Hvor mye makt har vi forbrukere til å endre samfunnet? Jo, ganske så mye. Der vi putter pengene våre legger vi igjen en stemmeseddel om butikken/kjeden/trenden/varen/vanen skal overleve og fortsette slik eller ei. Dette gjelder alt; klær, mat, møbler, elektronikk, biler etc og andre duppeditter. F.eks Det nytter ikke bare gi fra seg klærne på godt og miljøvennlig vis når vi er ferdige med dem.. Vi har makten, og vi må bruke den, om vi faktisk ønsker endring. Det er vi som må endre vår kjøpsatferd. Dette innebærer å støtte opp om de som jobber for sunne og gode verdier, som tar i et tak for jordkloden og samfunnet - i stedet for å handle hos dem som ikke gjør det.
Vi har brukt opp klodens ressurser for i år.. which is crazy. Og om vi fortsetter som vi gjør så trenger vi to jordkloden innen 2050.
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Jeg vet det er vanskelig å endre vaner og rutiner som har grodd seg fast over flere år, og ja, klær og mat er jo en del av identiteten vår, som vi alle ønsker å opprettholde. Men sak over person, det er det vi trenger nå.
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For å ta et eksempel er Stavanger byområde. De lokale kafeene går i underskudd, mens kjedene går så det suser. Vi liker det billigst mulig og tenker ikke langt nok til å se konsekvensene, at det egentlig har en høy pris, i totaltbildet.
F.eks Ønsker stavanger folk at byen kun skal bestå av Starbucks, MacDonald's, Wayne's coffee og espresso house? Tror egentlig ikke det.
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Så, bli med å spre det glade budskap, siden du følger meg tipper jeg du allerede handler bevisst, men det er mange som ikke gjør det. Så spread that word! Alle må med! Og ja ingen er perfekte og får det til hele tiden, tid, sted og økonomi spiller inn. Så don't be overwhelmed litt er bedre enn ingenting 💪🏼
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Om vi bare får til å pushe Earth overshoot day med 5 dager bakover så vil vi i 2050 klare å leve av jordens ressurser igjen, rett innenfor limiten. #movethedate
Minimalism
My Friend Siri Goes Minimalistic
How attached are you to your things? How much time pass until you buy something new? How often do you throw stuff away? How often do you play with or use the things you've bought? Do you have clothes that you've bought but it still hangs in the closet with the price tag on years later? If you do not use it at least once a month, why do you have it? Why do you crave for more when your shoe rack is all full of shoes not used?
Do you have things you just bought to impress and show of to others? Isn't that a bit embarrassing to think of? You bought it not because you wanted to but because you thought this was a way to be admired and liked by others? So you buy things to feel loved? Friendship should be based on real love, not on fake material ground. At least thats the kind of relationships I cultivate. But that might just be me. Would be so too tiring just thinking about all things I needed to buy and use just to feel accept from the people I'd really want to like me. Thats not a healthy friendship. Is it????
I've got this friend who recently started her journey towards a more conscious lifestyle and she decided to document it all on social media (www.siriabrahamsen.com), which is super interesting to follow and I guess she inspires many. At least some as she has loads of followers. These days she is throwing away all of her stuff, she is selling her house, she recently started eating healthier and taking lots of small other conscious parts of actions. I'm actually a bit envious, because I'd like to share my journey too. The only problem is that there is none to share because I started living consciously long time ago, actually all the way back into child hood. I never wanted to buy anything or spend any money and I rarely ate meat and used all my clothes until there was nothing left. So there is really no voyage to be shared. When I was young it wasn't because of the feeling of responsibility or sense of awareness of what would make me and others healthier, it was simply a natural choice. I didn't want to live otherwise. But later in life I see more clearly why I had this urge because I know today that this is what makes me happy and gives me a graceful and joyful life.
So, when I started living by myself it continued. It got even more conscious as I now took all of the choices myself on what to eat, how to live, what do do, what to buy etc. At this present time I own practically nothing, rarely buy other things than food unless things are broken and impossible to use (like a new phone or computer) and I eat no animal products, and use my clothes until its all just big holes.
Hence, I've got no story to share on how I felt when I did all these because this way of living consciously is apparently hardwired in my DNA, apparently. The only thing I can relate to is if I envision a non conscious life, full of things I do not need, way too big of a house, driving a gasoline car, eating all kinds of crappy food, working in a job just to earn money for things I do not use etc. That thought and visualizing process makes me feel sick instantly. I could never do that, not towards myself, others, the planet and animals.
I can not be owned by things, I can not live a life true to my heart, I can not live a life doing something just to for the money I need to love what I do every second, we got so little time on our visit in this body on earth. And eating animal products that our bodys are not made to digest(we are the only one next to monkeys having color vision, and there is a reason that we see this and not only see movement). Immediately I get the sensation of being enslaved to all the stuff, chained to a several rooms in a large house, that is in constant need of cleaning and fixing. My time is holy and I'd rather see someone else fix that than having to spend several hours a week doing it. (okay if I randomly was super rich and could hire someone to live in my house JUST to clean and fix things any time of the day, fine, but I'm not sure I could do that either, I have too much empathy. I'd rather spend all these money on something that gave value into the world, like funding research or funding startups).
So no thank you to that. And no thank you to sitting at a desk 8am-5pm everyday just to work towards someone else's goal and earning a big fat check. I want to be the master of my time and what I spend it on. Doing something I don't love is out of the question.
All I can do is share with you my sense of freedom this way of living gives me. And I highly recommend it to you too.
I'm excited to see how it all goes for my friend Siri, will it make her happier? Will it give her an easier life? Sense of Freedom? We will wait and see. Meanwhile you can follow her on instagram @siriabrahamsen
Will you do anything to change the way you look at things? What do you enjoy the most, time to think about fun stuff and time to do things you love. Or do you like spending time in worry of not have cleaned the house, someone ruining your car, or someone spilling on your expensive clothes or shoes? Hmm
One year ago I wrote another blogpost on this topic. For further learning click here.
Minimalist To The Core
Could you live in a container? What is luxury to you? What is success to you? Why on earth do you need and want all those products, all that stuff? What is it that you really need to be happy?
I met amazing Kari Schibevaag in Lofoten last week. Kari is a hard core kiter - world champion on both snow and water. A total rockstar! But the reason behind my visit was actually because of her living situation. She lives in a container on a beach in Lofoten far away from any big city. What makes her do that? Could I do that?
Well, after meeting Kari, who is super excited about the fact that she lives on the country side I'm not even slightly more convinced on me living far away from city life but it was super interesting to hear her brag about all the things possible to do in such a small village. She said she didn't have enough time to do all the stuff she wanted to do there. I guess thats only because of the character which she is, she has loads of ideas, she's very spontaneous, energetic, active, driven and has loads of ideas. So, of course there is no problem for her to find stuff to do. She loves to surf for hours at a time and when you live on the beach, night and day is open to your demand.
But what I really like about Kari is that she is a true minimalist, she doesn't own anything but her car and her container. All the rest she has found or been gifted, How amazing is that?
That's basically how I live too, in a way. I live super simple, and love it. The only things I own besides clothing, books and sleeping stuff is a working desk. (not counting the super important society stuff; computer and phone) I even think I have way too much. I'd like to live just in a container or mini smart house. You see, I hate owning things, I really really dislike it. Disgust it indeed. The more I own the more suffocated I feel. Totally claustrophobic. The less stuff I own the more freedom flows through my veins. That's the ideal living situation for me. Owning nothing, living smart and small and use all my money and spare time(and work) on experiences.
World Economic Forum predicts that in 2030 we wont own anything. This due to how technology will permeate the way we live and how the sharing and circular economy might pave the way for our new habits. Kari is an inspiration. But we need more pioneers to be our guides to tell us it is ok to live different.
Watch the video below to see if living simple could be something for you?
Here is a netflix film on minimalism if you'd like to give it a further check out
And a few books on minimalism by no other than "the minimalists".