Tag Archives: reduced consumption

Sew 364 – Thanks friends + family

Many regard shopping as Jane Milb urn wears upcycledrecreational sport at this time of year with sales everywhere –  yet shopping is ultimately unsatisfying because there is always more bright, shiny, new merchandise to buy. 

OK, I did send Mr Darcy into the fray this week for new pots so we could pension off old ones that have seen decades of service and too many burning experiences. There was a need, not just a want.

Reducing consumption of new stuff is at the heart of this counter-culture Sew it Again project, which is exploring ways to reuse existing clothing and textiles rather than always buying new.

I admit to bulging wardrobes, which I’ve been trying to whittle down all year and only made a small dent in. Most of the stockpile is natural fibre-clothing from op shops which I can re-donate at any time, in the same way I bought it, so no harm done.  Continue reading →

Sew 279 – Think outside the circle

Jane Milburn wears shirt upcycled to dressIt is easy to be caught up in a lifestyle in which competitive market-driven forces whip up a frenzy of ‘need’ for bigger, brighter, newer and supposedly better. Through glossy advertising, we’re sold an illusion that happiness and satisfaction can be bought with the latest and greatest material possessions. Even the promotion of ‘light-green’ or so-called sustainable living often involves buying more stuff.

So it is refreshing to hear discussion about how to move beyond growth economics and towards a ‘steady-state’ economy, with a focus on simpler, less consumptive ways of living.

Last week at the University of New South Wales, the 2014 Australian Academy of Science Fenner Conference on the Environment topic was: Addicted to Growth? How to move to a Steady State Economy in Australia  This spawned an article about life in a degrowth economy on The Conversation website, written by research fellow at Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at University of Melbourne, Samuel Alexander.  Continue reading →