Living With Less Stuff
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Nowadays it’s difficult to come up with a facet of our lives that isn’t being scrutinized, and in turn revealing hard-to-swallow truths about the environmental impacts of everyday choices we’ve historically taken for granted. From food production to vehicle emissions and single-use plastics to water waste, we’re finally beginning to open our eyes to the true cost of seemingly insignificant activities and ways of being.
Front and center in this debate is the world of fast fashion, an industry that’s predicated on pumping out new consumer trends by producing clothes that are both cheap to make and inexpensive to buy. In fact, according to Koty Neelis, a writer with greenmatters.com, “Fast fashion items are often worn less than five times, kept for roughly 35 days, and produce over 400 percent more carbon emissions per item per year than garments worn 50 times and kept for a full year.”
Luckily, here in Beijing, expats come and go at a dizzying speed, which means there’s a revolving door of people hoping to unload stuff before they leave, or stock up when they arrive. I myself am part of so many great WeChat groups full of folks selling or giving away second-hand items that I could probably fill five hutong houses if needed.
Incidentally, one of the most common items changing hands in these groups is clothing, and that’s great news for the environment. Citing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Neelis points out that, “in terms of carbon emissions, the amount of clothing already recycled [in the U.S.] each year is equivalent to taking one million cars off the road.” While this number reflects statistics in America specifically, it’s still a welcome indicator of the public’s conscience turning towards more sustainable fashion practices.
Joining the efforts to limit waste and encourage the recycling of possessions is Beijing-based architecture and design studio, Crossboundaries, who frequently organize Live With Less events in which the public can come and swap their unwanted clothing, accessories, bags, shoes, household stuff, books, and children’s things. The next one will be held on Nov. 2 from 1.30pm - 4.30 pm at the Cultural and Creative Center of National Art Museum of China (NAMOC).
The event is free and open to everyone, though they do request that attendees bring an ID card for entry. A few more rules they want everyone to be aware of: giving and taking need not happen in equal measure, absolutely nothing can be sold as the event is meant to promote a cycle of exchanges, items on offer must be clean and in a condition that you would like to receive them, and anything left over will go to charities such as Tongxinhuhui and Roundabout.
NAMOC is located at 3rd Floor, Art Innovation Center of NAMOC, 1 Wusi Dajie, East District.
For more information about the event, click here. For more information about Crossboundaries, scan the QR code above.
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