fashionRIP: when being bad is good

Saturday, April 25, 2009

when being bad is good

plants used for fabrics

GRRRRRRilla Marketing or is it GIRLilla ?

Ethical Fashion stood its ground against corporate vending machines on Earth Day.

Think about it.
Plastic bottled beverages (plastic issues are multiple) single serving packaging (packaging is resource greedy and makes for garbage mountains) not to mention that these machines are often refrigerated units and/or always on (gobbling energy) -what are we doing here folks? These machines are full of products that are designated for human consumption but what is the nutritive value? A pointless oral and tummy fix and then....i just had to use that wall of readymade props.

I was asked by a school employee if i wanted an easel for my illustrations and i told him no, that the point was better made using the vending machines. He spluttered back about having to make money and i countered with "its Earth Day, really what is the harm in one day from 10-4 and besides isn't it time to shake awake and see the real ...this ( i point to machines) is a part of the problem after all. He backed off with a statement about getting orders from higher up. Yeah, how high...?

Anyway, a sign disappeared. As it was the one getting the most delightful comments, well i just made a new one to replace it. This happened 3 times until i caught the culprit; "aha, so its you ripping down my signs,"i said in a non offending, jovial manner. It was a silly little game after all!

That third time he took down all of the signs (after 3pm) while i was talking with someone about sewing classes or mercury in immunizations or Peruvian villages (i meet the greatest people)

The point of this is why he couldn't just ask me to please stop ...i guess he was afraid he might lose a possible argument as olde school grounds are sinking fast!

If i see him again, i will tell him he could have just asked me to remove the signs because he tore a few of them and that wasn't nice. The point of this is that sometimes disrupting status quo is necessary to move things forward. Think first and then act...but do act.

It was fun!

1 comment:

Cynthia said...: Deb,

Bravo, with a beautiful poignant photo to provoke thought. There is way too much unnecessary consumption. In the short term the diseased economy suffers, but we have to redefine our commerce.

After this quarter is over and things cool a bit, I am there with you, artistic creative expression designed to shift the paradigm!!!; April 25, 2009 at 9:08 PM

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Why it Matters

What's the matter with more and more fashion choices?

It sounds good; we love to be able to pick the perfect outfit. You wear it once or twice and then ....what was the real cost here?

Your time to shop and the money spent, not so much ....go a little deeper and consider the fiber source, the dyes and chemicals used, the health toll on the workers, the energy to run the machines, the transporting carbons...and now it just takes up closet space. But so what? It's been going on for-almost-ever and you didn't make the rules.

In fact we are told this is what a "healthy" economy looks like.

You will recycle it after all, give it to charity or your sister. This is more transportation and more release of those greenhouse gases. We are using a lot of our personal energy and the resources of this planet to make, use and dump "trash" Some rags, remnants and tawdry bits will molder for eons in landfills, as nature's microbial actions are hampered by our normalized, everyday toxic lifestyles.

This goes beyond dumps as the breakdown cycle that nourishes the life of this planet has been sorely challenged by GMO crops, fertilizers, pesticides, antimicrobials..RIGHT!!. All the "living better through chemistry" propaganda after WWI and II- AKA how to sell your "garbage," is our legacy. Well no more, not on my (our) watch, we are seeing things quite differently.

As we now carry 298 toxins in our bods that weren't there in the 1930s the toxic residues of normal are haunting us more and more. Ironic, no? Advanced is merely a word.

Go to the So Whats the Point blog in February for the numbers.

fashionRIP posts are copr at time of posting thank you

Extinctions ...So What?

Life evolves, some species survive some don't. We like to allude to Darwin's "natural selection" or Herbert Spencer's "survival of the fittest" because we are so good at reproducing and taking over this planet and justifying that side of our natures. The fact that we are wiping out the food chain by destroying habitat, fouling air and water and generally behaving like arrogant, tinkering idiots, is called business as usual. .....Well I and others are no longer buying that "sell."

We are wising up to the idea that we too, are dependent on these resources. We too, are physically an organic species and we really don't know what little extinction will be the start of the chain reaction that collapses the structure that we too, are dependent on.

Is this the price we are willing to pay for a pair of plastic shoes?

I say no, that despite the focus on the physical, we are more. We are heart and soul, mind, body, spirit. We are born of stars and we can and will leap over this world view based in old, untrue beliefs led by a science of isolation and religions of patriarchal, hierarchical constructs (your basic dominating Dad- with self reflective rights to rule). It is time to come together and heal. To transition into our fuller expectations and open the new possibilities. We are born with genius...let us help each other get to where we all can shine.