I debated what to call or title this post and I had other ideas which included “Bowled Over” and “Kicking the Bucket”, but decided “Beyond the Pail” would work. I chose my post’s title because as word play, it also suggested something beyond acceptable standards perhaps even implying complicity. When you see the images perhaps they will “speak” to this? As it goes, this is a relatively focused set of images. They were all taken within a few hours of one another in a relatively short expanse of riverbank at the Falls of the Ohio. I call this area the “Elephants’ Graveyard of Plastic” because it seems a lot of plastic washes up here to die and the scattered remains are hard to not notice. This post features common containers and I’ve organized them by color. And now, without further ado.
Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog 
The pale pail failed when it no longer holds water 🙂
Just my way of saying I am happy someone like you care about the environment.
🙂
I remember that I mentioned on a previous comment how shocked I was to learn about that large swirl of plastics in the ocean. This is sad. To me, anyway. All the things that you have pointed out on your blog and this is but one area on one river in the entire world! We think we cover it when we re-cycle, diligently……. Well, obviously not! Good post, Al.
Hi Leslie! I imagine that some of the objects in this post may make it out to the ocean some day. It does blow me away that the Falls of the Ohio is just one small place on the planet and the vast majority of the material culture in the Ohio River never gets seen.
Kicking the bucket takes on a new meaning…..
But the book stops here, there’s nowhere else to go – a graveyard like you said. Very sad indeed. The one that jumps out at me is the Chicken Livers one for some reason and the poor squashed childrens bucket. Eaten, played with, used then disgarded. A sad and drawn out end to these buckets. Great pics!
I’m fairly certain that the chicken livers weren’t consumed by people, but were used by fishermen as bait. The amount of child focused plastic (mostly in the form of toys) is amazing and difficult to accept. Thanks for your comments Lynda!
Hmm… Your shot contain a deep meaning of life. Every pail has it own story. For many reason that made, until for many reason that being a garbage. Is that a stereofoam pail at the 7th picture?
Oh and I’m sorry about your statement that “chicken livers weren’t consumed by people”. In my country, Indonesia, chicken livers are consumed by people. It’s worth about 0.3 dollar per packet. The packet contain about 100gr chicken livers (about 3 or 2 livers) and the chicken intestine. Sorry maybe it’s disgusting, but it’s commcn that we eat/consume chicken livers in our daily life.
Hi Zid, Yes, there is a Styrofoam pail in this series. It too was used for fishing. We have small fish called minnows that are also used for bait and they are kept alive in the bucket until needed for fishing. My country also eats chicken livers, hearts, and gizzards, but in this case, chicken livers are an easy bait to use when going after catfish. Thanks for checking out the riverblog from Indonesia!
hey al,
it’s an amazing amount of pails and buckets and the subtle rainbow of color reminds me of a perverse andy goldsworthy arranging leaves and rocks by the subtle color differences. i prefer his only because they’re “natural”. anyway, in an interactive reciprocal blog post, my english friend posted a bit on his blog, i thought might interest you. here’s the link… http://gritinthegears.blogspot.com/2011/02/charles-dickens-on-visiting-louisville.html good to see you the other night.
Thanks Jim, I read Dickens’ views of the early Louisville with amusement. His observations agree with some other accounts I’ve read of the period, particularly how Americans and Louisvillians seemed more interested in commerce than anything having to do with arts or humanities. Do you remember when downtown Louisville did their winter holiday event “Dickens on Main Street”? The “event” gave up the ghost a few years back. Perhaps we needed to remind our citizens who Charles Dickens was?
“The Bucket List”?
Exactly! Jim told me he had linked this post to you and I read your article on Dickens’ visit to Louisville. I recall one other Louisville and Dickens connection and this one is also interesting. Apparently, the great writer wrote a letter of praise for artist John Banvard’s epic cyclorama of the west bank of the Mississippi River which was displayed in London to great acclaim. This painting which was a forerunner to motion pictures may have been the largest or longest painting ever made and it was painted in our fair city. I don’t recall the contemporary author’s name, but the book entitled “Banvard’s Folly” is a fun account of this unusual artist who may have been one of the most famous of his time, but is now nearly forgottan.
Thanks for your comment!
“Beyond the Pale”–oh what an interesting reference to history via British “occupied” Ireland and the zone where folks weren’t quite thrilled with invasion and domination. Very interesting choice of word play, indeed, Al.
Oh and while all these pails may be beyond ‘use’ they will take a few thousand years to really “die” while their petrolieum based compositiong ever so slowly breaks down. Yeah, wind, rain and sun will NOT decompose these pails any time soon. They’ll live longer than you or I.
The neverending story of human garabage flows on and on……
Yes, these are the artifacts of our time which I feel speaks volumes about who we are. All those images in that post were recorded in about a two hour period during a single day. Currently, the Ohio River is flooding and I’m sure the next time I’m out there everything will be rearranged.