Do You Plarn? Reconsidering Litter with Carmen Kraus
We first met Carmen when she crocheted a macramé-style plant hanger from plastic bags for our Earth Month Contest. A native of Athens, she’s one of many people across Georgia joining us in our campaign to #reconsiderlitter. Read our interview with Carmen below to access an exclusive tutorial and discover how to reduce waste in your own community.
Photo by Becca Bau
Your project is a wonderful reminder that trash doesn’t always have to be trash. Why is reconsidering litter important to you?
I think it’s important for people to avoid thinking of themselves as separate from the environment. Instead, we should view ourselves as a part of it. Most people would respect their own house and wouldn’t trash it, so you shouldn’t trash the landscape either. The environment, as well as our connection to it, really matters to me.
Have you always been interested in the environment?
Yes, it’s always been very important to me! Growing up, my family always composted and recycled, so we produced very little trash. I pick up litter when I go on walks, and have been participating in Rivers Alive (an annual waterways cleanup) in Athens for about 20 years. I started when I was about six years old! I think we all have a responsibility to protect the environment, because we influence it and it influences us. We’re interconnected. What we do has an impact on everything.
On your website, you write that nature inspires your art. Tell us how that influenced this project.
Nature, art, and science have always been passions of mine. I work in plant sciences, and as a science illustrator, drawing plants, fungi, and other natural objects. I’d actually planned to hike the Appalachian Trail this spring, but I had to come home early because of COVID-19. I decided to teach myself how to crochet, as well as learn how to crochet with plarn (yarn made from plastic bags) as a quarantine project. It was exciting to try out a new medium! I love having a new way to reuse something that would otherwise just go into the recycling bin. That’s better than a landfill, of course, but I think it’s always better to reuse items when you can.
Interested in making your own plant hanger? Access our exclusive tutorial here.
Has this influenced you to consider upcycling other items into art pieces?
I am definitely going to continue working with plarn! I try not to create a lot of trash, but I still have some bags leftover from my first project, and I’ve been eyeballing those bags that they send Amazon packages in. I wonder if I could use them for something!
What is one thing everyone can do to make his or her community cleaner, greener, or more beautiful?
A big one would be to vote for politicians and policies that support our environment. A smaller thing, although it can still have a huge impact, would be to reduce your single-use items, especially during this time of COVID-19. If you get takeout, for example, ask the restaurant not to include cutlery. You’ll be eating at home anyway, and you’ll prevent them from landing in the trash or worse, becoming litter.