My Fellow Planeteers

Somedays, I feel like I can come across a bit neurotic when talking to people outside my social circle.  Explaining my theory of balancing my input and output (consumption and creation), is hard to line up with my overconsumptive suburban roots.  Not only does my mother look back at me with widen eyes when I explain that I actually would prefer to shop at the thrift store even if money wasn’t an issue, she actually treats me like I should be pitied.  I recently was at a job interview and I was asked how I became so against consumer culture.  A question that seemed so obvious to me, I had never considered exactly where I got the idea from.  Was it really something I decided all on my own?  Is it just a coincidence that my generation has produced a large DIY movement, whether all those participating see it as a political stance?  Couldn’t be.  I, nor any other individual are really that original. 

 

I want to look you straight in the eyes and whole heartedly say to you that, I single handedly and consciously became so involved in the re-use movement because I decided to consciously construct actions in opposition to the consumer culture I was brought up in.  And that, the parade of participants that join my cause are just “right” and on the same path as I.  That however  would be ignoring our historical context.  And the DIY culture is but one reaction to that historical context.  Cartoons and children’s programming hold a special place in individuals memories.  How many countless parties have you attended where you pause and bond over the shows of your youth.  Ninja Turtles, Captain Planet, Fern Gully, Free Willy, The Giving Tree, Where the Wild Things Are, touched our hearts.  For most of us eighties babies we were surrounded by Eco-trendy and Eco-entertainment products.  How did these influence how our generation is shaping today?

< A work in progress, more soon>