So you lost your home. Now, what do you do about all the crap you’ve kept with you for years? The pictures, furniture, kitchen stuff, office stuff. Do you donate it? Do you pile it into your relatives’ house, or your new apartment? Do you Craigslist it?
In the following video, you can see exactly what happens: it gets hauled off to the dumpster. I’m going to have to ponder this one for some time, because there’s a feeling of horror that I’m overcome with, and that actually bothers me. No, not the feeling of the horror itself, but the fact that I feel it. After all, what do I care about other people’s crap? It’s just objects, and most of it was junk even when it was purchased. Why should I be even slightly concerned to watch crews throw away someone’s lifetime accumulation of belongings?
Is it the “wastefulness” of it all? If so, then why am I less mortified by the production of that crap in the first place? Is it the misappropriation of it all, where I have the knowledge that other people would make better use of the same resources. Is it the nagging feeling that the same people who bought that junk in the first place are out buying more of the same junk, and filling a separate space with it? Is it the knowledge that the destruction of these goods will keep driving the cycle of consumerism?
What is it about this video?
RTFA: http://kcet.org/socal/2008/09/foreclosure-alley.ht…
Episode 101
Foreclosure Alley
Correspondent Lisa Ling
Published On: September 23, 2008 11:02 PM
For the past few years, the Inland Empire in Riverside County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the state – home to a major housing boom. But now the Inland Empire is pretty much the poster child for the foreclosure crisis. In the newer developments, house after house sits vacant – either up for auction, for sale by a bank or going for what’s called a “short sale” which is when the owner owes more than the house is worth.
SoCal Connected tracked down some surreal sights associated with the crisis – a company that specializes in removing whatever people leave behind in their foreclosed homes. The process is called a “trashout” – a term the company came up with because it perfectly describes what happens. Everything that’s left is dumped in a trailer and taken to the landfill.
Then there’s the guy who started a business to spray-paint dead lawns. That’s right. He paints brown lawns green. We also tag along with a couple of code enforcement officers who are spending more and more of their time having to drain slimy, abandoned pools.
Finally, we meet a typical couple who bought their first home, thinking it was a great investment and tax write-off. Now the place is worth only half of what they paid for it and their neighborhood has almost as many vacant homes as occupied ones.
One of the code enforcement guys sums up the problem in a single sentence – “You know you’re in trouble when the lawns are brown and the pools are green!”
