One of the characteristics of today's society, and I dare to say worldwide, is wastefulness. We waste everything from food, clothes, electricity to natural resources like land and water! We waste even our time by creating problems and then attempting to solve them in a way that generates new problems.
Our materialistic lifestyles and production logic of short-term products generate huge landfills. We do not worry when we buy, we care nothing when we throw. As long as we keep our commodities in check, we are delighted. Three TVs, two cars, a new mobile each year, a couple of laptops per person, full fridge and a rotating stock of fancy clothes that get tossed with fashion. Multiply that by 20% of the world's population, since 20% of the world's population consumes 80% of the world's resources.
Lets not forget to stock in sales! Even if we don't need any of that stuff, isn't it just great to buy new things that are so "conveniently cheap"?
Being an ethical consumer is a tabu. Life is good far from a landfill. Let others worry about sorting out our waste...
No need to go further, everyone can dig in his own consciousness and his bin. Here are some inspiring European initiatives to rethink our waste:
- Clothes library in Sweden where you can borrow clothes just like books!
- German Ecomoebel is a source for re-designed furniture
- French based traveling books
-or Munich public events practices such as the famous beer festival Octoberfest, which is almost garbage free: no plastic cups, plates or forks! And trust me, there is a lot of food movement. How do they do it?
All voted 2012 best pre-waste practices can be seen here.
What do you say, can you start your ZeroWasteHome?
RELATED: The global food waste scandal
Wasted food major cause of avoidable CO2 emissions
Story behind electronics
Our materialistic lifestyles and production logic of short-term products generate huge landfills. We do not worry when we buy, we care nothing when we throw. As long as we keep our commodities in check, we are delighted. Three TVs, two cars, a new mobile each year, a couple of laptops per person, full fridge and a rotating stock of fancy clothes that get tossed with fashion. Multiply that by 20% of the world's population, since 20% of the world's population consumes 80% of the world's resources.
Lets not forget to stock in sales! Even if we don't need any of that stuff, isn't it just great to buy new things that are so "conveniently cheap"?
Being an ethical consumer is a tabu. Life is good far from a landfill. Let others worry about sorting out our waste...
No need to go further, everyone can dig in his own consciousness and his bin. Here are some inspiring European initiatives to rethink our waste:
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| www.whatsmycarbonfootprint.com |
- German Ecomoebel is a source for re-designed furniture
- French based traveling books
-or Munich public events practices such as the famous beer festival Octoberfest, which is almost garbage free: no plastic cups, plates or forks! And trust me, there is a lot of food movement. How do they do it?
All voted 2012 best pre-waste practices can be seen here.
What do you say, can you start your ZeroWasteHome?
RELATED: The global food waste scandal
Wasted food major cause of avoidable CO2 emissions
Story behind electronics
It is very much the proverbial emperor, isn't it? We live an illusion thinking it is okay. Thinking we are the best we can be. Thinking that any less than what we've got is worse. We even attempt to proselytize those that we deem to have not enough in our ways. So much can be learnt from people with little that are happy. People that take a lot from very little. People that care not about trivialities.
ReplyDeleteYes, Paul. Seems like happiness has been replaced by materialism. Well isn't that the subliminal message of any advertising? Buy this and it will solve your life, buy that and you will have all you need... One more reason why I do not have a TV. :-)
ReplyDeleteBTW, great inspirations on your blog! Thank you.
A great post. I'm an avid re-cycler. Thank you for sharing this.
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ReplyDeleteHi Jasmine, in that case you might like the section on Upcycling too. :-)
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