It's time to "down-scale and up-grade" instead of "business as usual"







     "How can we really live and consume sustainably?" is one of the biggest questions of our times. And in fact it is not an easy one. While we modern people, especially city-dwellers are constantly being encouraged to consume our ways to happiness, in doing so we might just be digging our own prisons to enslavement, a worsened ecosystem, climate change, worsened health and much stress. But of course, this all depends on what we consume and how much of it. Working our buts off to keep a certain high standard in a wear and tear manner will sureley deplete us, as it does with so many people around, while consuming moderately out of goods produced with responsible thought and climate conscience can really empower, inspire and give us a nice sense of satisfaction. Also, the best news of all is that we can now really focus our energy and time on doing the things we love that have a positive impact on our environment! And we can achieve great things together if we want to...   
  Take the example of Greta Thunberg, Swedish 16 year-old climate activist. At Fridays for Future, great demonstration venue in Stockholm and in thousands of other places in the world, thanks to her initiative, hundreds of thousands of youngsters and people of all ages are school-striking against climate change! I have myself started doing so with one of my sons, making nice plant-based meals and handing out for free... In the process we are meeting and getting to know lots of new friends and just shinning together. Sharing experiences every Friday really gives us perspective on the huge potential we have to do great stuff together as a group! Already there are school teachers bringing their students who just love to share what they love doing, dancing and cheering for a better environment...
  So, the times of "business as usual" really should be counted. In everything we do, we must think about what impact it has on our fellow earth-inhabitants and our planet. This is because our consciousness as humans is growing and we cannot regress into the old days of acting without consideration of our home, our beautiful planet Earth. We know more and more what harms us, our healths and the earth and so we know or sense, more and more how we should and should not act.
        One of the major insights that many people are having is that they no longer want or need to work in the "rat race", the wear and tear-society of conscienceless consumption.
         Still many people are stuck in the old    paradigm of wanting to collect riches and wealth for the sake of it, regardless of the impact this could have on our planet.   A striking example of this is how much we are encouraged to buy brand new products all the time. "Here, to save the narwhales, buy these t-shirts!" for example is a message that bounced back at me while scrolling Instagram the other day. The problem is that the t-shirts were brand new, made with a print of narwhales on it and 10 percent of revenue going to a campaign to save these poor whales who are being hunted down for their impressive corns.
But how can buying such a product actually help to saye any narwhales at all? In just the production of one t-shirt for example, at least 2700 litres of water are needed and besides that, how could buying a t-shirt help battle any kind of theif-hunting when such a small portion of revenue goes to such a campaign? Having a hard time believing this is an efficient way of saving whales or our environment... the same applies to all kinds of products and merchandise found out there...  making new t-shirts, hoodies printed bags, mops for cleaning the floor or whatever else they want to sell us so that we will have a sense of sticking out, making a difference, "saving our earth".  What will most likely happen if we just buy ourselves into this sense of false accomplishment is that we are creating a much worse impact on the eco-systems and the nature we love. The new way of proceeding spells re-use, re-make and up-grade! So much material has already been made and so much is being thrown away on a daily basis! We just have to stop wearing and tearing and use what we have... new prints on old t-shirts that are still OK to use! That is something I engage myself in and would like to encourage you who also is interested in making art and fashion in doing... for the sake of all the small and big animals on earth, for the working shoulders of poor people all over the world who would like to take a rest and also for your own private economy.

     More of my re-making habits and business in the next Blogg... :) For now, good luck in consuming consciously!


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