Recovery from disaster is a long process, as this Museum of Anthropology exhibition demonstrates. Open until Sept. 19.
The idea was to posit a radical reassessment of our relationship, to buy fewer things, repair them more often and lighten the overall footprint of consumption. But it turns out plenty of folk were already well on their way, caring for items, both practical and whimsical, with gentleness, affection and care.
A bounty of submissions arrived coats, frying pans, earrings, key chains each with a story attached. Whether it’s a very old teddy bear or an upright piano, the stuff that we treasure often says more about us than we realize.
Can you love a jacket, a frying pan, a broom? Can that love help save the planet?
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The Tyee thinks it can, and we want to see the objects of your affection in drawings, photographs or an epic ode to a mangy old sweater.
J.B. MacKinnon’s new book
The Day the World Stops Shoppingmakes the argument that a radical reassessment of our relationship with our things is urgent if we want to continue to live on a finite planet. “The 21st century has brought a critical dilemma into sharp relief: we must stop shopping, and yet we can’t stop shopping,” says MacKinnon. We are using up the Earth’s resources at a rate 1.7 times faster than they can regenerate. Runaway consumption is fuelling crises from climate change to deforestation, and making the whole world vulnerable to viruses like COVID-19.
Expect provocative conversation about the future of consumerism, and our planet, at this live event.
Ian Gill is a contributing editor to The Tyee and co-owner of Vancouver bookstore Upstart & Crow. SHARES We welcome you to join the discussion.
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