A survey of UK women found that the majority of fashion purchases are only worn seven times. Photograph: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images
Earlier this year, Ikea’s head of sustainability said at a Guardian Sustainable Business event that consumers in the developed world had reached “peak stuff”. The success of Japanese de-cluttering icon and best-selling author Marie Kondo suggests he’s not the only one who thinks so.
The praise and enthusiasm for the KonMari method, which is Kondo’s approach of only keeping items that “spark joy”, signal that attitudes in an increasingly disposable world are shifting. On Instagram and Twitter her devotees post pictures of the clothes and items they’re getting rid of, often with glowing endorsements of her method’s effects on wellbeing.
However, its popularity also raises important sustainability questions. Where are we sending all these joyless garments once we’re done with them? And alongside our fervour to rid our lives of excess, are we addressing our patterns of accumulation at the source?
Making your stuff someone else’s problem
If Kondo’s trend for decluttering results in an increase in donations to charity, that’s undoubtedly a good thing for shops like Oxfam and Traid which rely on donations to make money. However, when it comes to clothes, the quality of fast fashion garments means that they’re often not fit to be sold on in the shops.
A survey of women by children’s charity Barnardo’s found that the majority of fashion purchases are only worn seven times. “If people are buying more at lower quality – so after a wash the hems are gone or the garment is out of shape – that’s really difficult for charities like us,” explains Leigh McAlea, head of communications for Traid.
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Most charity shop chains will sort what they can retail in their own shops and then sell the rest to wholesalers. Those wholesalers then determine what can be sold overseas, what can be downcycled into items like mattress stuffing or rags, what can be incinerated, and what can’t be used at all. The UK exports more used clothing to developing world markets —$481m or roughly 351m kilograms worth in 2014 according to UN comtrade data — than any other country besides the US. Meanwhile, according to Wrap, almost one-third of UK clothing goes to landfill.
Changing our relationship with stuff
James Wallman, author of Stuffocation: Living More With Less, chronicles what he calls “the material equivalent of the obesity epidemic.” He says that the large interest in Kondo’s work proves there is a problem with overconsumption, but it does not address the very root of it.
“We’re still using mental tools honed through millennia of scarcity. Through your grandmother telling you ‘see food eat food’, [we now think] see stuff get stuff,” says Wallman. “It’s very hard to switch our mental tools, which is why lots of people, once they’ve done that clearing up and feel good about it, think: ‘I’ve got all this space on my shelves. What do I do?’ And they go buy more.”
Wallman says that purging your possessions using the KonMari method is really only the first step to un-learning this mindset. He recommends shifting mental focus first by purging, followed by making an marked effort not to “re-stuffocate” and then most importantly by shifting the money you would normally spend on more stuff to memorable and enriching experiences.
Outdoor apparel brand Patagonia has been at the vanguard of trying to shift patterns of consumption. Back in 2011 it was telling consumers not to buy its products and today it celebrates the adventures of its customers on its Worn Wear blog.
UK designer Tom Cridland is also appealing to a new consumer, recently launching a collection of t-shirts and sweatshirts designed to last 30 years. “The whole purpose is to encourage people to buy a little bit less and to buy better, especially when it’s a basic item they’re going to wear all the time,” he explains.
After successful campaigns on crowdfunding websites Kickstarter and Indiegogo, Cridland’s collection launched in June and he says he has sold more than 5,000 sweatshirts and shirts. The brand, which started less than two years ago with a government start-up loan, plans to release a 30 year jacket at the end of the month.
Valuing our clothes more
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Kondo writes in her book that “when a button falls of, it’s a sign that the particular shirt or blouse has … reached the end of its life,” but a Wrap report says that extending the life of an item of clothing is one of the most effective ways to reduce carbon, water and waste footprints. To this end, clothing companies such as Patagonia and Nudie Jeans offer free repair services.
McAlea believes part of the challenge is simply getting people to value their items more. “Understanding the value of your clothes means that in the process of clearing your things, you carry on being mindful and you put some thought into where your things are going and who is going to use them,” she says.
A risk for a poet-novelist is imbalance:The poems can flatten into prose or lose their intensity of focus;the novels can stall amid lofty writing or literary preciousness and ignore the engine of plot and character.-Floyd Skloot
Is the system going to flatten you out and deny you your humanity,or are you going to able to make use of the system to the attainment of human purposes?-Joseph Campbell
In a free market and in the absence of planning,developers will flatten every hillside,fill every canyon,obliterate every endangered species,and pave over every wetland they think they can make a buck on.-Peter Navarro
I believe in leavening.You can't have words sticking out too much,like promontories.They disturb the density.You have to flatten them,or raise the surrounding terrain.-Ben Okri
Storm In A Teacup(1972)-The Fortunes.
This song was turned into a hit in French in Québec in 1973 by Ginette Reno with the version 'DANS LA VIE TOUT S'ARRANGE'.
It is remarkable by how much a pinch of malice enhances the penetrating power of an idea or an opinion.Our ears,it seems,are wonderfully attuned to sneers and evil reports about our fellow men.-Eric Hoffer
Manners have been somewhat cynically defined to be a contrivance of wise men to keep fools at a distance.Fashion is shrewd to detect those who do not belong to her train,and seldom wastes her attentions.Society is very swift in its instincts,and if you do not belong to it,resists and sneers at you,or quietly drops you.-Ralph Waldo Emerson
The trouble is ---that everybody sneers at restrictions and demands freedom,till something annoying happens;then they demand angrily what has become of the discipline.-Dorothy L.Sayers
The world goes up and the world goes down,
the sunshine follows the rain;
and yesterday's sneer and yesterday's frown
can come over again-Charles Kingsley
The most common type of pessimism is neither philosophical nor religious;it is the pessimism of thwarted desire----It is the cynical sneer of the man who,seeking roses,finds only ashes.-Georgia Harkness
----Some veil between childhood and the present is necessary.If the veil is withdrawn,the artistic imagination sickens and dies,the prophet looks in the mirror with a disillusioned and cynical sneer,the scientist goes fishing.-Margaret Mead
Musicians in 2018 and 2019 often work lousy hours,have irregular pay and struggle for recognition.
In the age of digital streaming many artists struggle to get by.Without much income from selling CDs many musicians are forced to tour incessantly and often have a lot of late nights.
Many musicians face mental health struggles and are at higher risk for mental illness.Many musicians feel lonely.Musicians are more likely to experience stress,anxiety and depression than the general population.
Musicians should ideally have multiple streams of income.
Open-plan offices have been found to reduce productivity and impair memory.They're associated with high staff turnover .They make people sick,hostile,unmotivated and insecure.-Susan Cain
Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine.The landmine is me.After the explosion,I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces together.-Ray Bradbury,ZEN IN THE ART OF WRITING.
Don't be a cynic and disconsolate preacher.Don't bewail and moan.Omit the negative propositions.Challenge us with incessant affirmatives.-Ralph Waldo Emerson
How little sleep one got at a slumber party is a matter of great pride and an index of the success of the party.-Elizabeth Radin Simons,THE SLUMBER PARTY AS FOLK RITUAL.
But human nature cannot be content on a diet of honey and if there is nothing in one's life that requires pity,one must invent it;for to go through life unpitied would be an unthinkable loss.-Angela Thirkell
Dining out is a vice,a dissipation of spirit punished by remorse.We eat,drink,and talk a little too much,abuse all our friends,belch out our literary preferences and are egged on by accomplices in the audience to acts of mental exhibitionism.Such evenings cannot fail to diminish those who take part in them.They end on Monkey Hill.-Cyril Connolly
Fashion is primitive in its insistence on exhibitionism,which withers in isolation.The catwalk fashion show with its incandescent hype is its apotheosis.A ritualized gathering of connoisseurs and the spoilt at a spotlit parade of snazzy pulchritude,it's an industrialized version of the pagan festivals of renewal.At the end of each seasonal display,a priesthood is enjoined to carry news of the omens to the masses.-Stephen Bayley
There are few things quite so effortlessly enjoyable as watching an eminent person getting in a huff and flouncing out of a television interview,often with microphone trailing.-Craig Brown
Monoculture wants you to forget that the joy of life is in the community or the village,where you can touch,taste,smell,feel and experience a motley potpourri of cultural vicissitudes.-Bryant McGill,VOICE OF REASON.
Sometimes it seems that the fate of the world is decided entirely in the ether of electronic communications and corporate backroom deals.-Rebecca Solnit
Nature doesn't like empires.It doesn't like accumulation in one place,it doesn't like monoculture.It's always trying to make diverse species .It wants to spread everything out.And we're constantly trying to hold everything in.-Yvon Chouinard
The main goal is to increase diversity.The one thing that is bad for society is low diversity.This is true for culture or evolution,for species and also for whole societies.If you become a monoculture,you are at great risk of perishing.-George M.Church
The system of seeds based on monoculture is wrong and inappropriate.The biodiverse system has produced more food,and biodiversity means that seeds must be in the hands of farmers.-Vandana Shiva
We should take a lesson from the Irish potato famine:monocultures are vulnerable.Monocultures of any kind are very vulnerable,because one change and you're cooked.So we should be diversifying,wouldn't you say?-Margaret Atwood
It is time to learn from the mistakes of monocultures of the mind and the essentialising violence of reductionist thought.It is time to turn to diversity for healing.-Vandana Shiva
Most of the writers I know are weird hybrids.There's a strong streak of egomania coupled with extreme shyness .Writing's kind of like exhibitionism in private.And there's also a strange loneliness ,and a desire to have some kind of conversation with people,but not a great ability to do it in person.-David Foster Wallace
Over the years,the idea seems to have grown up that brightly coloured flowers are vulgar,and that the only flowers to be admitted to the walled garden of good taste are discreet and pastel-hued.-Craig Brown
Some of the most vocal critics of the way things are being done are people who have done nothing themselves,and whose only contributions to society are their complaints and moral exhibitionism.-Thomas Sowell
The dream of control is seductive but it leads to monoculture in the field and fortified white bread in the supermarket.-Michael Pollan,COOKED:A NATURAL HISTORY OF TRANSFORMATION.
Some of the most untidy writers have also been the most productive.Iris Murdoch,for instance,wrote a good 30 books in a house strewn with rubbish.-Craig Brown
The days grow shorter,
The nights grow longer,
the headstones thicken along the way,
and life grows sadder,
but love grows stronger
For those who walk with us day by day.-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
To tell of disappointment and misery,to thicken the darkness of futurity,and perplex the labyrinth of uncertainty,has always been a delicious employment of the poets.-Samuel Johnson
Contrary to popular wisdom,it is not necessary for Canadians to do a garden cleanup in October or November and overclean the yard for winter.It might be better to keep the rake in the shed and leave the leaves on the lawn or in the backyard.
A layer of leaves covers up the root system,suppresses weeds and preserves soil moisture.Leaves break down nutrients and return them to the soil.
Fallen leaves on the lawn absorb rainwater and help avoid nutrient runoff,thereby helping lakes and rivers.
A layer of leaves is good for the lawn.Leaf litter hides insects.Butterflies and moths are in the leaf litter.In the spring birds eat these insects.Leaf litter helps pollinators like beetles and helps other insects too.Bees have been having a tough time with habitat loss,climate change and pesticide use.By keeping leaves on the lawn you can provide a home for bees during the winter.
By raking up the leaves,we disturb the insects and pollinators.
Many people have neat and tidy neighbors.They rake up their garden because they do not want leaves to blow over across the street into the neighbor's yard.
Sundried Tomatoes that you consumed in September 2019
In September 2019,you consumed a 275ml glass jar of ALLESSIA-SUNDRIED TOMATOES-julienne cut in oïl
-Use Allessia sundried tomatoes in sauces,soups,omelettes and salads.
-Ingrédients:Sundried Tomatoes,canola oïl,vinegar,salt,oregano,capers,basil,garlic,bay leaf.
-www.auroraimporting.com
-Made in Canada from imported and domestic ingrédients.
-Nutrition Facts:Per 2 pieces(15g) - % Daily value
:Calories-30
:Protein -1g
: Vitamin A -2 %
:Vitamin C-10%
:Calcium-0%
:Iron-6%
These ALLESSIA sundried tomatoes were wonderful.
The evolution of the brain not only overshot the needs of prehistoric man, it is the only example of evolution providing a species with an organ which it does not know how to use.-Arthur Koestler,THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE (1967).
Be committed and passionate about what you are doing;---And you can't just be passionate;you have to be really hard-headed too.-Phyllis Lambert (born 1927)
In August 2019,you bought and consumed a 540 ml tin can of PORTUGALIA Green Peas(Assorted Sizes)(Canada Choice)
-Ingredients:Peas,water,sugar and salt.
-Product of Canada.
Joan of Architecture-Nickname of Montrealer Phyllis Lambert(born 1927).
She is the wealthy heiress who has championed the preservation of Montreal's historic buildings from demolition.
She founded the Canadian Centre of Architecture in 1979 in the Shaugnessy Village neighborhood of downtown Montreal on Bailie street.
I couldn't live a week without a private library -indeed,I'd part with all my furniture and squat and sleep on the floor before I'd let go of the 1500 or so books I possess.-H.P.Lovecraft
Nigel Smith is the owner of the Fleece Inn in England.
On a weekend night in September 2019,at his pub,only people with the name Nigel were invited to a party.More than 400 Nigels showed up at the Nigel Night-435 to be precise.
All invitees had to show up with identity documents such as a driver's license or a passport.
The purpose of the gathering was to celebrate the name 'Nigel' whose popularity has been waning.
If you aren't just brought up in your tribe but interact with other people either directly or vicariously,through journalism and literature,you see what life is like from other points of view and are less likely to demonize them or dehumanize others and more likely to empathize with them.-Steven Pinker
Once energy problems gain traction,there will be a large new class of economic losers,and consequently a lot of social turbulence.-James Howard Kunstler
Still Life(2019)-A book of memoirs by Dr.Jeff Sutherland.
Dr.Jeff Sutherland was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease at the tender age of 41.Within a year of diagnosis,he lost the ability to move his limbs.
This book is unique because because Dr.Sutherland wrote it with his eyes.It is an uplifting and optimistic book.
After being diagnosed with ALS,Dr.Jeff Sutherland lost his beloved son in a kayaking accident in the river that runs behind his house.Dr.Sutherland was grief-stricken and heart-broken but decided to pour himself into writing.
If you don't go after what you want,you'll never have it.If you don't ask,the answer is always no---
.If you don't step forward,you're always in the same place.-Nora Roberts
.
Seniorpreneurs are people who continue to work as businessmen or entrepreneurs after the age of 65 instead of retiring.
These people are not the retiring kind and keep earning into the golden years.They choose to keep working after 65 rather than choose to retire.
With longer life expectancy bigger nest eggs are needed.More and more people are seniorpreneurs in 2019.
October sunshine bathed the park with such a melting light that it had the dimmed impressive look of a landscape by an old master.Leaves one,two at a time,sidled down through the windless air.-Elizabeth Enright,''APPLE SEED AND APPLE THORN.''
In September 2019,you bought and consumed a 220 ml tin can of SAN MARCOS SALSA.
-Ingredients: Tomatoes,Onions,Jalapeno Peppers,Salt,Coriander and Vinegar.
-Nutrition Facts:Per 2 tbsp(30 ml)- % Daily Value
-Protein-0 g
-Calories-10
-Vitamin A-4%
-Vitamin C-4%
-Calcium-0%
-Iron-4%.
- Product of Mexico.
This salsa was quite good.