What has changed?
This question is not one intended for experts, analysts, sociologists or anyone with a scientific background involving numbers and data that can explain this socio-cultural phenomenon. It is more of a rhetorical question that I delve in as a young, working, Latin American mother, with a taste for fashion, gourmet eating and the occasional disposable pleasure.
Today I woke up to find in my WhatsApp group a friend who mentioned that after endless research, she concluded that discarding her 3-year-old microwave and buying a new one was a far better option than to repair it. My mind immediately conjured the memory of the sturdy refrigerator and other appliances from the past that lasted a lifetime.
The same happens with clothes. When I was little, we wore clothes that had belonged to our mothers or grandmothers. Today that is obsolete. Fashion became a bargaining chip: trends must be kept up with and in order to do so we buy in cheap stores so as not to be left behind. However, from one winter to the next, what seemed like the cutest sweater has been relegated to the bottom of the closet, given away, or even worse: thrown away. I would like to share an experience from my childhood that truly marked me.
I was 7 years old and my parents took me on a plane trip for the first time. The destination was Disney. It was a dream trip. Finally getting to know the magical world that I experienced only through a video cassette. I was able to feel the smooth fabric of Cinderella's dress. Unforgettable.
While I was committed to the classic Mickey and Donald Duck signature collection quest, my mom -always seizing the opportunity to spark my curiosity- took me to see a movie that, at first sight, seemed to be the Lion King. Far was that movie from being a children's fiction. Simba was there, yes, but the setting was not Disney’s traditional savannah. Simba was on our planet together with a girl and they talked about the evil we are causing to our home, our planet. Mountains of garbage that would not disappear nor let the girl breathe. The garbage formed islands that could even be inhabited by thousands of people. The screening explained about the excess of harmful gases, industrial by products that damage our ecosystem. Animal suffering. Living beings in agony due to endless waste, consequence of the unbridled consumption of consumers ignorant of its consequences.
Once the movie ended, I felt sad and hopeless. How could Simba and his family survive in this place?
That was in 1995.
Now in 2021, while a pandemic strikes the world, it appears that many things have changed.
It has been several years now since the concept of "know what we eat" has been established. The phrase "we are what we eat" is as popular as taking care of oneself. McDonald’s even offers salad and apples in their Happy Meal. This was unthinkable back in 1995.
However, the advance towards sustainable consumption is more recent and has been gaining strength since we have been forced by a virus to stay in our homes.
What has changed?
Why is it that we are now questioning the negative impact we have on the place where we rest our feet, where we submerge our bodies, to what we see with our eyes when we look up at the sky, the place where our parents, grandparents and, in the future, our descendants shall live?
In my case, the click was in 1995 after seeing Simba walking through a mountain of garbage.
Today with so much information it is impossible to be a mere bystander. I find it impossible not to stop at the supermarket shelf and think: is this product worth buying since its container will disintegrate or bio-degrade (being these two very different things) in 100 years? This sweater that I am choosing to buy will release small plastics when washed that will eventually end in the sea, to be surely eaten by a turtle. If I can choose to buy a natural fiber one, why not?
Knowledge is our greatest power. The problem nowadays is the abundance of knowledge and the companies that communicate with bias whatever works for them in order to sell products with the materials that suit them.
I am no expert. And most of you aren't either. But at least I have found that the best path towards a more favorable impact on my planet is to inform myself better about what I am buying and what waste and impact it will leave on my planet, our planet.
Recently, at a conference, experts confirmed that the key to sustainability is the longevity of things. Wear and tear is a matter of the past. It’s unsustainable. One of the exponents, a CEO at known scandinavian sportswear brand, said that you have to fall in love with the garment, since love does not go out of style.
It would be also nice if the love for our planet did not go out of style.
By Susana Raquet
Head of Communications
Engraw S.A