7. Mend
This week's #52climatesolutions is MEND. We share how the simple act of mending can have a positive impact for the planet and for you! How to get started, our mending kit and great resources & inspo.
The clothing industry is one of the biggest polluters in the world, contributing about 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, due to energy intensive production and long supply chains. At 1.2bn tonnes of CO2 per year, that’s more than the international aviation and maritime shipping industries combined. On average, people buy 60% more clothing than they bought 15 years ago, but that clothing only lasts half as long. In Australia, we buy 27kg and dispose of 23kg of clothing, per person, each year. That makes us the second highest consumer of textiles, per person, worldwide. Mountains of clothing waste results. 85% of textiles go to landfill every year. It's the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles being burned or landfilled per second.
There are millions of products manufactured for humans to use and then throw ‘away’. Planned obsolescence, where items (including textiles) are made so that their lifespan is artificially limited, has contributed terribly to waste. We don’t need the latest model of that gadget, despite the ads. Rather, we would benefit from actions that reduce waste and stop the excessive consumption of resources. Let’s transition towards ways of living fulfilling lives with less stuff, and have the stuff that we keep, last longer.
In the old days, people would mend their own clothes and household belongings. But the division of our use of time has shifted in recent decades such that people value work longer hours and avoid practical,?home-based skills in their spare time. There is generally less time for, or interest in, learning practical repair skills (and it is under-valued in the school system). People are more likely to outsource repair skills or replace broken items for new. Many still do not recognise the finite amount of fossil fuel resources and so over-consume.
For this weeks’ #52climatesolutions, we ask you to embrace a mending culture. What better time to explore mending clothes and household items than the cooler months of the year when we’re indoors more, attempting to slow down? Mending improves self-reliance. Mending can be empowering and save you money. Mending involves problem solving and enables you to flex your creativity. And we have access to amazing resources to help – books, online tutorials, and our elders, who often retain a knowledge of repair that many of us lack. Find a local repair hub or cafe. Fix your phone rather than upgrade it. Revisit your holey socks or that shirt with the missing button or that dodgy cupboard door!
Support or create practical ways to make your belongings last longer. Elevate the type of materialism that values heirlooms that will last beyond our generation.
We’d love to see what mending you get up to this week. Tag us #52climatesolutions @spiralgarden on social media, or comment below. Paid supporters can read on for more on starting a mending kit, as well as resources to get you inspired through the week, and this week’s free printable colouring sheet for you collection or climate solutions journal.
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