August 31, 2017This week our construction manager led a trip of workshop participants to Sedona Recycle Inc to drop off a load of recyclable electronics, plastic, and styrofoam and tour their hard working facility.Our tour guide was incredibly helpful, taking the time to explain how they process each different material and type of material. She even showed us where they have to exclusively separate cat food containers from other metals. Sedona Recycle Inc uses an industrial baler to condense the materials they collect into manageable sizes. Here their cardboard and paperboard have already been processed through the baler, and the numbers spray painted onto them indicate each bundle’s weight.They have a machine that mixes the different styrofoam pieces up and compresses the beads into dense logs. Construction Intern, Du Hao, shows off their condensed styrofoam.Workshop participant, Richard, and Eli from the construction crew stand beside the stacks of aluminum and steel cans that have been processed by the baler.The crushed cans together create a beautiful and serious reminder of how much waste Americans produce.In true devotion to “reduce, reuse, recycle,” Sedona Recycles Inc has this whimsical dragon at the entrance of their facility to show off the creative possibilities of our waste. (photos and text by Shannon Mackenzie) read more

Barack ObamaFormer US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama have unveiled plans to make films and TV series with Netflix.The Obamas have established a company called Higher Ground Productions as the entity through which they will produce content for Netflix. Under this banner, they will produce a mix of content, including scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries and features. These projects will be made available to the 125 million member Netflix households in 190 countries.Commenting, the former US president said: “One of the simple joys of our time in public service was getting to meet so many fascinating people and helping them share their experiences with a wider audience. That’s why Michelle and I are so excited to partner with Netflix – we hope to cultivate and curate the talented, inspiring, creative voices who are able to promote greater empathy and understanding between peoples, and help them share their stories.”“Barack and I have always believed in the power of storytelling to inspire us, to make us think differently about the world around us, and to help us open our minds and hearts to others,” added Michelle Obama. “Netflix is a natural fit for the kinds of stories we want to share, and we look forward to starting this exciting new partnership.”Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said: “Barack and Michelle Obama are uniquely positioned to discover and highlight stories of people who make a difference in their communities and strive to change the world for the better. We are proud they have chosen to make Netflix the home for their formidable storytelling abilities.” read more