by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
We must simplify our lives, every bit of it, and that seriously.
A lot of lip service is being paid to this, to simplifying our lives, and against consumerism, in the “green” movement, only for then to be replaced with a “green” version of it.
Green and eco merchandisers vie for consumers all over the web and also on the High Street and on fairs everyone tries to better the other and many “green” craftspeople exploit the consumer wanting to buy recycled products, for instance.
Are we not about to become what we had hoped – I for one, at least – to stand against, namely the mad consumer society? But we are now, as it would appear, transposing this mad consumerism to the “green” movement and everyone seems to be advocating green consumerism.
Obviously, if you write and publish a book teaching people how to live a more sustainable life, in whichever way, it is fine to sell it at a decent price but when you see craftspeople and companies reinventing this or that and calling it a green invention then that is another thing.
I, for one, have seen the “recycled vase” for £35 ($60) which was but an old wine bottle with some colored cotton string wrapped around it. We used to do that as kids in the 1960s and 1970s. I mean, come on! About sixty bucks for this.
The latest “joke” was the reinvention of the glass bottle for use with tap water for eighteen to twenty-two dollars where reusing a Snapple lemonade bottle made of glass or a glass Ketchup bottle could be reused and repurposed for free. Really people, this is ripping the public off.
While I very much accept (the need for) green businesses I do not and cannot accept that this is used to exploit and con the consumer, as it is so often done in the “ordinary” economic ways and transactions.
I had seriously and honestly thought that we, that is those in the “green” movement, would be doing things differently, in a new way, but this does not seems to be the case. Some just see green and eco as a way of making a quick buck. What a shame!
We have been at the gates and the threshold of something new but, alas, it seems that idiots involved decided not to step through those gates and over the threshold. Instead they locked the gates with a new padlock, threw away the key, and decided to go on as is but with a green-washed economy. Barf!
It is just such a shame that the green agenda has been and is being misused in such a way.
How are we going to get to the new way this way? We don't and that is the truth of the matter.
However, it is not down to those green-washers but to use, to each and every one of us. For we, if we are really concerned and serious, can make a difference and change the way things are being done.
Too often, though, people seem to believe that they have to buy this or that green product in order to be really green and environmentally friendly.
This gadget or that “recycled” products is hyped up as a definite must, and so on, and being green, in many a mind, becomes a complicated and expensive affair. It is not and nor should it be thus.
A simplified life is what is needed, but is is such a shame that the governments do not allow for this either.
Government insists on making our lives more difficult from one day to the next More bureaucracy that is to make things easier. Not for the ordinary punter though, and when government departments screw up it is never ever their fault but always s.
Simplification of life is needed everywhere and first and foremost government must get out of our lives.
There are times and places for government, but not in our personal lives.
Every aspect of our lives need simplifying. Not one area will be exempt and when we are hitting the end of oil we will also be hitting the end of life as we presently know it.
Things will have to be done in a different, simpler and slower way then, and this may not be a bad thing at all.
We also need to relearn to do our own repurposing and reusing of things and that – and if anyone wants a recycled bottle vase then I suggest simple DIY and the same for other items too.
A glass water bottle for the carrying of your tap water can also be had by simple reuse and repurposing without having to spend money and the transportation costs and footprint associated with the “made” product.
Time for a serious rethink.
© 2010
