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| Personal Photo - Trying to play with perspectives |
As I freeze in Montreal, here is some reading material I have queued for your long December nights and slow week-ends. Of course, you are allowed to read even if you are enjoying South Hemisphere's spring or a slow, hot tropical weather. I'll be back end of week with the first of the 2013 analysis/post-mortem posts.
On This Way to Paradise - Consumerism in America: How your stuff is killing you and you don't even know it
This articles sums up very well my views on consumerism and how moderm Western societies work. I find how other countries are depicted (happy, spending time with their families and friends) a bit idealized - thinking of children who pick up cotton, or about all these "developing countries" who try their hardest to become a consumerist society - but the analysis on the current "American way of life" is spot on with my views. A very worthwhile read.
On Slow Your Home - Why Good Intentions are not Good Enough
This article is a good reminder that intending to do something isn't the same as actually doing it. There is that first step to take, an action to turn words into actual change. There is one thing I don't agree with though. The author says that talking about change without doing anything is the same as not thinking about it at all. I think there is a difference. Even if it is only at the stage of intention, thinking about doing something is already taking the road of change, no matter how long it takes to actually turn that intention into action...
On George Monbiot's site - Spend Don't Mend
Recommended by a reader, this article is spot on regarding consumerism and how it dulls empathy and changes people's priorities. When he speaks of impressing people with expensive social status and reminds that "people impressed by money are not worth impressing", or that "the iron god of growth to which we must bow demands that we spend the living world into oblivion". Do we even remember that there are other economic alternatives than growth? On the same subject, I suggest the Impossible Hamster video.
Infographic - Living with Less, America's Quest for Simplicity
Although the numbers are U.S focused, the message of this infographic is easily applicable to any kind of consumerist society. Between the time spent at work to earn the money, in shops to spend it, plus the time spent to mend, maintain, donate, sell our stuff, how many hours of our lives are dedicated to our stuff? The U.S average answers in this infographic are quite stunning.
Kali's Featured TED Talk - Luis von Ahn: Massive Scale Online Collaboration
Luis von Ahn is the creator of these annoying "captcha" which authentifies us as humans when we comment on sites, create new accounts etc. In this talk, he presents how he used this technology to put these authentifications to good use and help digitizing books, but also his new crowd-sourced translation project which would allow thousands of people to learn new languages for free. I just love this concept of mutual help between a corporation and the people using their services. I wish more services were thought that way.
Photo: Lac Chambon, Auvergne, October 2013. Ducks were gathering on the pier for the night, I thought it may be interesting to try to work on perspectives. Not quite symmetrical, but I find the idea interesting to explore.
Great list of articles! I love the "spend don't mend" article, George makes some great points.
ReplyDelete// short rant
I hate the pushback you get when you explain simplifying your life or making do, and the usual response is "what about the economy?!". I can't really answer that question, but maybe the economy needs to change as well. Can you really expect this to go on forever?
//end rant
Anyway, I thought George did a very good job of touching on that sentiment in his article
I totally agree with you on your rant! Whenever we have political/economy discussions with my close ones and I explain my position, their reaction is always about how this can't work because it would make the economy collapse etc.
DeleteThen I try to explain to them that in my opinion, it will collapse anyway because our resources are finite and we can only grow so much, and at a high human and ecological cost, and that we should search for alternatives instead, I get called an idealist. The "if an alternative economic system was possible we would have found it already" argument. Which is, to me, an excuse to refuse to change their consumption habits. But that's fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I have decided to try and act according to my own values, and explain them to others when asked. But I've given up on trying to change their mind if they don't want to :)
That is something I've often thought about myself - consuming simply for the sake of keeping the current economical system afloat seems we're kind of flogging a dead horse. I've borrowed the book "Environmental Debt" from the library and although I haven't started reading it, hopefully it will give some ideas about this.
DeleteThanks for the mention Kali! If there's a particular area of ethical fashion you'd be interested in seeing more about, let me know :)
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that intending to make a change is a step worth acknowledging. It often takes quite a bit of time, many reminders and a significant change in thinking to get to that first step (I know it does for me in so many cases!) and to discount it seems a bit discouraging. But there are some other interesting points that Brooke makes in that article, so still worth a read.
I'm very interested in everything you write about so far - it is interesting to read the perspective of someone who actually knows about fabrics and seams etc. I also enjoy your more general thoughts about ethics etc a lot.
DeleteThere are definitely interesting points in this article, the first of which being that, indeed, the change only really happens when you take action. And, taken at a precise time, I agree with what she says. But maybe, now both seagulls are on the pier, but maybe 3 minutes from now, the seagull who intended to fly is actually gone, if you see what I mean. In other words, she seems to be only taking the present situation into account and not the future one. In my personal experience, I have noticed that I need an "incubation time" of sorts before making changes. But once I start making the change things get rolling pretty quick. If it makes any sense.
A thought regarding consuming and economy: I feel like I have simplified my life a lot in the past couple of years. I'm still on that journey, but I feel like I have achieved something. However, I am still spending money almost as much as I used to when I was buying a lot of materia. Sometimes I use even more. Now I just spend the money on experiences or services. Like violin lessons, a two day horseback riding hike, visiting museums.. things like that. I don't think the economy is suffering from this change, actually the opposite, because I'm using local services etc. Yet I feel like I have made my life a lot simpler and my consuming habits a lot better :) But like I said, I'm still on that journey and trying to find my way!
ReplyDeleteThat's actually a very interesting point you mention here! It's true that most "first world" societies are economies of service. I can only speak for what I know about France, but most of our factories etc. are closing (probably due to high human costs compared to even Eastern Europe). On the other hand, we have millions of people working in services - retailers, arts and shows, teachers, sales assistants, seamstresses and cobblers, all the medical people, fixers or many things...
DeleteI actually do believe in a sustainable economy where the repairing expertise and hand made craftsmanship comes back and we take broken stuff to an expert around the corner to fix instead of throwing away and buying a new one. An economy where we pay for the services around us and not for a multinational company who closes factory in our countries to manufacture everything in outrageous conditions across the globe. I'm trying my best to do it at my level, but today's economy is so globalized it is difficult to implement on a large scale. Not impossible though, and I wish media talked more about alternative economic solutions.
Thanks so much for the mention. I'm glad to have discovered your blog!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I really enjoyed your article :)
DeleteMerci pour ces liens ! J'en connaissais certains mais pas tous, de nouvelles découvertes à faire !
ReplyDeleteLa discussion dans les commentaires est intéressantes également, ça me dépasse franchement qu'on puisse encourager un tel gaspillage (matériel dans 95% du temps) sous le simple prétexte de supporter une économie (qui se contrefout du consommateur et ne convient qu'à une minorité de la population en passant) qui n'aura pas le choix de changer... :/ Je rejoins totalement ce que dit alliE ci-dessus, je n'ai pas pour autant arrêté de consommé mais je réfléchis nettement plus qu'avant : moins mais de meilleure qualité, et surtout de favoriser les expériences plutôt qu'un bien matériel simple. Enfin c'est une situation bien complexe, qu'on ne changera pas en un claquement de doigt mais l'important est d'ors et déjà d'être en phase avec ses propres valeurs!
Je pense que l'ensemble de la population a profité du consumérisme à un moment - ils se sont équipés de frigos, machines à laver, télés... Quand je regarde la génération de mes grands-parents, c'était un sacré saut de niveau de vie. Mais quand on se base sur une croissance permanente, il y a forcément un moment où les marchés saturent, du coup il faut trouver des trucs pour continuer à croître (type l'obsolescence programmée) et c'est là que la machine s'enraye. Mais cette idée d'économie de croissance est tellement profondément ancrée dans nos générations qu'on envisage même pas d'alternative, alors que ça fait longtemps que ce n'est plus le peuple qui en profite. Bref, très intéressant sujet de conversation...
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