Archive for the ‘consumption’ Category

by Terence Jeyaretnam, Director of Net Balance (terence@netbalance.com), one of the world’s leading sustainability advisory firms. Terence is based in Melbourne.

A businessman would not consider a firm to have solved its problems of production and to have achieved viability if he saw that it was rapidly consuming its capital. How, then, could we overlook this vital fact when it comes to that very big firm, the economy of Spaceship Earth and, in particular, the economies of its rich passengers? E F Schumacher, Small is Beautiful, 1973

Erosion of natural capital has continued over the past 50 years, despite the heightened awareness of environmental impact of industrialization and population growth. Over the fifty years, there’s been a multitude of international conventions, giving birth to a large number of new institutions and protocols on sustainable development. They have proved just one thing – that there’s no silver bullet for the environmental predicament. Read the rest of this entry »

The Byron Bay Farmers Market is doomed!  Why? A hybrid flower stall turned up not long ago and selling these particular, non local, non native varieties of flowers point towards a bigger issue. Because hybirds are artificially refined.  Because of us manipulating nature to ‘improve’ it without consideration of unintended consequences or in the worst case scenario, through simple carelessness.

For more than two decades I have been in love with Byron Bay due to its natural beauty and as an experiment in sustainable living – healthy living on a small footprint in harmony with the environment.

Read the rest of this entry »

Did you know, while searching for the ultimate valentine’s gift or perfect occasion to express your love and affection for your Valentine, that Saint Valentine’s Day derives from a christian tradition involving a Pope in 500 AD?

These days, Valentine’s Day has become another symbol for excessive consumerism with ideas for Valentine’s Day gifts for him and her and ‘experiences’ at varying costs being promoted relentlessly weeks before the occasion.  I resent the commercialisation of  such a precious gift: the love and affection between two lovers. And that is why I am making the case for no Valentine’s Day or slow Valentine’s Day – borrowing from the slow cooking movement  -and it goes like this:

• decorate and handwrite your valentine’s card instead of buying one off the shelf;
• cook your partners favourite meal for a candle lit dinner;
• make your own chocolates;
• choose a lovely spot for a picnic;
• set up a perfect match for a single friend;
• watch Romeo and Juliet by Baz Luhrmann;
• if you are old enough: make love (not war) and
• buy nothing!

And for the single’s out there who may be especially lonely on Valentine’s Day there is an alternative movement called ‘ singles awareness day’ celebrated between the 13th and 15th of February.

What do you think about Valentine’s Day? Do you celebrate it?

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So long!