Our local Transition Towns branch ran a screening of Oxfam's Sisters on the Planet: Women Fight Against Climate Change short films. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend, however these films are freely available on the net. So pop along here and check them out! Each film is fairly short, about 8 minutes or so.
Some of the stories are really inspiring and it is good to get a little bit of a reminder of why it's important to continue working hard to reduce my environmental impact. Sometimes, being surrounded by such a consumer culture, it can be easy to forget what's really important.
Below is the film from the Australian woman, but there are five short films in total if you follow the link above.
Yesterday DH and I took a little trip into town minus the boys, we stopped in at a toy shop briefly (horrid horrid place full of plasticrap), and I noticed that the Barbie Thumbelina toys were making a token effort at being eco-friendly by having "fully recyclable cardboard packaging". Which got me wondering whether Thumbelina was some kind of eco-story. So I hired it out, and it seems it is. I admit to only having watched half an hour of it so far though.
While so far there are some good messages in the film for kids about the shallowness of consumer culture and the need to preserve nature, I find this to be at extreme odds with the amount of merchandising that is available for the film. I think what we really need to be teaching our kids is that token efforts for the environment are not going to cut it. Aside from slowing population growth, drastically reducing consumption is the single most important thing we can do for the environment. It's by not buying that plastic Thumbelina doll that we are helping the environment, not by recycling her cardboard packaging.
I understand that when kids view those gorgeous Disney images they desire to "possess" them in some way. But maybe by encouraging our kids to draw or create in other ways the objects of their desire, ie. draw Thumbelina or make a Thumbelina doll of their own (with our help even), then they can feel that they have fully "possessed" Thumbelina without the need to buy a plastic doll. Remember, Thumbelina existed long before Disney got hold of her.
Going to one of those big toy shops leaves me feeling very sick inside. All that plastic. We are trading the beauty of our planet for that. That ugliness. And cheapness. And uselessness.
I no longer buy plastic toys for children's birthday presents. If there is nothing I can make them, I will buy them something non-plastic, like a book. No more junky plastic toys destined to end in landfill after only a month.
I realise now I have stepped way outside the margins of mainstream society.
I hate twitter
And the new ipods (it's all those apps, or should that be crApps, it's like it's designed so we never have to spend a single moment actually being present for our lives.)
Well this is a sight we sadly won't be seeing much any more. Last month Pacific Brands announced that it will be closing eight of its manufacturing sites around Australia and will instead be importing garments from China. The company recently posted a sizable half year loss and blame the "economic downturn" for their need to outsource to the manufacture of their garments to China, as it's cheaper. Article here.
I try to buy most of bub's clothes second hand, but when buying new I am conscious to look for the Made in Australia label, and Bonds often is the only choice available.
It really makes me mad that "lowest price" seems to be the greatest or only consideration in so many peoples purchasing decisions. We live in an extremely wealthy society. It's not like we can't afford to shell out a few extra dollars to support a local product. And what's the point of "saving" a couple of dollars if we're just going to spend it on some other unnecessary purchase? The great economic problem for the first world is not that we don't have enough money, it's that we have too much. We spend thoughtlessly on too much "stuff" and then once we've spent all we've got, we spend a bit more on credit. But "cheap" is no bargain - our consumption habits are literally costing us the earth.
