I received a really great link from my friend Persephone to this short film , which is all about the reason there is so much stuff, especially here in the U.S. It's about what goes into making that stuff (not just about the slave labor, also the actual very harmful chemicals that are in our stuff), why we buy that stuff and what alternatives we have.
Writing about it does it no justice, at all. It is such an intelligent, clear, clever film. I hope you can grab a few minutes to watch it. It definitely gave me pause, as I sat at my newly purchased Target computer desk, watching it. It's not like I didn't know that it was not the best choice to go with new Target stuff. I had first tried to get a desk on Craig's list and at the thrift store and when I couldn't I had broken down and bought one on sale, at Target. After watching this film, I will try for even a few weeks longer on Craig's List and will travel a bit further to go to yard sales before buying the other thing we have on our list - a drafting table. I'll also try to wait long enough to realize that we can live without it.
Danielle had a very informative post recently about ways to change the way we deal with our stuff. Or, more eloquently put - how to reduce our carbon imprint on the planet.
About Me
- Madeline Rains
- GA, United States
- I am an unschooling mom of two boys who are now 12 and 15. I have been married for seventeen years to Nicolas who is from Belgium and is an organic vegetable farmer. We love to travel but farming doesn't always make that really easy. Fortunately, we have close family in Holland, Montana, NY, MA and Australia so in order to see them we hope to be forced to occasionally take a big trip... in the meantime, we farm, play yu-gi-oh, play baseball, make up games, watch movies, play world of warcraft and hang out with friends.
Awards
6 comments:
Fantastic video!! I want my daughter to watch it several times. She, and I would add most, of our population is in need of a good brain washing from consumerism. I recall my jaw hitting the floor when bush told us to "shop". What a great answer for a flawed system.
That was a great and truly disturbing video. I think I saw it first about two months ago over at Wendy's site and it set me back on my heels a bit. With us it's an issue of what do we do when it wears out? I have a 23 year old Cuisinart that will surely die someday and I'm ok with that. However, I also have a coffee maker that is built to die in under 18 months (also a Cuisinart). For us the answer is not to ever buy a coffee maker like that again, even if it does have that nice timer that makes coffee for me before I get up.
Thanks so much for the link. I recently threw out SO much *stuff* when we moved... I was embarrassed at the volume! I kept joking with friends that I was afraid of going to hell because of throwing out so much stuff. I gave away a lot, too, but so much of it was too old or worn or cat-peed-on or broken. It definitely lifted a weight, and we've already been much more conscientious about what we bring in to the new place. I found myself wanting *new* things to go in our *new* (to us) place, and quickly realized what folly that was. Funny how I went there, though.
I too want to thank you for the link.
Also, are you still coming up this way soon? If so we have a small drafting table that you can have. It is NOT new - we have had it since college, a bit of glue here and there should fix it up just fine though. It's yours if you want it. If you're not coming up this way - I'll let you know next time we are in your area.
Kelly thanks so much for the offer but we are looking for something bigger and that we can fold up.
craigslist is THE place. where i (car-free) --
__ found my tenant for my atlanta home
_ found my furnished room in my tel aviv apartment
_ sold two macbooks
_ bought one futon
... with lots more transactions to come (should needs arise)
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