I bought a royal blue Patagonia jacket with a red lining in 1983. I wore it for several years. Three of my children claimed ownership and fought over it. After 25-years it still looked new. The only reason we don’t have it anymore is because it was lost or, even more likely, stolen.
I have a black Patagonia jacket that had a little tear on the sleeve. I took it into the Halifax store and sent it for repairs. It came back good as new and without a repair charge. I continue to buy various items of Patagonia clothing. I will never need another raincoat, polar fleece sweater, or jacket again. If I do want to change up items in my Patagonia collection, there will be takers in my family or I can donate them to charities.
All of this is by way of introduction to a couple of themes that will be recurring.
The “Buy better, buy less” mantra can apply to anything we consume. It is difficult to apply “repair, reuse”when shopping for food but we can buy and waste less, and recycle. Coffee grounds are great for your garden or sprinkled in your house plants. We have organic composting in Montéal so there isn’t much garbage bound for the land fill from our home.
I have had “environmentalist religion” for may years now but it was a bit like my Catholicism – largely unpracticed. Over the past few years world events, personal circumstances, documentaries, food channels, and casual observation have increased my attendance at the environmental church.
We can all do something for our environment by being better consumers.
Buy better, buy less, reduce, repair, reuse and recycle. Shop local, support local businesses, buy from local farms, and support local artisans and manufacturers. As always, wear face masks as required, wash your hands, practice social distancing, hydrate, and exercise.
I know! I am going to sound like a grumpy old man. Maybe that is because I am. I have been scratching my head in wonderment at the Taylor Swift phenomena. Is she an Incredible song writer, composer, and performer? I really don’t know! A discussion for another time? But probably not. At my age […]
Don’t build it! At least, Not In My Back Yard ! I acted as an advisor in the sale of a beautifully natural, 14-acre urban waterfront estate. Existing zoning allowed for the development of 30 to 35 single-family homes, which after road dedication would leave very little green space. I did not think that was […]
We were visiting Glasgow (literally that Dear Green Place in Gaelic) to see where my father was born, grew up, and went to University. Fortunately for me, my cousin John from Australia had just visited and had met with historians, Bruce Downie and Norry Wilson. So, we too arranged to meet them in the Govanhill […]
Vienna on top again. This week both Monocle Magazine and The Economist unveiled their quality of life / most liveable city indexes. There are differences in the way each publication sets its index. So it is even more impressive that once again, Vienna tops both lists. I am a bit lazy today so rather than […]
Many Viennese went from hot bedding to superblocks overnight. Could they even imagine an apartment complex 1000 metres long built along two streets with even more massive landscaped courtyards? Could they conceive of 1400 apartment units built to house 5000 people on 56,000 square metres or 38 acres of land. Or a vertical build-out that […]
Vienna had been a poor city even before the First World War. “Normal” housing arrangements meant six to eight people sharing one room and a kitchen. Then, in early 1919, just after the Armistice, the cost of living tripled in two months. Bed lodgers could no longer afford their 8-hours a day in a shared […]