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Portland, Oregon
Hilary Bourassa believes good communities begin with good households…
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Lohrmann
Cheryl Lohrmann lives in Portland, Oregon. She is originally from the Midwest, though both of her parents, a Lutheran pastor and a
registered nurse, were born in Oregon. As the second of five kids with hardworking parents, there was not a lot of money to spend, so there was always room for creativity. Cheryl got a very early start in the science of being resourceful, using found materials to build tree
houses and forts with her big brother wherever the two found themselves.
Cheryl's most influential learning experiences were oriented toward the earth: planting trees with her 6th and 7th grade classes, designing an herb garden in high school, road side clean-ups for Earth Day, recycling cardboard in the student council and a thoughtful English teacher who gave each member of her graduating class a canvas bag before it was hip. In college Cheryl finally read about Al Gore's commitment to the environment and Rachel Carson's activism against DDT. She thought about studying environmental engineering, but instead studied graphic design while she also immersed herself in drawing, painting, pottery and sculpture.
When she moved to Chicago after college, she first had the vision of how close all the packaging in grocery stores was to being fodder for
the landfill. She watched plastic bags fly around the city so that in
some places the trees looked as if they grew plastic bags instead of fruit. She fervently recycled her cans and glass, not thinking much
about plastic other than how easily it went into the trash, out of sight and mind. Something was bugging her about trash. It seemed a highly inefficient system, and a loud one, at that.
Fast forward to Portland, Oregon, where she felt drawn to study filmmaking. Like a real Portlander, she was innocently wandering around Powell's bookstore when she first saw the book "Garbageland" by Elizabeth Royte. The Brooklyn author wrote about every element
of her waste, what it was, how much there was and where it ended up, including her sewage! The chapter about plastic was what it took for Cheryl to put her finger on what it was that was nagging her: the benefits of plastic are overwhelmed by the material's negative effects on the planet.
She put out a call to artists and made preparations for the first Leave No Plastic Behind art exhibit. Her love for artistic expression and the environment are united in this effort to encourage those around her
to take a three month long plastic-free challenge and explore the
resulting richness of a resourceful and waste-free life. The group continues to invite artists and all others to participate in this
grounding and creative community event.
For Cheryl, the connections between plastic and other important issues are very strong. Avoiding single-use packaging encourages the growth of a strong local economy, which can mean more nutritious foods, healthier, more self-sufficient people, and satisfying jobs! Cheryl
hopes to continue making films, art, and be a part of positive changes in favor of the earth and all of its people.
See more of what Cheryl does at Leave No Plastic Behind.
p.o. box 1771 | hillsboro oregon 97123
503.681.2527