Earth Awareness Month and What I am Currently Salvaging
More than Just Feeling Saccharine
I didn’t grow up in a very climate conscious household but as the years pass I feel a stronger duty to preserve my corner of the earth in what little way I can. What helped me form a more environmentally conscious lens?
Was it the cute neighbor boy who picked up trash every morning along our sidewalks? I do believe he was earnest and not rehabilitating into society. But maybe I am biased!
Okay, maybe it’s the trips I have taken. Miles and miles of naked forests etching a British Columbia highway put a damper on my mood. Driving away felt like leaving the scene of a crime.
Then there were the melting glaciers I boated up to in Iceland. The melting will cause sea levels to rise which in turn will erode the coasts and gnaw away at the country’s natural beauty — this country, one I felt very connected to, and privileged to visit.
However, I think it was Leena Norm’s video essays that were most influential for me and the actions she takes when “positively panicking” on our burning planet. This year, instead of purchasing fast fashion, she will either alter what she has in her closet or sew her own pieces, even undergarments.
I admire her ability to see the upsides to this DIY sewing challenge. These include learning to be self sufficient, injecting more creativity into her own life, and allowing for specific tailoring of clothes to her own body type.
I am seated on my couch, a comfortable distance away from issues the human mind cannot fathom. Right now, any form of action feels significantly better than a stand still in our awareness of these problems.
Million tons of plastic are thrown into the ocean each year, harming marine life. Fast fashion persists, enslaving child workers. Excess textiles pollute our rivers and streams — that’s it. The excess — the surplus is what started it all. This is what Yanis Varoufakis, activist and former finance minister of Greece, thinks.
Varoufakis states that surplus, such as some left over berries which hunter gatherers picked, gave rise to many essential things that changed humanity forever: writing, debt, money, states, and bureacracy.
It’s that little extra bit that grants us “accumulation and future use.” Surplus proved useful, gave rise to industry and markets, but now perpetuates a constant need for accumulation of goods and we can’t seem to stop it.
I can’t seem to stop it — slurping down as many iced vanilla lattes as I desire with the swipe of a card.
We all know the ability to have anything at our finger tips these days dilutes the value of things, weakens our attention to what we already have.
Yanis Varoufakis’ book sits on my countertop. The red ink, How Capitalism works — and How it Fails, glares up at me.
Leena Norms sews away in her London apartment.
What am I doing?
What can I do?
The best I can come up with is being more attentive to what I have on hand and salvaging a few items around my home. My hypothesis in doing this is that I would feel more competent in my ability to restore anything and more attuned to what already exists.
Item #1
This snake skin skirt sat mournfully in the back of my closet for the past year. It’s potential always lingered but my eye was caught on flashier items. I was drowned once by it, the length too long. This weekend I finally hemmed it and I must say it’s now a closet staple. I can’t wait to pair it with graphic tank tops and doc martins. How silly of me not to tackle this project sooner!
Item #2
A friend leant me this old typewriter in high school and I used to write poetry with it. Many times the idea crossed my mind to reinstate it but I felt dissuaded by its bulky precarious parts. This weekend it didn’t feel as heavy as I thought it would trudging up the slippery stairwell. Now a new ink ribbon is being delivered to my apartment and I plan to create a zine with it.
Item #3
My Dad and I recently had a conversation over the phone about my Grandfather, a jack of all trades. One being that he is an excellent photographer.
I was aghast to hear that my Grandfather’s childhood home had burned down, and along with it, his many treasured photos from decades past. I wonder what sorts of memories he captured and the stories those images could tell.
In lieu of this phone call, I unearthed my own memories this weekend and mounted them on every day spaces such as my bathroom mirror, plant nook, and morning journals.
I would like to think that hemming a skirt, digging up an old typewriter and photographs is more than just feeling saccharine…
Although, I definitely am.
But maybe this sentiment moves us to restore a part of this earth that we wish to see thrive and that we hope, one day, will outlive us.
