Buy for Life

 

There is a movement, one that I have only just found out about (and feel silly for not knowing), called Buy for Life. Instead of buying a pair of $10 shoes once a year, you buy one pair of expensive shoes that will last yours and your grandchildren’s lifetime. Just like that sewing machine that my Grandmother owned, these products, while expensive to begin with, are quality and made to last. The movement optimises the revolutionary action against planned obsolescence, and consumer culture, and is the antithesis of The Philosophy of Futility.

Who does Buy for Life benefit?

The environment: With less products being made, less resources are used for mass production, and less waste through production, consumption and disposal, ergo the environmental impacts are low.

Small business: By supporting small, ethical or local designers, farmers, makers, etc., we create jobs, culture and a style, that mass production takes away from us.

People: We SAVE money by spending money.

Say for 60 years, we buy a pair of mass-produced, $15 shoes and replace them per year (taking into account after our feet have stopped growing and we start buying our own shoes etc.). That’s $900 per year we spend on shoes. That’s just for one pair per year though… I’m not ashamed to admit I have more than one pair of shoes.

Instead if we bought a pair of $200 shoes, made using quality products and methods, they could potentially last us our lifetime.

This is an extreme case, however, I’ve found numerous pairs of quality italian leather shoes at the local op-shop that have been worn for someone else’s lifetime that I now use. I have had them resoled or elasticised but they have lasted.

Question about the philosophy:

What is the impact of reducing mass production on local communities?

Actually, this is a contentious issue that I have not researched but feel as thought it is incredibly important – if anyone knows, I would love to hear from you. What happens to a community who relies heavily on jobs in factories and mass-production when that company is taken away. Many unskilled labourers would be out of work and would put themselves and their families at risk of worse living or working conditions. How can this be done in a sustainable way for the community? Can we implement and increase minimum wages and working conditions? Can we make companies sign ethical business agreements? Can this be aligned with environmental impacts and protection clauses to reduce the use of natural resources and the amount of waste?

 

Where can you buy for life or find out more? Here.

 

 

Me: An Active Citizen

A week ago, I took it upon myself to make a set of paste ups for my local community. Being conscious of environmental cost of paper and printing, I only made a few and chose locations that I felt would be high-impact. One went up at the tramstop junction on Nicholson and Blyth street, where a large crowd of school girls interchange. Another on Brunswick street where people tend to migrate to for shopping. And so on. My objective was not to stop people from shopping but to raise awareness in the community. I want for people, locally and globally, to understand that while buying a cheap pair of jeans might benefit you, it takes something away from other areas (natural environment, societal communities, etc.), hence the WHO PAYS? slogan. I have another paste up in the making (stand by), with a different example: the humble egg, that will use the same slogan. The paste up will go ahead in a week or so, after this one has had some exposure. What do you think? Does it make an impact?

Modern Consumer Culture

Within my community, a large Swedish chain store opened that is responsible for the advertising above. It took over one of the pivotal buildings for contemporary local designers in the last 10 years. Before the change, it house more than 30 businesses for local designers and became a fashion mecca, however in the last year, they were forced to close their doors for the flagship store of mass-produced crap (excuse my language, but this is something I refuse to agree with).

Last year the Rana Plaza building, housing factories making textiles for many large companies, including this one, collapsed, devastating the community. Their unethical practices and the skewed factory conditions have become widely known.

Despite their mass production, the company now claims to be working towards ethical and environmental standards, raising labour costs, and developing low-waste solutions to production. This article however, claims otherwise. It highlights the problems still associated with the big-business.

What we cannot excuse is, the issue Leonard raises in The Story of Stuff: What about the waste post-consumption? That 99% of products that are non-functioning 6 months after purchasing. My friends and I shopped at H&M, when we were overseas a few years ago. We bought basic, “essential items” – T-shirts, socks etc. Within approximately 5 washes they had lost their shape, colour, texture, and therefor style. What is their solution? Buy more! The socks were $3, why wouldn’t you just replace them? Instead of buying a shirt that would last me 5 years, I bought one that would last me 5 weeks that I could replace because it was cheap. This is consumer culture rearing it’s ugly head. And where did the old T-shirt go? In the bin… WASTE.

So what can you do? What are the solutions? DON’T SUPPORT MASS-PRODUCTION. Where possible, where your pocket allows, support local business. Instead of buying a plain white T-shirt from a big business, buy one from a local or ethical designer. It’s more expensive, yes. What if your pocket doesn’t allow for this? Shop at the op-shop. Second hand stores exemplify sustainability. It liberates people less fortunate, but also supports recycling, reusing, and reduces waste. When purchasing, look for quality, rather than price. Look at the material, where it was made, the stitching. Inform yourself and think about your choices and buy smart.

 

References:

Wells, R.  (2013, September 4).Retail giant H&M to open at GPO. The Age. Retrieved from http://www.theage.com.au/

Ali Manik, J. and Yardley, J. (2013, April 24) Building Collapse in Bangladesh Leaves Scores Dead. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/

Siegle, L. (2012, April 8)Is H&M the new home of ethical fashion? The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/

 

Is there a solution?

In reflection, on my journey so far I have found a LOT of information. My research has lead me to all kinds of avenues of sustainability issues that are associated with Consumer Culture. Things like mass-production, waste and e-waste, finite or depleting natural resources, social impacts, historical information and factors, pressures from society, big business, just to name a few. What I have learned to be the biggest message and the one that underpins all of these issues, is that currently, our lifestyles are not sustainable. Even those of us who are examples, who try their best to live sustainably, are using more of the earth’s natural resources than is considered sustainable. So what does this mean? To me, the best thing we can do is a collective effort enlightened and educate ourselves and those around us, to raise awareness about the issues of environmental sustainability, and to be active memebers of society, instigating social and environmental change.

As teachers, we are responsible for developing agency within our students. The Melbourne Declaration states it’s second goal to be creating “active and informed citizens” (pg. 9), who understand the world and act with responsibility within and beyond their community. I am role-modelling this for my future students. By creating a blog, I am simultaneously researching and (trying to) create awareness beyond my immediate community. However, these things take time. 4 weeks after starting this blog, I have 12 followers (Hello!), however the more I post and create awareness, by promoting it through social media, the more followers/readers.

What I do recognise, critically evaluating my work, is that while I have researched the effects of consumer culture, what I have neglected so far is a solution. Given the enormity of the issues associated with consumer culture, one blanket solution is not feasible. What is apparent is that education, as always is key. Quality historiography and citizenship education as well as science education is, after all, educating future generations about the choices their ancestors made and the impacts of those choice. But how do we educate our community? How do we raise awareness without being ostracised by that community. There are stigmas attached to “greeny” solutions and there must be contemporary solutions to these problems without asking people to retreat to cave-man lifestyles. Investigation into these will form the next few posts. Stay tuned…

Reference:

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (2008). The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goal for Young Australians. Retrieved fromhttp://www.mceecdya.edu.au/verve/_resources/national_declaration_on_the_educational_goals_for_young_australians.pdf

The Checkout

The Checkout After reflecting with friends on our views on consumerism, this incredibly witty satirical consumer affairs series was brought to my attention. Presented by some of Australia’s most notorious comedic investigative journalists, the series sheds light on issues within our consumer culture, how marketing, statistics and language is used to persuade us to buy. Such a show, some even appropriate to air with upper primary students, is integral to creating awareness about a culture that underpins our society, and one where we are being positioned into naivety. The most recent episode I watched investigated the different formulas of Nurofen and whether “targeted pain relief”, and different formulas for different pains was something that could be scientifically plausible; it’s not. Spoiler alert, the Nurofen marketing team has created a pink packet for “period pain” and a red packet for “back pain”, but within those capsules the formula is identical.

However this wasn’t the most interesting aspect for me, it was that since Nurofen is now widely available in supermarkets instead of having to be prescribed or as an over-the-counter medication, pharmaceutical information is not available to those who were buying the pain relief. Therefore it was up to us, the customer, to use our discretion as health care dummies to make choices. So where before, a chemist would recommend the generic brand and allowing us to choose on the basis of price, now we are at the mercy of the marketing teams of the drug companies, being positioned to pay twice as much for the same chemistry. This is modern consumer culture: our naivety and laziness is being capitalised on by big business, and then being used against us to convince us to buy more.

But, as always, education could provide the key to overcoming such a poisonous culture. By educating ourselves and our students, we can understand our behaviours and where they stem from, and create awareness to make better choices about where and how we buy. That’s why these TV shows are so important because, without creating a “we’re all doomed” feel, they enlighten us.

Reference:

The Checkout (2013) Buy Now Pay Forever (video). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfNqBP900L8

The social effects of unsustainable production

In the Story of Stuff video, when considering buying a $5 radio, Leonard poses a question: Who pays for this?

I just found this website, which is run by young people, for young people to instigate social change. Providing students, especially years 3 to 6+ with a website like this could be a valuable starting point for investigating social and sustainability issues, and is therefore a worthy resource.

I came across the following, sourced from Green America, Vegan Peace and Feminist Majority Foundation – which I found to be credible sources, however all statistics and facts of this manner should be critically evaluated (another teaching point!)

In developing countries, an estimated 250 million children ages 5 to 14 are forced to work

A study showed that doubling the salary of sweatshop workers would only increase the consumer cost of an item by 1.8%, while consumers would be willing to pay 15% more to know a product did not come from a sweatshop

According to the National Labor Committee, women sewing NBA jerseys make 24 cents per garment that will eventually sell for $140

In 2000, more than 11,000 sweatshops in the U.S. violated the minimum wage and overtime laws, while over 16,000 had broken health and safety laws

… so people pay too.

Reference:

Do Something (2014) 11 Facts about Sweatshops. Retrieved from https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-sweatshops

What does the curriculum say about sustainability?

Sustainability in education falls under the cross-curriculum priorities in AusVELS. Aligning with the general crux of the curriculum, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority suggests that students develop the knowledge and skills to act sustainably for the future. “Education for sustainability develops the knowledge, skills, values and world views necessary for people to act in ways that contribute to more sustainable patterns of living” (para. 2). Sustainability Education is further broken down into Organising Ideas and when considering teaching about the effects of consumerism, one could reflexively reflect on or explicitly outline the effect, justifiable under: Sustainable patterns of living rely on the interdependence of healthy social, economic and ecological systems (OI.3). It could also become part of an investigation into our responsibilities as citizens in a global community (Civics and Citizenship). The Sustainability Curriculum Framework suggests years 3 to 6 should investigate an issue of sustainability, researching, planning and implementing action, the project I have undertaken here.

In reflection on the sustainability aspects of Australian curricula, and on my research so far, what is becoming clear to me is that consumer culture and waste is a vast issue, with problems that span across many areas: waste management, sustainable production, sustainable extraction and material sourcing, finite resources, e-waste, historical factors, social or societal impacts, cultural changes, etc. Because the issue is so vast, perhaps it would be more meaningful, rigorous, and produce a richer outcome if students developed research on a more targeted issue. Perhaps if proposing this investigation to my class, I would show them my own investigation, introducing them to a broad theme, and modelling those integral investigative behaviours, then allow them to choose part of the investigation to collaborate with me on thus providing a scaffolding for further student investigation.

References:

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2012) Sustainability. Retrieved from http://ausvels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/CrossCurriculumPriorities/Sustainability

Australian Government: Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (2010) Sustainability Curriculum Framework. Retrieved from http://leo.acu.edu.au/pluginfile.php/821796/mod_resource/content/1/curriculum-framework.pdf