CHOICES SHAPE YOUR FUTURE
By Judith Ashton
I’ve been Green all my life. Repairing, recycling, and environmental awareness have always mattered to me, and I do my part for Gaia, Mother Earth. Today, it is especially important for everyone to adopt sustainable lifestyles if we want to give Mother Earth a chance to survive amid the ongoing climate crisis.
Both my parents fought in WW2. My grandmothers had to “dig for Britain” and grow as much food as they could. Rationing had ended by the time I was born but I grew up with the mantras:” Waste not, want not”, “Make do and mend” and “A stitch in time saves 9!” From an early age I learnt to sew, make my own clothes, darn and mend rather than replace. I can strip down certain small electrical items and repair. I have an enquiring mind if something stops working. I hate “built in obsolescence”. Several of my domestic appliances are over 30yrs. They have been repaired not replaced.
I like “slow fashion” which is a conscious approach to clothing. Invest in good quality items made from natural fibres and they will last you longer than fast industrial imported garments. Buy timeless pieces which are produced under good environmental conditions, fair wages and with less waste. Fast fashion, doesn’t last and often pays low wages to people who work in toxic conditions and unsafe factories.
Approx 100 million new garments are made annually and often end up in landfill. Please check out “Atacama desert landfill.” Be prepared for a shock.
Slow fashion encourages us to consume less and choose quality rather than quantity and to treasure the garments we acquire. It makes us think about how we dress and its impact on our environment.
When I was a kid, I loved nothing more than going to “Jumble sales” and buying second hand clothes. “Vintage” to me means: silks, satins, crepes, wool, velvets, long dresses and beautiful prints. There were few man-made fabrics like polyester, awful things called “Drip dry shirts” and nylon socks!
If a dress or coat didn’t fit, I took it apart, figured it out and resized it before settling down at my electric Singer sewing machine to reconstruct it. It was an exercise in mindfulness and focus. Nothing worse than not paying attention and finding I had sewn a sleeve in backwards!
There is something wonderful about doing things slowly. We live in a fast world which is like a blur, where everyone is stressed and has no time for what’s really important.
What could you do more slowly and mindfully which could help both your physical and mental health?
First and most importantly, try breathing slowly and deeply… try 4 x per minute and see how that feels. It’s very possible and you will find that it benefits every system in the body. Try chewing very slowly instead of swallowing great mouthfuls of food. This can be good for digestive problems. Take your time as you walk, paying attention to the sounds of birds and observing the subtle details around you.
Compare processed foods to cooking from scratch, chopping and stirring with purpose. A lot of fast food has used a lot of air miles to get here…Expensive and unsustainable! Check food labels. Who needs Chilean avocados in November or strawberries at Christmas? As my Granny would have said, “Cut your coat according to your cloth!” meaning don’t be overly extravagant or wasteful.
We all need to slow it down…. We’re all going in the same direction and really there’s no rush. What do we all really “need” as opposed to “want”? We usually have enough, but advertising and social conditioning make us believe otherwise and encourages constant comparison with others.
There is a deep unease in our society fostered by social media and everything that is forcing us to accelerate. Let’s just slow down, connect to ourselves in meaningful ways, be mindful of all that we have, and be grateful for all that we must love and treasure.
These are no longer the values of a few optimistic hippies but principles that need to be instilled in future generations to ensure continued enjoyment of the bounties of our Great Mother Earth. She is the mother of all mothers and needs to be loved and cared for. Our lives depend on hers. May Mother Earth, all present and future mothers enjoy a Happy Mother’s Day.
Listen to: Jackson Browne’s “Before The Deluge.”
