Green Day: Mending

Clothes we didn't know we had, mended and ready to wear!

After a discussion this week with Sarah about what bio-diesel is (she saw a car with a vanity plate that said "SOY"), we got into the discussion about how we are and how we can be more environmentally conscious. I realized at that moment, that although I have a routine in place for recycling paper, cans, plastic bottles; recycling fabric scraps that I create with my business; use CFL's in part of my studio; etc., I should be making an effort to do more on a regular basis.

Sarah and I discussed that we walk to the grocery store and library - well, actually Avi does, since he does the shopping. I drive a lot. Part of that is a function of Sarah going to school about 7 miles from home, and her friends all live within a 15+ mile radius. So I think I need to concentrate my environmental efforts in other areas.

Every Sunday I am going to post what I will do "new" this week to be more environmentally friendly. This week I decided that I will mend and alter clothes instead of sending them to Goodwill because I am lazy. I shop at alot of thrift stores to get fabric for work. One of the stores I frequent is the Goodwill Outlet. The Outlet is the "last chance" for donated items to be sold - things are sold by the pound. The items that go to the Outlet are either those that didn't sell in the store OR the "overstock" (i.e. if they receive too many toys at one time, part of them go straight to the Outlet without ever making it to the store). Goodwill makes tons of $$ through the Outlet - it's a hoppin' place any day of the week with people buying carts and carts full of stuff. The problem is, it doesn't all get sold. There are huge, bus-sized dumpsters sitting outside the store where the leftovers get dumped. I understand books go to the paper recycler, metal to the metal recycler, etc. - but this is still a HUGE amount of stuff going to the dump.

about 1/2 way through the slide show you'll see people digging through piles of stuff on big blue "tables" - this is the smaller Outlet in Everett, the Seattle Outlet has exponentially more stuff.

I think a lot of people have this preconceived notion that if they donate their unwanted goods, they are doing their best to help the environment. My realization is that many people are serial consumers and don't even use what they purchase. We should all purchase less and use what we have instead of replacing it when the newer model comes out - unless it is necessary. Clothes can be worn until they don't fit or fall apart - what ever happened to the fine art of mending?