Eames: friend or foe?

This documentary is a must-watch… for everyone.

Putting aside the subjectivity of design, Charles and Ray Eames created their still booming business in post-war America. They were at the forefront of Consumer Culture, optimising this innovative push for style and culture of mass-production. However, what sets the Eames brand apart from modern mass production is evident within their tag line “the best for the most for the least”. Eames furniture fetches remarkable prices in the modern market because aside from being a design feature, the furniture is known to be a quality product.

These philosophies, of Eames and others, could be attributed to modern consumerism. Somewhere along the way, business proposals have gone awry, capitalising on (in particular Western) society’s thirst for more, faster and cheaper and left quality far behind.

Reference:
First Run Features (2011) EAMES: The Architect and The Painter (video). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YMzmuBBBzo

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.

 

 

Who Pays?

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 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

Mass-Production: Who pays for all this?

We do of course, we pay through our pocket, through our depleting natural resources and through the devastating social effects of mass production.

Our water sources pay:
It takes almost 70 Litres of water to grow one apple; one a day keeps the doctor away?
It takes 137 Litres of water to produce one egg, yet we happily eat two for breakfast without a second thought.
It takes 3407 Litres of water to produce one pair of blue jeans; how many do you own?

In this case study, obtained online, this user clearly outlines the effects of mass production. While the credibility of the author is unkown, the crux is uncontentious. It explores the social and enviornmental effects of mass produced furniture. The alleged illegal sourcing of timber from non-renewable sites, the effects of low-cost labour on small societies in developing countries, and to me most interestingly, the homogeneity of mass production effecting our sense of style.

“Buying mass-produced, impersonal, cheap things to decorate your home creates a homogeneous environment shared by thousands of other people. The sense of individuality and personalization of your most intimate surroundings is lost” (Global Citizenship wiki, 2011, para. 5)

References:
Orange County Water District (2013) Water Facts. Retrieved from http://www.ocwd.com/ConservationEducation/WaterFacts.aspx

Global Citizenship wiki (2011) Ikea Case Study: Some Effects of Mass Production and Consumption. Retrieved from:
http://globalcitizens.pbworks.com/w/page/25662206/Ikea%20Case%20Study%3A%20Some%20Effects%20of%20Mass%20Production%20and%20Consumption