What images does the word trash conjure up for you? Overflowing landfills? Piles of torn Christmas wrapping paper? Plastic water bottles stuck in the street gutter? For many of us in the Western World, trash is often associated with excess, a representation of our over consumptive society. If we live in excess, we’re bound to be wasteful, and that waste often turns to trash.

Yet in many places around the world, trash represents having very little. I’m talking about slums, places where large families crammed into small, rundown spaces, people have limited to no access to sanitation and children play amongst piles of refuse. Although in our own society most of us can turn a blind eye to trash, one third of urban dwellers live in slums and deal with trash on an everyday basis. That’s more than 1 billion people. 1 billion people that live in the midst of trash and waste, but with lives that are anything but excessive.

The Places We Live is a touring, multimedia photojournalism exhibition by Norwegian photographer Jonas Bendiksen, a striking documentation of life in the slums.

“If we tell people about our house, will anyone believe us,” -Nagamma Shilpiri, Mumbia.

For those who can’t visit the exhibition in person, www.theplaceswelive.com has been set up to create an interactive and educational experience for the viewer, welcoming you into the homes of families stuck in slums from Caracas, Venezuela to Jakarta, Indonesia. The goal is to truly expose the problem of slums, not allowing the viewer to turn a blind eye, but to get him or her see the reality of these places and the impact on the people that live in them.

In many slums, access to clean water is of high concern, and although many Western consumers live far from these places, our actions have global impacts. Ever heard of a water footprint? The term refers to the “total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by an individual, business or nation.” Many of our everyday goods, from coffee to cotton, have high water footprints.

When it comes to conventional cotton — used in much of the textile industry — excess consumption in the Western world can mean dire straits for those living in places with water shortages. In the European Union alone, 84% of the cotton related water footprint lies outside of the EU. This makes European consumers heavily dependent on the water resources of cotton producing countries like India and beyond, reducing the amount of water available for other purposes — drinking, sanitation, etc. — in these countries that are at the epicenter of textile production. Problems associated with water scarcity will only worsen; according to the World Health Organization, by 2025 nearly 2 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water shortage.

What can you do about it?

We could all benefit from thinking about what clothes we wear affect the people and places that are producing them. Choosing upcycled clothing is a clear start; a t-shirt that uses no new materials contributes no additional burden  to the overall water footprint when it comes to irrigating cotton crops.

There are also a lot of great organizations out there focusing on water issues. charity:water is a personal favorite, bringing safe and clean drinking water to developing nations.

So check out www.theplaceswelive.com and be inspired to start thinking about your own impact and choosing to make a difference.