Tag Archive for 'consumption'

Carla’s Journal (9/22/10) – “Letting Go of Fake Needs”

carla published on September 22, 2010 in superforest journal and zeitgeist. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Good Morning, SuperForest!

The picture above shows a rather gruesome image of a monster that was living in my closet for about…six years (give or take.) What you’re looking at is a photograph of sixteen pairs of jeans (16! Jeans, mind you, this count doesn’t include the other type of pants found in my closet.) Nasty, isn’t it? Inspired by Amy’s “100 Thing Challenge” I decided to start this fresh new season by going through my closet and collecting all the clothes I felt I could give away. And as I pulled these sixteen pairs of jeans out of my closet, one by one, I was both shocked and borderline disturbed by the amount of excess that had been accumulating in my own bedroom.

I’m not sure how one even accumulates sixteen pairs of jeans, and the worst part is, I don’t even consider myself to be much of a shopper, but there they were, sitting in a big pile on my bed, conjuring up a strange mixture of feelings ranging from guilt to liberation to inner reflection. You see, as it turns out, the thing that makes it possible for a single person to accumulate so many pairs of pants is simple: a lack of accountability. And at a really macro-level, my pant problem kind of beautifully illustrates the flaws we have as a civilization:

We know what we want to have.
We exaggerate what we need to have.
And we don’t know the extent of what we already have.

Apparently, I wanted jeans. I felt I needed to have new jeans. And eventually, I lost track of how many jeans I had. But lucky for me, this whole “pant” situation didn’t only illustrate the flaws we have as a consumer civilization, it also opened my eyes to a pair of mindsets that could help fix these flaws. Because once you sort of take the time to dive into your closet or cupboards and really take note of everything you’ve collected over time (much like Amy suggested) and you do this often, you start to develop two really handy skill sets.

1. You learn to let go of fake needs: Fake needs. This is something we all are probably guilty of creating from time to time. Be it the “need” to be wealthy or trendy. And it doesn’t even necessarily have to do with the material needs in our life. Do you need to check your email every few hours? Your tumblr dashboard? All those blogs you keep up with? In most cases, when you take the time to analyze these needs, you’ll find that they were created by society or by yourself. Which, generally, is a great thing, because that usually makes it possible for you to eliminate those needs. All it takes, is the willingness to let go. And letting go of excess, in most cases, feels all kinds of awesome.
2. You learn to love less: Letting go of fake needs is not only awesome in the liberating sense, but it also turns out to be a major facilitator to help us appreciate and really take care of all those needs we’re left with. Because when you focus on loving less, essentially you are focusing on “full, savory enjoyment”.

Socrates put it wonderfully when he said: “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” And in a really strange and mixed up way, I probably have sixteen pairs (16!) of jeans to thank for helping me appreciate the wonderful glory of that very simple sentence.

Love!
Carla

SuperForesty Tip: “If it’s not important to you, don’t consume it.”

carla published on July 1, 2010 in zeitgeist. 4 Comments Tags: , , , .

In searching for some good books to read over the summer, I came across a review (of another review) for Duane Elgin’s Voluntary Simiplicity that shared a quote on an issue that is at the core of a lot of the things we discuss here at SuperForest: consumption. We do it every day. Both you and I are consuming right now, and while it isn’t anything we can avoid as living beings, a very simple, yet profound, quote from this book tells us it is something we can definitely approach with greater consciousness.

“… you don’t have to overconsume in areas that aren’t important to your life.If you don’t watch television, don’t buy a television or have a cable box. If it’s nice outside, don’t run your air conditioner. If you’re not into clothing, wear clothing until it’s actually worn out — and then even consider mending it. In other words, if it’s not all that important to you, don’t consume [it].”

If you’re anything like me, you probably notice yourself simply doing things out of habit rather than necessity. And while the ideas displayed in the quote seem like a real no-brainer, it also seems that as of late, it’s been a concept that our society has had much difficulty grasping.

Luckily, on an individual level, it seems like a habit that should be relatively easy to fix (with a little bit of practice, of course.) Broken down, it’s all about recognition, acknowledgment, change in activity, and repetition. Next time you catch yourself staring into an open refrigerator looking for something sweet out of sheer boredom, stop and use that time to do something you really enjoy instead. Piece of cake, right? (No pun intended.)

Love,

C

Vodafone New Zealand: 1000 Cell Phone Orchestra

carla published on October 25, 2009 in technology. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

In December of 2008, it was estimated that there were 4,100,000,000 cell phones in the world. For the peeps over at Vodafone New Zealand, this was (literally) music to their ears. Here is what they did with 1,000 of them.

Oh yes, it is indeed Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. And this is how they made it:

Yowza. 1000 cell phones, ringtones for single instruments, and a built system to send text messages to them in the correct order, to get them to perform a portion. That’s insane! I can only imagine the hours of work that went into creating that one minute video.

The Vodafone ad (and those menacing cell phone stats) got me thinking: I am 21 years old and I’ve had 4 cell phones (maybe five, I can’t even really remember)…where are they? My most recent one is in a pair of pants, but as far as the rest, I can honestly say I have no idea. I can assume this is a dilemma one might find themselves in quite often: “What do we do with old cell phones?”

The Guardian came up with a clever list that answers just that!

1. Get creative: Donate your phone to Rob Pettit, who creates his art work with recycled phones, or Joe McKay who makes high-tech sculptural pieces with old and damaged mobiles

2. Hold on to it. Keep it and share your retention joy with others at Kept

3. Donate your phone to charity via Greensource or the Woodland Trust who’ll turn your phone into forest

4. Give it to someone who’ll make use of it – see Lifeline for Africa

So there you have it. To the folks at Vodafone New Zealand: I’m not sure if your ad’s intentions were for us to reflect on our crazy cellular phone consumption…or to reflect on consumption in general. But I thank you for the reminder, nevertheless.

Love to all.

(via!)