BRATTLEBORO — Rich Earth Institute presents an evening of fun and education with artist, comedian, and sustainability activist Shawn Shafner on Friday, March 28, from 6 to 8 p.m.
The event, at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden, is free. Included are hors d'oeuvres, interactive activities for all ages, door prizes, urine donor recognition, and an update on Rich Earth Institute's recent accomplishments.
Shafner is founder of The People's Own Organic Power Project (The POOP Project; www.thepoopproject.org), a grassroots organization working since 2010 to inspire critical conversations about sustainable sanitation internationally.
He has designed “poop-positive” programs for the World Policy Institute and the Children's Museum of Manhattan, and has moderated expert speaker panels for the Visitor Center at Newtown Creek, site of New York City's largest wastewater treatment plant.
He has performed at Madison Square Garden and on the floor of the United Nations, and is at work on a documentary, “Flush,” and a musical, “An Inconvenient Poop.”
The performance helps kick off the 2014 Urine Brigade of the Rich Earth Institute, a local nonprofit founded in 2011 to advance and promote the use of human waste as an environmental resource.
Rich Earth Institute is working to shift how we think about our own waste and to close the nutrient cycle by using our urine to replenish our soils. To conduct this year's research, the institute is collecting 6,000 gallons of urine for use as hay fertilizer on local participating farms.
A February article in National Geographic discusses the institute and its work: “Is 'Peecycling' the Next Wave in Sustainable Living?” (bit.ly/1kBelw2).