Slow Beginnings
In March, the world came to a screeching halt. Covid-19, contamination, infection, isolation, protection and prevention drove the conversation. Living in viral times, the pandemic knows no boundaries as it affects/infects not just the physical but also the social, political and the ethical as well. In the name of safety, wasting practices meant protection, a cleansing of sorts that not only removed the waste out of sight but the potential for contamination of the virus as well. Safety and protection become critical markers in our everyday practices of living within a pandemic.
Within the context of the waste project, the pandemic in connections to safety and protection affect our ongoing work. It is now July and the educators are slowly phasing back in to work–some continued to work throughout to support the frontline workers and their children, some are just returning to Stoneybrook, while others return to other centres temporarily. By September all have returned to Stoneybrook. Our conversations must now be virtual as we begin to slowly returning to the process of rethinking waste relations. The question now–how do rethink waste(ing) practices in viral times.