THE CREATIVE SIDE OF SUSTAINABILITY
This is a topic that has been playing on my mind for a while now and considering it was recently MAKE SMTHING week, I feel it's the best time to discuss it. So I'll jump straight in - have you ever thought of sustainability as creative? I'll be honest and say, up until recently, I had only considered sustainability as a lifestyle choice and a ecological concept I study at uni. However, the more I think about it, for sustainability to be put int practice, you actually have to be quite imaginative. To find different ways to reduce your environmental impact through your lifestyle or business, it requires you to think outside the box. For example, reusing, upcycling and DIYs within a conscious lifestyle, all encourage us to make, create and fix things ourselves.
Just after I started thinking about the creative side of sustainability, I came across the idea of Craftivism from one of Jen Gale's Making Good podcasts, where she interviewed Sarah Corbett, a award winning campaigner and founder of the Craftivist Collective - a project, business and community that uses art and craft to engage, empower, and encourage positive environmental and social change. So, not only does living sustainbly, zero waste and eco friendly require thinking creatively about alternative ways to making more conscious lifestyle decisions, but creativity and art can also be used to express social injustice and environmental issues through forms such as painting, photography and film. Cool, eh?
I also realised when I purchase new items for myself or gifts for friends and family, I always try to look for ethical and eco businesses to buy from. These businesses are usually those who have upcycled old waste materials into something more unique and personal. Take My Broken Record for example, a local upcycling business that cuts inspiration messages and icons of music and film into old vinyl records. Vinyl records are made from PVC, the world's most harmful plastic, and if melted, they are highly toxic to both humans and the environment. So by investing in something like an upcycled vinyl from My Broken Record, not only has waste and toxins been eliminated from landfill, but you now have a beautifully made and meaningful piece for your home that will last a lifetime - if that's not creative, I'm not sure what is.
Do you think sustainability brings out our creative side? If so, what have you made, created or fixed so far on your sustainability journey?