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A photo of "Finding Away," the art installation created by Kuros Zahedi with the trash collected by Ari Derfel throughout 2007. Photo courtesy of Ari Derfel |
CommentsWild & Scenic Preview: Ari Derfel on Organic Lifestyles
Published: December 21, 2009 * Web Exclusive *by Olivia Dwyer
Ari Derfel recently opened the restaurant Gather in Berkeley, CA. Photo courtesy of Ari Derfel
Click on images for slideshow
Ari Derfel has made his commitment to an environmentally sustainable lifestyle his life’s work. He and partner Eric Fenster founded Back To Earth Organic Catering in 2001, the first organic catering company in the U.S. This grew to include Back to Earth Outdoors, which offers yoga backpacking retreats for adults and wilderness leadership programs for urban youth. In 2007, he saved every piece of trash he produced for the year, a collection that was transformed into an installation art piece called “Finding Away” by Kuros Zahedi. Derfel’s next endeavor is the organic restaurant Gather, which opened Dec. 18 in the David Brower Center in Berkeley, CA.
Moonshine Ink spoke to Derfel in November to learn a bit more these experiences and what he hopes to offer the public when he hosts a workshop called “Why Organic?” as part of the Activist Centers on January 16 at the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival in Nevada City, CA.
Moonshine Ink: What was it in your background that put you on a professional path that was so focused on environmentally friendly businesses? Was there ever a lightbulb moment?
Ari Derfel: The honest answer is it probably came from growing up in an East Coast town with a capitalist and competitive environment. It never felt really good. The times when I felt happiest and most at peace came when my family would go on camping trips and I would sit quietly by myself by the creek. It instilled a sense of peace.
MI: You will be part of the activism centers at the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival. What kind of opportunity does this offer you to reach out and inspire people?
AD: Activism is achieving great strides. The thing that I’ve seen happen is people that get inspired by a speaker, or a book or a movie or an event, their intial reaction is ‘Wow, that’s amazing. This moves me, how can I tell everyone else about it?’ How can I tell people who are not part of the choir and get the message out. That doesn’t sit well with me, to me it misses the point.
When we’re inspired or moved by something it’s not how do we get people into the choir, it’s … how do we get inspired and make changes in our own lives? … That’s why we’re not making changes in real life. Everyone externalizes the situation.
MI: What is different about your new restaurant, Gather? What makes it environmentally friendly, and what new eco initiatives will it introduce to the hospitality industry?
AD: Everything in the entire restaurant has been thoughtfully sourced. Nothing makes it across the threshold that hasn’t been vetted entirely.
Even the architecture [is sustainable]. All the woods is refurbished, sourced from old wine tanks, pickle tanks, bleachers. … The work was actually done by a master carpenter [based in] Truckee. … We’ve instituted energy efficient systems rare in the restaurant industry.
MI: What kind of advice can you offer to people in the Sierras about eating locally in the middle of winter?
AD: [People can] rediscover what a wintertime diet actually looks like. There is winter squash, winter greens. Everywhere in California is 150 or 200 miles from a valley, foothills or not. We’re just blessed.
MI: You collected all of your personal trash through 2007, which was then used by Kuros Zahedi to create an art installation in Seattle. What was the actual weight of all of your garbage?
AD: All my trash and recyclables totaled 238 pounds, which is 1/7 of the national average of 1650 pounds [per person]. … I had 200 pounds of recyclables I chose not to recycle [and save] because I wanted to see what that looks like.
MI: What did you learn by collecting all of your trash for a year?
AD: It was not an environmental publicity thing, it was a private yoga mediation. It was a sense of, I have habit patterns and behaviors ingrained and learned in the environment I grew up in, which generally as a society we’re not taught to look at.
I wanted to see if I could live with all these things piling up around me. There was no fictitious place for it to disappear to. I learned what I spent my time on, what I put into my body, what I spend my money on.
For more information on WSEFF, visit wildandscenicfilmfestival.org or call 530-265-5961.
~ Discuss this article with the author, email odwyer@moonshineink.com.
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