The Sloth - BBC Earth

I've always wanted to pet a sloth ... until now...

Discarded Comfort Project

How often do you purchase a cup of coffee "to-go" on the way to work?  I pay $2 per coffee about 4 times a week.  That's 16 cups of coffee per month or 192 cups of coffee per year.  A majority of coffee cups are made out of recycled paper along with a plastic lid, sometimes there's a anti-burning sleeve attached.  So I'm creating about 400 pieces of garbage per year because I'm too freakin lazy to boil some water, grind coffee beans and combine them into my french press.  My lethargy costs at least $400 / year and is a danger to the environment.

I'm just one case here.  For some, this is a daily ritual and just to make matters worse, a lot of you sit anywhere from 2 - 10 minutes idle in a drive thru conga line of caffeine craving zombies who should not be operating heavy machinery.  

Just to reiterate - millions of Canadians pay $2 per day for the luxury of not having to get out of their car to obtain their first coffee of the day.  They pay $2 for a double double which gives them instant gratification and then this comfort is discarded.  Where do these temporary vessels of bliss end up?

Everywhere.

I've decided to take things up a notch with my coffee cup photos.  Some of these photos tell a story.  Often times I will run into piles of discarded coffee cups outside construction sites.  Obviously a group of workers gathered on their coffee break and discussed sports, politics and whatnot while sipping on their comforting cup o'joe.  

Once in while I will snap a shot of a discarded coffee cup that looks as if someone had either forgotten it, or purposely placed the piece of trash on display as if it were a piece of art...

My project will record the locations of my coffee cup discoveries using a gps iphone app and hopefully we can find where most of this trash ends up.  The other concern is which brands of coffee cups will I find most often?  I am still figuring out how to carry this project out in a scientific manner since I can't snap a shot of EVERY coffee cup ... or can I?

Chaf