Going beyond the hour
So unless you’ve been holed up in your shed and communicating exclusively via a soup tin and piece of strong the last couple of weeks, you’ll probably know that Earth Hour is this weekend.
This year, people are encouraged to go beyond the hour and simply switching their lights and take some positive action that helps the planet.
Which brings us to a slightly more serious side of the Garage Sale Trail, and that is the sustainability side of things.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics:
- Australians generated approximately 43.8 million tonnes of waste (approximately 2,080 kilograms of waste per person) in 2006-07.
- Of this, 29% came from municipal sources i.e. the types of things your council collects from your nature strips or what is dumped locally.
- The growth in the amount of waste Australians generated per person is a consequence of “Australia’s fast-growing, materially intensive economy is the production of large quantities of waste” - so basically, we’re buying and tossing more stuff than ever before.
It’s pretty humbling stuff. Especially when seen within the context of American Photographer Chris Jordan’s work “Intolerable Beauty” .
One of the reasons why we think the Garage Sale Trail is a good idea, is that it encourages us to think more carefully about how we consume ‘stuff’.
We think that creativity is a great way to breathe life into old things. We love that knowledge about mending clothes, fixing and adjusting gadgets can be shared across generations and between neighbours, and that the stories attached to objects keep them in circulation rather than going to landfill. We also know that the things we need to create stuff are finite, so we need to be careful about how we use what we have.
So we’re asking you, this Earth Hour think about stuff. If you’ve never been to a garage sale before or aren’t too keen on the idea of second-hand - try it out.
If you usually just chuck shoes and clothes, visit a cobbler or a Tailor, maybe learn some basic sewing.
If you’ve ever wanted to bring something back to life, maybe spend some time in the bloke down the road’s shed.
If you’re a little guilty of leaving stuff on the nature strip, hold a garage sale for the first time as part of the trail.
Happy Earth Hour.
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