtB. Designed and built by Burning Man artist, David Best, and his team of fearless burners, it’s made of the same stuff I pour all over GtB. (Home-made stuff, of course).
I had the chance to visit the temple the last time I was home, in January 2009 (pictured above). The project was an inspiration for me to keep working on Greening the Beige and find more ways to connect it to home, while at the same time serving Beijing’s growing “green” community. Just imagine if one day, China’s capital was full of interactive public art sculptures made from all 3 of its currently overflowing landfills? I don’t think I could be more proud to call a city “home” if that were the case…
