Last week (or the week before?) when I was nursing a wicked cold and looking after sick kids while Chris was working in Kamloops, a truck pulled up into our driveway. It was our friend Marcia, with the TNRD, and she had two folks with her who wanted to see the earthship. I’m always game to show the house but I have to confess I was not at my best. 

I walked everyone through it (I’m not even sure Marcia had ever seen it; we met her throught the BCSEA Sustainability conference in Kamloops many years ago).  My head was stuffed and pounding, my nose was running, my eyes were red and I generally felt like crap.  The couple asked me if I was going to the screening of a film in Clearwater that night and I quickly answered in the negative. Yuck, I felt awful.  I was told by the gentleman (Grant) that it was the funniest documentary in a long time, to which I eyed him and asked if he was the filmmaker…I’m not sure I registered his answer at the time.

After a little nap, I googled the documentary and it turns out that the couple (Grant and Jen) were not only the filmmakers but were the stars of the documentary, and it was a film both Chris and I had wanted to see.  Chris, unbeknownst to me, was planning to go without me anyway.  After a bit of an evaluation of my illness I decided that my virus and it’s potential to infect others probably could be dismissed in view of my desire not to miss all the fun.

The documentary , The Clean Bin Proejct, http://cleanbinproject.com/ was truly wonderful  (here is the trailer http://vimeo.com/3301133 ), and Grant was only slighly exaggerating that it was the funniest documentary…

I was able to introduce Chris to them before the screening, apologize for my lack of enthusiasm earlier in the day, and we all had a good chat about zero waste, zero consumption and gathering tires to build a house.  Once again, it was nice to click with like minded people.

Grant and Jen essentially had a contest to see which one of them could come closest to zero waste and consumption for a year.  It was hopeful, uplifting and funny and a documentary I had no reservations showing my kids…one that would inspire them to do “one more thing” for the environment. We bought the DVD and I contacted Jen a few days later to see if they would be up for coffee the next time we visited Vancouver.  (Free treade coffee, in our own re-usable mugs with a metal spoon to stir it with!!!!)

Chris and I talked a lot about our waste generation.  Although we are great recyclers and mindful shoppers, we are by no means as conscientous as we’d like to be.  In the last few weeks, everywhere we’ve gone we are paying more attention to all the things we throw away. There is a lot!

I would recommend watching the trailer and if you want to be inspired and amused, buy the DVD (or if you are our friend, we would lend you our copy) and see for yourself what is possible if you just try “one more thing”.  (And then another).