I’ve long been an admirer of Cynthia Korzekwa’s blog “art for housewives”. The idea behind Cynthia’s art (and blog) is the recycling of household items into art. She uses what many would consider to be rubbish to frame her work, or to inspire it, or to be the canvas for her unique paintings. All of her pieces of art have a special spirit that is carried forward from the items that they are recycled from, making them far more interesting than regularly framed art on a regular canvas.
The book
Cynthia has recently published the book, ARTE PER MASSAIE (art for housewives), in which her unmistakable illustrations are combined with handwritten text in folkloric Italian (and followed by, as Cynthia puts it: “…a less folkloric English translation.”) The book is about making art, not trash (a recurring theme in Cynthia’s work) and includes projects for recycling household rubbish into art. The book is a paperback, printed on 100% recycled paper and is available for sale via Etsy.
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This blog post was written by Stephen Knight, webmaster for Volunteer Latin America, an independent and ethical organisation committed to helping protect Latin America’s flora and fauna, its biodiversity, and to offering the most cost effective way to become an environmental or humanitarian volunteer in Central and South America.
Whether you are planning the trip of a lifetime, a gap year abroad or just a holiday break, you can make a difference when you travel, not only for yourself but for the people and places you visit.
Being a responsible traveller means more than just offsetting your carbon emissions, it requires thought and preparation. Responsible travel is based on the principles of sustainability and it requires you to examine the environmental, social and economic dimensions of your trip. Thus, responsible travel is all about minimizing the impact of your travel and maximizing the benefits for local economies, environments and host communities.
Making informed choices before and during your trip is the single most important thing you can do to become a responsible traveller.
Give some serious thought to your packing list. Your hi-tech synthetic travel jacket might keep you snug, but is it also warming up the planet or exploiting the people you plan to visit? Your soap and shampoo may smell wonderful but are they biodegradable? Try and ensure your backpack contains as many ethical products as possible (i.e. environmentally-friendly, fair-trade, not tested on animals etc).
Travel lightly and leave any excess packaging at home (i.e. plastic wrapping) - your hosts shouldn’t have to deal with your rubbish.
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