Welcome to our Earthbench

Welcome to our Earthbench. . , Our Black Hill community built this Earthbench. It was made entirely out of recycled and repurposed materials, and earth. It symbolizes the need for a more sustainable, and peaceful world. Please treat it gently!, During the fall of 2014, 263 volunteers came out to this site to make bricks, build the structure, form the bench with cob, and then finally decorate it with mosaic tile., This bench was a partnership with Black Hill Nature Programs. The Friends of BHNP, Harvest Collective, Artist Sue Stockman, "So What Else" program, our local school children and hundreds of our volunteers., How we built this , Building an Earthbench is a multi-step process which can take several days to months to complete. Over 1,100 volunteer hours were put into the process., Our first step was to create "bricks" by utilizing old plastic soda bottles and filling them with recyclable material. The bricks, along with bamboo and broken concrete, form the foundation of the bench. Cob, which is a mixture of sand, straw, clay and water is then applied over the bricks to form the bench. While the cob dried, the broken pieces of tile were added as mosaic decoration., Look for the butterfly, bat, beaver and peace sign that are embedded within the design., Why we built this , Earthbenches help to call attention to our need to find sustainable options for our trash., The typical American produces 4.4 pounds of trash every day! Through activities, such as recycling and composting, 87.2 million tons of material can be kept from becoming trash., Learn more about the Peace on Earthbench Movement at: www.earthbench.org