Fight for Planet A

The current television series, ‘Fight for Planet A’, has opened some vigorous debate in some forums. Some people believe that promoting the use of renewable sources of energy is reckless as this is simply perpetuating the problem that is the ‘growth economy’. Unless we actually participate in degrowth the planet is doomed.

I am not totally of this mind, however, I do believe that much of our future depends on a serious change of mindset and questioning what stuff we actually need.

A really good place to start is to think twice about replacing broken or damaged items. I want to give you an example which confronted me this morning.

We have a laundry hamper in our bedroom and one of the handles snapped when I picked it up to take it to the laundry this morning.

I decided to mend the handle and found some strong navy fabric in my collection. It happened to match nicely, however, I would have used any colour or pattern if required.

I applied a small strip of double-sided interfacing to the wrong side.

The job was a bit tricky with the handle still attached to the hamper. I basted the 2 ends of the handle together and then pressed the interfacing to the handles.

The remainder of the fabric was folded over and around the existing handle. Here it is pinned and ready to stitch.

I stitched all around the patched handle and reinforced the ends and this is the result.

My repair effort is far from perfect but it is functional. I even managed to put a twist in the handle, despite my best efforts not to. However, this does not detract from the usefulness of the handle.

There is no right or wrong way to approach a repair so this is simply an example of what can be done.

The repaired hamper will hopefully last for many more years.

This is degrowth in action. Do not buy things that you do not need. Think laterally and repair or reuse what you already have. If you are not able to do you own repairs, check out your local repair cafe or ask a friend, neighbour or relative. We all have skills and we need to support each other in whatever ways we can.

I apologise in advance to my international readers but tonight’s post is about a new television program which was launched in Australia on Tuesday evening. While it focuses on Australia, the necessity for every one of us to reduce our carbon footprint is real, regardless of where we live.

The 3-part series, ‘Fight for Planet A’ tackles the issue of carbon emissions.

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The same team produced ‘War on Waste’, the first series of which aired a little over 3 years ago and spawned numerous ‘War on Waste’ Facebook groups. Many of these groups continue to be active and attract people who are keen to reduce their waste. This ranges from single-use plastics such as straws and bottled water to food waste and non-recyclable packaging.

However, you can’t see carbon emissions piling up on the beach, littering the side of the road or evident in huge landfills or stockpiles of recyclables collected but not recycled.

So, how will viewers respond to this new program?

This precise question is eloquently put in the following quote from a report in the Australian edition of ‘The Guardian’ on Tuesday.

“Over three episodes, the team that made the ABC’s highly successful War on Waste delve into the more abstract but urgent issue of carbon emissions, and with it a vital question: how do you convince Australians that something they cannot see represents their greatest existential threat?”

The full article is available here.

There is no single answer to reducing carbon emissions. It must be a joint effort of government, business and individual actions. There is no point in everyone trying to pin the blame on another group, person or sector. It is time for each of us to stop and consider how even the smallest actions can collectively make a difference.

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