Making It Sustainable

Climbing Up on MY Soap Box

There was a time you knew who made your jam, bread or clothes, etc. Either you made it yourself or you purchased or traded with a neighbour or someone from a nearby town. However, as the industrial age progressed and our populations grew, we became more dependant on technology and machines to produce what we need. Of course, even the word need itself has changed meaning over time depending on your finances or where you live. Our society has grown to the point that many people have no choice but to buy everything they own. Unfortunately, many of the items that are cheap to purchase are also cheaply made and do not last. Many of them are also not easily recycled, reused or biodegradable.

I was taught how to cook, bake, and sew by my mother. My grandmother taught me the basic stitches of knitting and through classes I learned to crochet and cake decorate. I am a maker.  I have a creative brain and have been crafting in one form or another all my life, from making paper crafts and sewing as a child to entering cake decorating competitions as an adult. I am seeing more and more people who have not had these experiences. They did not learn from their parents or grandparents or anyone else. They are not encouraged to craft anything. It is looked on as a hobby by some and a waste of time by others.

There are many who are quite content to purchase whatever finished goods they need. Some do not care what it is made of or who made it. They just want the latest thing. Others do care but don’t know what else to do. Who has the time to make what they need? There is only so much time in a day and if you are spending most of that between commuting, work, and family responsibilities, what can you do? Then there is a class of goods which one person cannot make themselves and we are forced as a society to purchase them. I am not talking about these technologically advanced items. I am focusing on the more day-to-day items that we hardly notice we use. Things that we could craft ourselves.

I do care about what something is made of and where it comes from. I am sick of searching stores and not finding anything that is made to last, or will decompose when it ends its useful life.

Yes, I am primarily talking about plastic that breaks within a few weeks then ends up in a landfill for thousands of years, slowly breaking down into microscopic particles that are ending up in the DNA of everything. Plastic, by many names, is in everything people buy these days and I mean EVERYTHING. It is in your clothes, phones, house, furniture, car, shovels, scrub brushes . . . I could go on for days. Don’t take my word for it. Look it up. It is crazy and frankly unsustainable.

Making a Change

I have decided that while I cannot change everything, and our society would completely fall apart if we tried to change overnight; [Where would all the people who work in the factories go? How would most people maintain any standard of living?  How would manufacturers package our food?] I do think each person can make a small dent in the plastic tidal wave.

I am in the process of making changes to my lifestyle. No, it hasn’t been easy. Finding the time as a Stay-at-Home Mom is difficult. But as Ghandi said, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”, I have decided on the following first step. I don't know if I can do it, but I am going to try. It will take time.

There is a movement in many locations to replace single-use plastic bags with reusable bags. This is primarily focused in my city on the larger shopping bags but you can still use single-use plastic produce bags. Well, this is quite the kettle of fish. Many of the bags that are ‘reusable’ are made from plastic fibers. So, while reusable, they are like using a plastic bag. After they have had their useful life, they will just do what every other plastic bag does. Even those which claim to be recyclable are only recyclable in certain cities and realistically most people will just throw them out. The laws which have been put forward around this issue are impractical and contradictory.

In my way, I am pushing aside the noise of society and focusing on what I can do. I have started to crochet my own produce bags. I am currently working on prototypes. Once I have the pattern down that I like I will share it with you all. These bags will be made using cotton crochet thread. Cotton is a natural fiber that will break down.

With my love of history and especially the late Victorian to early Edwardian era, I have also begun to research how people lived then. Not just the pretty fashion and furniture but how they coped with day-to-day living. Not everything will be transferable due to our current standards of health and living, but I am sure there will be some things that are quite doable and others that can be successful with modifications.

So, if you join me here, I will share whatever resources I can find as I create a more environmentally friendly and sustainable home through crafting and purchases from local artisans and businesses. I will try to find old skills to make what I can, using natural products and materials. I know it is not always possible to do this and some things are lost to time but I am going to try to bring back what I can. We each can only do what we can do. One small step is at least something.

*Note: The bag pictured above was my first using the pattern designed by Elitza Chernaeva. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/reusable-produce-bag-7.