Grandma Mode: On
I have tried to reintroduce into my daily routine some savings practices that my grandmother used to adopt.
Born in 1932, my grandmother was part of one of the generations that lived through important moments in Italian history and beyond (including the Second World War), and she also experienced equally significant (and earlier) life experiences indirectly through the stories and lifestyles of her parents and relatives. All this immense cultural background has led to her adoption of practices closely related to saving (especially food, but also primary resources and electricity).
Having had the opportunity, for 23 years of my life, to compare her lifestyle with mine, ‘contrasts’ were often created because of the attitudes we had: she was oriented towards total and absolute savings, and I was a little more towards wastefulness (especially when I was younger, of course).
Over time, however, I have often had the opportunity to learn about the motivations behind some of her habits, and I have also understood the resulting benefits.
On the occasion of this experience, I therefore decided to use a design research approach that has always fascinated me: the “returning to the practices of the past” one. What better way to do this, then, than through ‘life lessons’ imparted to me by my grandmother, with related practical examples of energy saving?
Here are two of the biggest cases:
- Why use so many resources when you can achieve the same result by using half of them?
Here basically there is the concept of saving not just as a matter of economics, but as a matter of principle. For example, I well remember my grandmother using only one air conditioner in cases of extreme necessity (periods of scorching summer heat), with the whole house closed off so that fresh air could circulate in all living spaces (thus avoiding turning on other air conditioners).
2. Very often, quality products/articles are an investment in order to avoid unnecessary and additional expenditure (used to temporarily improve the situation)
A prime example of such thinking is applicable to the clothes sector. I have noticed that at one time, the quality of clothes fabrics was markedly different (and better) than most of today’s fabrics. And the consequences of this degradation of materials concern, for example, the number of washing machines that need to be switched on weekly, or even just the perception of the surrounding climate (climate change aside, it is well known that certain natural fabrics help to increase the perception of coolness in the warmer months and provide heat insulation in the colder periods, thus avoiding the need for additional heating or cooling systems).
My thoughts
In general, I have tried to apply some of the practices I once used, but I have realised that (in some ways unfortunate, while in others the opposite is true) a systemic approach is required to make such changes: if it is true that ‘one action leads to another’, then it is equally true that limiting the use of energy sources alone is not enough to change and improve the wasteful situation, but that attention must be paid to every small aspect of our lives, even the seemingly most insignificant. It is enough to make a purchase in a hurry (and more focused on economic rather than social/environmental/etc. etc.) that one can, with the right awareness, objectively realise all the consequences of this action.
I realise that these conclusions may have a negative and/or resigned vein, however I like to think that ‘from awareness comes awareness’: in the sense that only by testing on one’s own skin all the possible factors that contribute to a phenomenon will one then be able to manage it even a little better.
