LiveGreenNOW

By Traci Claussen

Last year, I wondered how long it would take before all our Krewes’ throws would become eco-friendly.  Sure, Muses had the first RE-MUSEABLE bag throw (made in China), and while all geaux cups are technically reuseable, they are still made from plastics that take thousands of years to break down. The street rumor is that REX, oh king of Mardi Gras, will be introducing biodegradable throw cups on Fat Tuesday.  ALL HAIL REX! Leave it to the KING.

Here’s last year’s post ~ Krewe of Green, What on Earth do you Mean:

Perhaps it was the Bubble Bee still buzzing in me from last Friday’s Krewe of Cork. Yellow wigs teased high up on our heads suddenly made me recall Dr. Seuss’ work . We marched out of the Court of Two Sisters onto Royal Street towards Conti, then up Bourbon winding back around to Jackson Square and finally to our after-party at the Royal Sonesta, and even though Cork is a walking Krewe, I couldn’t help thinking about the carbon footprint that much of Mardi Gras leaves each year.

Yeah, you right…The Lorax (Dr. Seuss’ environmental classic) actually crossed my mind weeks before, then again after the parade, when the party favors wore off and the idea of all those cups, beads, and bags lining the streets were staring me in the face on my walk to Community Coffee.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I adore Carnival season with the walking Krewes that wind through the French Quarter – Vieux, Cork, Barkus, St. Ann, as well as the grand floats that drift up Napolean and St. Charles to Canal—Babylon , Muses, Hermes, d’Etat, Bacchus, Orpheus, Zulu and Rex . Neither the blocks of buses that line my street waiting to reclaim the high school marching bands at the end of the parade route, or negotiating the blocked streets to jockey a position for limited parking bother me. After all, my neighbors and I have one of the best views in town, within a block of clean bathrooms.  Every experienced Carnival-goer knows the importance of VIP access to a toilet.

For over five years, I have been a riding member of the Krewe of Muses, the only all female Krewe to ride at night the Thursday before Fat Tuesday. The Muses have been pleasing the crowd since their inception in 2000 and are known for FABULOUS throws that always seem to top the previous year. Muses are popular for another fabulous throw – their highly coveted, smartly decorated (repurposed) shoes. This year is no exception. These shoes are decorated with vintage beads from Mardi Gras’ of the past, inspiring the Hesiod quote “Happy are they whom the Muses love!” Just look at the faces of the lucky ones in the crowd who receive a shoe from a Muse. And yet, could our Krewe initiate a deeper shade of green?

Captain Staci Rosenberg and the Krewe’s executive committee gather to create new magic each following year with a bigger and better theme. Last summer, I was excited to find what is sure to be this year’s big GREEN throw – the reMUSEable bag- one small step towards a greener Carnival Season.

All that aside, there must be something more that Krewes can do to geaux green. Recycled plastic cups are no doubt common in all the Krewes by now. New Orleaneans love their “geaux” cups; sleeves of cups thrown from floats are generally gobbled up by carnival revelers. The bars in the Quarter usually provide a plastic cup of some sort, and no doubt go through thousands each week. Thousands of plastic cups, not all made from recycled products, eventually washing into our storm drains. The latest innovation is corn cups, which are like plastic yet biodegradeable. Imagine if every bar in the Quarter converted to corn? What a greener world we would be. Imagine further still, if an inventor made more of our throws from corn or another biodegradeable source? We would all be threauxing and geauxing green.

ATTN: 2010 Krewe Riders!  REpurposingNOLA Piece by PeaceTM  will gather your harnesses post-ride and repurpose the straps, ropes, and hardware into our fashionable RE-weekender bags! Please contact us to coordinate at INFO@livegreenorleans.com

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at 10:42 am and is filed under Green Growth, Green Street, Live Green Picks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.