An Austin professor has survived the first night in his year-long plan to live in a dumpster.
Dr. Jeff Wilson 鈥� aka 鈥淧rofessor Dumpster鈥� 鈥� is an environmental science professor at . He鈥檚 also the face of , an educational experiment that aims to transform a 33-square-foot trash dumpster into a fully sustainable space.
"There was no mint on the pillow," he says, "and it wasn't exactly , but I did stay warm."
Students will work with Wilson throughout the year. Their work began, rightfully, by cleaning the dumpster out, as seen in this Instagram clip:
The idea is for the dumpster to gradually progress from few amenities to the latest in sustainable technology 鈥� all while maintaining a "net zero" model of energy use.
Wilson credits 鈥� Green is the New Black 鈥� as the group guiding and pushing the project. "I'm just the guy living in the dumpster and acting as their advisor."
Wilson 鈥� a white professor at a historically black college 鈥� says the volunteers' "vision is to transform the way that the green conversation is going in our particular community, over here at Huston-Tillotson 鈥� and they are fostering new shades of green as the roots of our future."
They should have a little help 鈥� the Dumpster Project recently won a $75,000 grant from Ford Motor Company.
"The key endpoint," says Wilson, "at least for me, would be that there is a conversation 鈥� contextual to whatever an individual鈥檚 beliefs and thoughts are 鈥� around issues of less and more."
Care to see it for yourself? Wilson is hosting in his new digs at Huston-Tillotson.
