Westwood needs to hold a massive yard sale. Instead of frantically searching Craigslist and lowballing prices via e-mail, this district needs to do all of its furniture recycling in an all-day event.
The City of West Hollywood announced last week that it will begin an annual citywide yard sale in the summer of 2010. In an effort to promote conscious consumption and waste reduction, the good people of West Hollywood will raise green awareness while finding treasures in others’ trash.
Being that Westwood is a town populated with many students strapped for cash, I believe that if Westwood were to hold an annual yard sale, it would be a huge success.
Students would recycle each other’s furniture instead of buying affordable, chic Ikea furniture. It falls apart when you get the last peg in after working for two hours assembling it. Clothing, shoes and accessories could go directly from one person to another without having to go through the Buffalo Exchange.
Also, it’s an awesome opportunity to have a bake sale.
According to the WeHo News, the city council promoted the event saying, “Yard Sales reduce the demand for new goods and simultaneously reduce the community’s carbon footprint. Reselling used but functional items is good for individuals, our community and the environment.”
West Hollywood adopted the idea from Palo Alto, which held its inaugural Citywide Yard Sale this year. At the event, approximately 370 yard sales were set up and the city’s small businesses and restaurants were able to benefit as well. If Palo Alto and West Hollywood can do it, certainly Westwood can, too.
The only change I propose is that Westwood hold this event biannually both at the beginning of fall quarter and at the end of spring quarter. Both September and June are when students tend to begin and end their apartment leases, depending on their summer plans. Aside from being a convenient way to buy and sell furniture close to home, it would help relieve the stress of moving in and out of apartments.
Not only could this be an excellent opportunity for students to buy and sell used goods, it could also take the form of another means of exchange ““ bartering. My poster/painting/door beads for your refrigerator magnets/rug/coffee-table book. Or even your designer shoes/handbag/clothing hangers for my toaster/gas mask/truck to move the couch you just bought.
Westwood could really become its own self-sustaining colony minus the means to create our own agriculture, energy and clean water. Regardless, everyone who participated in the yard sale could come out pretty successful by the end.
Being on a campus that is so environmentally aware, it’s surprising that students don’t do more within their own neighborhood to contribute to the green movement.
We’re pretty good about recycling, reducing electricity use, conserving water and the like, but more can be done about keeping our landfills clear of our apartment and dorm clutter.
The dorms provide recycling bins for students to responsibly dispose of their plastic bottles, paper waste and other recyclable goods. On campus, special receptacles are designated for aluminum cans, plastic bottles and paper. UCLA is pretty hip with the environmentalist cause.
According to the Los Angeles Times’ Census 2000, 64.1 percent of the residents in the city of Westwood are renters, and 51.5 percent of the city’s population is between 19 and 34 years old. With more than 24,000 young people in the city ““ and most of those likely to be students struggling to pay for their tuition, books and living expenses ““ the annual or biannual yard sale would really be a hit.
Since students often live in their apartments for only a year or two, the turnover on furniture is quick. Instead of taking care of the issue of evacuating the apartment when the lease is up by dumping all your furniture on the curb, students can just make the handoff themselves without worrying about the actual availability of an abandoned couch. Hopefully, it could inspire other college towns throughout the nation to adopt the same tradition.
We have the potential to do something really good for our community, our peers and our world. It’s time that we use our collective power to set an example for the nation and the generations to follow.
E-mail Jagerman at jagerman@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.