MANVIL

Occasionally there  are things that happen in the funny town I live in that are well meaning, but not entirely thought out.

New recycling rules are among those things.

A few weeks back every resident in the fair and kind county of Multnomah (Portland, Oregon) got a delightfully Governmental looking composting bucket. This drab, brittle little box, dubbed The Hobo’s Lunchbox, came without a set of directions, but there are supposedly rules and this is as I recall hearing them.

Apparently there are special days to unload this tidy little container into another special container, which is to be rolled to the curb with its yellow, blue and grey brethren. On any given Monday one or all of them will be collected by the myriad refuse services which circle my house all week long thanks to a complete and utter failings of any city regulation. My trash is picked up Monday, my neighbor’s trash is picked up Tuesday, the condo across the street is picked up Wednesday, the place by the condo is picked up Thursday, etc. etc… So like the fruit flies which have chosen to call the Northwest home for the winter, our neighborhood is constantly surrounded by hovering garbage trucks. One for recycling, one for yard debris and one for outright trash. Four times a week.

I love that Portland recycles. I’m all for cutting down on the amount of crap that we, as Americans, throw into landfills as spent packaging. I just wonder if it would be possible to ruin only one morning of the week picking up each others detritus. Perhaps… but for now, here’s what I think Portland needs, a merit badge, in order to prove that the city’s inhabitants know how and when to use each of the boxes that the county has provided. I’m not sure I could earn one today, but I will eventually. Here’s a link to how it should work. Thanks Portland!

MANVIL got this gig a few days ago, and the idea was to make an ad for one of our clients atomic auto. The ad was to be placed in a predominantly green publication. I’m not adverse to green applications, hell, I want the planet to last long, long after I’m gone, but I noted a predominance of what I’m going to call “Prius thought” in the other ads. “Prius thought” would be the way to describe the hype about the Prius. I haven’t run any tests, or sought out too much data as to the global ramifications of building and running a Prius for the car’s lifetime, but I tend to think that any car that was economical in the 80′s or 90′s (28+ mpg) that still runs efficiently and cleanly has to take fewer resources from the environment than buying a brand new shiny fancy batteried Prius. (OK read ‘Saab’ here because anybody who knows me knows I love those silly cars.) The gist of the ad is to let people know that if you like what you have, the boys at atomic can keep it in tip top shape to be as ecologically sound as possible while you’re at the con. If I’m wrong, and making the Prius is actually as eco-friendly as pulling a leaf off a tree, it’s not the first time I’ve been wrong, and you all know it won’t be the last.  Oh, and by the way, yes, those are leaves coming out the tailpipes…  what, you gotta problem with that? It’s OK to dream!