Mottainai – Japanese adj. term conveying a sense of regret when food or resources are put to waste without deriving their true value.
The Ridgeway is a little known greenway that runs along the top of the Southern Outfall sewer between Plumstead and the marshes at Thamesmead in London. Where the path passes through isolated industrial backwaters at White Hart Road, it is perceived as insecure and neglected. Women rarely venture along the path to enjoy this rare fragment of urban wilderness.
The launch of the ‘Anti-Mottainai Experimental Station for Girls’ youth science project, instigated in partnership with the local girls comprehensive, will be an act of positive discrimination and an attempt to increase the diversity of people using and benefiting from this section of The Ridgeway and beyond. Students will use natural resources available on site and, most importantly, the constantly replenishing tide of fly-tipped rubbish, to build their own infrastructure and conduct experiments in sustainable technology and free energy. Inventions, devises and evidence of positive activity will pepper the area. The AMESG offers an opportunity for young women to shape their local environment for the better, to explore renewable technologies and become future visionaries.
