Cultural Materialism: a sustainability issue.
Cultural Materialism: A theory that material conditions or the physical world influences human behavior.
This is the result of many weeks of research and a strong determination to do things in a way that makes Earth smile back at us. Cultural materialism is a very pivotal topic especially in the increase in shopping during these weird times. Links will be provided in case you want to know more about this and how you can aid the sustainability cause. Enjoy :)
Disclaimer: This post is merely to create awareness on a very important issue that concerns all of us. We are still educating ourselves on this and are not 100% guiltless of contributing to the issue, thus the changes we are calling for do not exclude us. Thank you!
We often tend to forget Earth when we go about our daily lives. It’s an oddly bold thing to say but it’s proven to be rather factual - not everyone thinks about the impact most of the things we do has on Earth. At least, I didn’t for a long time. There are hot summer days when it’s hotter than usual and we just think ‘it’s so hot’, fingers crossed the weather gets chillier and that’s it. Then the next day comes and then the next, and it gets hotter and we start to think, “God is punishing this country that’s why it feels like hell!” - p.s. someone actually said this! Anyway, the punishment is not totally out of context because there is a form of punishment happening - us punishing Earth. As we get to that, let’s ease you into cultural materialism.
How is it that people are still buying now? We don’t know when we’re going out again because of the unpredictability of the coronavirus situation. Besides stuff is going to go out of style by next year, so the seemingly excess shopping is us basically buying off the rack. We also need to remember that not everything made gets sold.
@salma_tahir
Not everything made gets sold. Do you know what this really means? Modes of production and the products produced play roles in poisoning Earth, so if more products are made, there’s more environmental harm:
Climatically toxic chemicals like hydrogen chloride and nitrous oxide are emitted into the atmosphere in production processes.
Consumerism has drastically increased: the more people demand environmentally *unfriendly products, the more we make Earth cry because even more harmful gases are released into the atmosphere.
The chemicals and the water from soil used to dye the fabric deprives soil of its nutrients and releasing more chemicals to the atmosphere.
Plastic can stay in the environment for up to 100 years, emitting greenhouse gases that help cause global warming.
Don’t follow trends - they have a much deeper impact. Apart from environmental effects, there’s also animal cruelty involved, especially with leather. Animals being tortured and killed to satisfy our want for more and more products. Some “influencers” make you believe a Nike a day makes everything great, and buying much more despite actually having enough is superior - yeah, don’t buy that.
It’s no secret that the habitual human desire to have more and more of what they don’t really need, certain people and Earth as a whole have to pay the ultimate price. There are underpaid factory workers that have submitted their labor to the unhealthy demands of fast fashion, and harmful gases going into the atmosphere culminating in an inauspicious depletion of our ozone layer. To help you understand how unbelievably destructive it is, just look at Venus - it’s the second closest planet to the sun, with the nearest being Mercury. This is due to the planet trapping heat from the sun (with scorching temperatures up to 471℃ or 880℉). Its atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide (bet you’re even more grateful for trees now) and sulfuric acid. And get this - it also has an ozone layer despite absorbing an incredible amount of the sun’s harmful rays and the scariest part - research shows it is very likely that Venus was once habitable, just as the Earth is for us now. Thanks to the great Carl Sagan for inspiring the venus talk.
@chiomao_
To know more about our environment, clothing and ourselves.
Clothes need some fixing or want to learn how to make clothing and other crafts at home: Take free courses at Bluprint.
Donate, sell, thrift clothes (be even more conscious with hygiene as a result of the coronavirus).
The Carl Sagan lecture about global warming that inspired the venus talk.
To help the Fashion Industry ‘unite as a force for good.’ - FashionForRelief.
