I don't hate this idea...
Really...I think it has a lot of merit.
WP: 10 friends live secondhand for a year - Voluntary simplicity also sparks a backlashI can't imagine doing it with my current family situation, work schedule and life style...but I think it is interesting. When cleaning out my house, closet, kids closet, I have always dreaded "throwing something away"... It gave me soooo much guilt. Working toys, nice clothes, furniture I hated to just discard what I knew someone, some where needed and would be grateful to have. Personally I would much rather donate useful clothes, items and toys to the American Rescue Workers than just pitch them in the trash. (Actually, just this weekend I pulled out a Carter's outfit that Todd threw in trash. Allison had out grown it...so he was tossing it. It was in great condition...so I saved it to donate or sell in a yard sale.)
SAN FRANCISCO - In the living room, the group gathers to share inspirational stories about the joy of finding just the right previously owned shower curtain. To the uninitiated, these people appear almost normal, at least in a San Francisco kind of way. But upon closer inspection, you see it: Nothing in this house, nothing on their bodies, none of their products -- nothing is new. Everything is used. For these people, recycling wasn't enough. Composting wasn't a challenge anymore. No, they wanted much more of much less.
Attention holiday shoppers! These people haven't bought anything new in 352 days -- and counting. These 10 friends vowed last year not to purchase a single new thing in 2006 -- except food, the bare necessities for health and safety (toilet paper, brake fluid) and, thankfully, underwear, and maybe socks (they're still debating whether new socks are okay). Everything else they bought secondhand. They bartered or borrowed. Recycled. Re-gifted. Reused. Where? Thrift stores and swap meets, friends and Dumpsters, and the Internet, from Craigslist to the Freecycle Network, which includes 3,843 communities and 2.8 million members giving away stuff to one another. Read more here.
posted by Shelley-belly | 2:17 PM
6 Comments:
That's just too much for me. Someone else's shower curtain? That is disgusting. Here's a newsflash: We are all going to die. The world is going to end. Eventually. There are too many people on this earth using too many resources. We will never get enough of them to be environmentally conscious to make much of a difference. Yeah, we may be able to postpone the inevitable for a little while. But in the big scheme of things, so what? Hate to be a nihilist but that's how I see it. I do recycle and try not to be too wasteful. Efficiency is my middle name actually. But I'm only willing to go so far in trying to fight what is really a losing battle. If I have to die and the world has to end, I'm at least going to have unused shower curtains.
Honey,it wouldn't have to be a USED shower curtian (though, to be honest, that thought doesn't freak me out)...it just can't be new to you. So if someone was selling a brand new one at a yard sale, or the thrift store...that counts!
nevertheless
Think of the last time you took a shower in a hotel room....now those are some used curtains!
I think that pretty much everything can be recycled in one way or another and only seriously broken items should be discarded. Giving to the Salvation Army is sooo much better than filling the landfill with stuff that other people would be happy to use/have or fix.
It is only a loosing battle in your mind. Luckily, for the world and future generations there are people out there trying to make a difference & trying to turn this ship around.
If there are to be future generations, we must provide them with good role models.
OR
We could just say "Fuck it! It's not MY problem."
But the problem is is that we are all to busy living for today that we aren't looking past our own nose to see what lies ahead for our children...the children of this world.
I know I have a pretty negative attitude about it. Part of it is that I spend so much time and energy trying to make life bearable in the present for the kids I come into contact with. That in itself is such an uphill battle without even worrying about the future.
Oh, I guess it is kind of a "used underwear" sort of thing
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