Trashlantis Rising
A new festival, Trashlantis 2024, closes out North Bay Zero-Waste Week with a splash and loads of interactive eco-activity at Sebastopol Youth Annex this Saturday
A tidal wave of oceanic creativity is approaching Sebastopol, and it’s set to break in the Youth Annex parking lot on Saturday, Oct. 26, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The excellent news is that it carries with it Trashlantis — the world’s newest aquatic civilization, straight from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — and all the deep-sea mystery that brings with it.
Billed as both an “Active Transport, Zero-Waste, Music + Eco-Festival” and “a DIY, grass-roots, free immersive experiential discovery festival,” the event is sure to blow minds and interrupt tides. Make no mistake: The whole town is invited, and everyone is encouraged to ride their bike and bring a folding chair.
Scheduled activities include live music on two stages, a 10k UP-cycle Rally, opportunities to build trash art and convert one’s own clothing into quasi-aquatic costumery, a Trashlantean Fashion Pageant, and an all-day “Refuse-alon” complete with upcycled/sustainable-product vendors and the opportunity to meet locals working toward sustainability.
In addition, attendees can park their bikes in the hosted bike-parking corral, and those planning on eating the vegetarian fare provided by Community Market — or purchasing beer on site for those 21 and over —are reminded to bring their own utensils and beer mugs. All are invited to assist with “deconstruction” at the end of the day.
Canny Sebastapudlians may have noticed the pedal-powered Trashlantis contingent at the 78th Annual Apple Blossom Festival Parade last April, or seen the Trashlantis human-powered, sometimes-amphibious kinetic sculpture itself around town or at last year’s 23rd annual Humboldt Kinetic Grand Championship.
Conceived of by local aqua-visionaries Dawn Thomas and Robert “Bob” VandeWalle, the Trashlantis origin story began with a discussion regarding the problems plaguing today’s ocean. Particularly the new-ishly discovered “pelagic zone, which is the durable plastic floating in the gyre,” VandeWalle said, referring to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, during a recent backyard interview.
“It has both coastal animals and open-ocean animals living in it,” he said. “So it’s a brand new science ecosystem.”
The trouble is that the plastic absorbs the forever chemicals — mutagens — floating in the brine, and the animals eat the plastic. Thomas and VandeWalle postulated that in this maelstrom of unprecedented pollution, the Atlanteans mutated and became Trashlanteans.
And what do Trashlanteans want? More plastic. But alarmingly, humanity has begun cleaning up the ocean. Thus the Trashlanteans’ long journey to dry land — er, Sebastopol — to find new sources of plastic, and their amazement at discovering that humans are going to be producing three times more of it by the year 2050.
The concept is, at its heart, theater with a purpose. Thomas and VandeWalle are all too aware that the dryness and formulaicness of eco-speak leaves many people unmoved—if not depressed and disempowered.
“I’m not a theater person,” Thomas said. “I’m a visual artist. But I think theater is our way into a lot of people.”
VandeWalle added, “People feel alone and isolated and overwhelmed. Even people with ideas, even in the sustainability and social equity, social justice and climate equity movements, everyone feels like they’re alone. And so one of the goals of Trashlantis is to get all of these organizations and people together in a spot, doing a fun thing, and start knocking down the silos.”
The day is sure to be informative, if not mind-bending. Acquiring free tickets in advance online at events.humanitix.com/trashlantis will help the event organizers estimate the size of the human wave attending the event. While online, be sure to check out the sign-up forms for vendors, rally contestants and upcycle/re-use artists; the fundraising link; and the link for, literally, “Anything Else.”
“Seed funding was provided by a grant from Creative Sonoma,” VandeWalle said. “Trashlantis is also sponsored, in part, by the City of Sebastopol, Sonoma Clean Power, Wastebusters, Recology, Space Your Face, Community Market, Green Mary Event Greening Services, and nearly $4,000 in private donations. We are profoundly grateful for all of this support and are thrilled to be the final event of Zero Waste Week.”
The best thing about Trashlantis? It just might incite a sea-change in people’s thinking. But don’t expect any preaching.
“We’re just facilitating the conversation,” VandeWalle said. “You don’t have to convince me of anything; I’m just here. Yeah, I’m addicted to plastic.”
Find out more at www.trashlantis.com.