adal1231

[adal1231]

Lawns should be long gone

I have had my fair share of time spent picking out 'weeds' out of our lawn. Despite my regular inner grumbling thoughts every time it was time to remove these unwanted plants, I always accepted that lawns are supposed to only have grass and after a hard few hours of extracting weeds from their roots, I would look back at the weedless lawn and be satisfied with how 'good' it looked.

But, of course, the work is not done here. Grass, like most other plants, needs watering from time to time, especially during drier times to maintain the distinct green grass colour and for a green lawn. Inevitably, the grass will also grow until it gets yellow and 'unkempt' then it becomes time to trim the grass. Grass grows rather quickly so it requires regular mowing to maintain a 'healthy' and 'nice' looking lawn. 'Weeds' will always find a place on the lawn even after removing them so unless, you have the time and effort, people would usually end up buying chemicals to stop the weeds from growing.

Clearly, a lot of work and resources are needed to keep lawns looking a certain way and has become a norm to want lawns to appear this way. It is not uncommon for people to have sprinklers installed or hosepipes to water their lawns. It isn't necessarily to keep the grass alive as it is rather resilient and can also grow back very easily, but rather to keep it a vibrant green colour. And this is not without its environmental implications. As warmer climates become hotter and rainy days become shorter, water becomes scarce for both households and the environment. As a result, hosepipe and sprinkler bans are becoming more common. It is vital that we have enough water to supply everyone for other periods of time during the year without having to put pressure on our rivers, reservoirs and groundwater source. And to ensure the long-term survival of these natural habitats. Similarly, whilst we are making progress with renewable energy, we are still very much reliant on non-renewables. Regular mowing of the lawn requires electricity and this is just so the lawn remains that short length.

This calls for change in how we manage our lawns. But, we can't change it without addressing the social norms behind maintaining a green lawn whether it is for symbolic reasons that supposedly represent the homeowner or that green lawn is supposedly aesthetically pleasing or that is needed for the occasional recreational purposes. Until then, we can then start to appreciate other alternatives that may stray from the classical lawn but are more environmentally friendly. One alternative is meadows which are becoming more popular because it requires relatively less management. It doesn't need to be mowed and watered as often and non-grass plants are encouraged to grow so less need for chemicals to be used. As a result, it creates a more diverse habitat that encourages a variety of different species to thrive and can store far more carbon. Meadows don't have to take up the whole garden space. Mini-meadows can be created that take up parts of a garden, allowing homeowners to still use the rest of their garden as they see fit.

After knowing the hidden processes needed to maintain lawns, there is little beauty in a green space devoid of life that drains our water and electrical resources. However healthy a lawn may look, there's nothing healthy about a monocultural green space filled with chemicals. Looking at a green space rich in plant and animal diversity, left mostly to its own devices to thrive - now that is something beautiful to behold.

[adal1231]

Should we shun Fast Fashion?

Fast fashion with its cheap and quick business model to produce mass clothing, has pushed fashion consumerism to unprecedented levels. It is no wonder that it has come under such scrutiny over its detrimental environmental impact, (albeit the concern coming quite late). Overconsumption is such a huge issue in fast fashion because the production and delivery of fast fashion clothes require so much energy and resources. Coupled with a big spike in demand which is easily met by supply and with the waste it ends up as, the environmental damage becomes overwhelming. It is these environmental concerns in addition to the human rights violations of the fast fashion industry that remain the focus of criticism.

Marketing can be an incredibly powerful tool in shaping people's habits and behaviours. Evidently, fast fashion has done an incredible job in enticing people to keep buying new clothing products through the use of fashion trends. What this serves to do is reinforce that there are certain clothes at certain periods of time that are considered 'fashionable' prompting the cycle of supply and the demand for new clothes and what fast fashion has been able to do, is shorten these trends. it becomes a norm to wear new clothes and clothes become valued for how 'fashionable' it is at the time, giving us that instant gratification for a few wears until the next trend arrives and it's no longer fashionable. How society has come to view fashion and the pressures to stay 'fashionable' can be considered as what drives people to buy new clothes. So, when some argue that they continue to buy fast fashion, it isn't simply because the clothes are cheaper, but perhaps because they feel the need to follow social norms and to stay 'fashionable', and this results in the continuous need to buy new clothes.

During my secondary school days - the age at which individuals are more susceptible to societal pressures - I started feeling the societal pressures of wearing new clothes and wearing what was fashionable at the time. I would start to avoid wearing the same clothes and when I did, I began having a distaste for having to wear them again. When I bought clothes, I was mainly motivated because I wanted something new to wear and felt that urge to wear what everyone else was wearing, only to wear it a few times before it remained in my closet never to see daylight again. I started to understand the environmental and societal issues to do with fast fashion but I never really changed my clothing behaviours until I looked back at my closet filled with clothes I regret buying. I knew then that I had to change the way I view clothes.

I began to cultivate my own wardrobe of clothes, valuing clothes that I felt represented myself best rather than representing so-called 'fashion trends'. I also pushed the distaste for wearing old favourites to the back of my mind and instead, started highly valuing clothes I could wear frequently. I was hesitant at first to buy second-hand clothes because of the stigma of them being worn before but once I began to sell more own used clothes, I realised that many were no different than when I first wore them and it was knowing that an item of clothing is second-hand that stopped me from buying it rather than something more tangible. Besides, isn't the whole point of a washing machine to wash clothes clean?

As the saying goes 'old habits die hard', so regardless of what the environmental and social harm is or how it is narrated to people to try to get them to avoid fast fashion, people aren't necessarily going to change their ways so easily. Rather, I think people should look within and reflect on how they perceive and value clothes that I think is key to changing overconsumption behaviours. Maybe it will work for others or maybe not. But I think it is a good starting point. Fast fashion may have caused this issue, but looking at the industry to change this would be to tell them to stop their businesses. Thus, shunning fast fashion is going to do little to solve the root of the overconsumption issue. Instead, we should confront fast fashion and how it has shaped our behaviours. Only then do I believe we can detach ourselves from overconsuming clothes.

[adal1231]

How 'saving turtles' becomes an inconvenience

Recently I came across an Instagram story that spurred some innate part of me that always wanted to blog. Here I am, and here is what prompted me to write this:

To paraphrase, the person behind the story mentioned that they understand that paper straws have replaced plastic ones to 'save turtles', but they find it annoying.

I presume that the reason why they would find plastic straws annoying compared to plastic straws is that it gets soggy and breaks down if it stays in a drink for too long.

What the words in their story convey to me is that paper straws are used to do something good for turtles (and would it be too far for me to say that it creates a narrative that we are sacrificing our convenience for turtles?)

The issue with using 'saving' is that I don't think that is the right narrative to be portraying. The reason why plastic straws are swapped is because we consumed so many and they end up in the oceans and other bodies of water. We caused the issue so it is only right that we deal with it. So, actually, using plastic straws is not saving turtles, rather it is us trying to redeem ourselves from the harm we created.

As a campaign, it does make more sense to twist the story so that people believe they are 'saving turtles' by making that shift to paper straws because people are probably more likely to do something if they are told that they will be saviours. No one likes to hear what they've done wrong!

But, the danger for this saviour narrative is that people may forget that they're not actually saviours and the damage plastic straws has done to turtles. After a while, once the traction behind the saving turtles campaign dies down, the incentive to continue using plastic straws also declines and thus, using plastic straws to save turtles becomes an inconvenience.

Is saving turtles an inconvenience? I would say no because we created the means for saving turtles to become an inconvenience. We inconvenienced ourselves and turtles are the unlucky scapegoat here.

In a world where species are dying out, we should appreciate the remaining nature we have left and not forget why they are dying out in the first place.