Lori and I are 2 weeks into our commitment to join the movement called "the compact", and have pledged to buy nothing new for a year. We will use this blog to journal our experiences.
The compact started with a group of people in San Francisco a couple years ago and has spread nationwide. The group has several stated aims:
- To go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of disposable consumer culture and to support local businesses, farms, etc.
- To reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er)
- To simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)
We've agreed to follow two principles
- Don't buy new products of any kind (with some exceptions such as food, toiletries and underwear!)
- Borrow, barter, or buy used...or do without
The only thing I am sure of is that this will be interesting!
-Bob
4 comments:
Two thoughts come to mind, well actually three, but I'll start with my two... Bob what are you doing up at 3 a.m. blogging?? And I bet with Max in your life it is going to be really hard to not buy him every cute little thing that you see! This is a huge commitment and one you probably can't prepare too much for or really understand until you are well into the process. It is awesome that you have the strength to do this. I will be interested in keeping up with your progress/struggles through the year ahead. Good luck to both of you, you are great role models!
REDUCE is the most powerful part
of reduce/reuse/recycle.
I admire what you're doing and am following along in kind. Mostly I appreciate the practical examples of your daily surprises.
Have you seen the video thestoryofstuff.com by Annie Leonard? It's large to download but worth the wait.
Nancy Stier
My fiancee and I are considering committing to the Compact, but I am unclear about what to do about personal care items such as lotion, shampoo, makeup, etc. Also, what about occasionally eating out or buying a cup of coffee if I bring my own mug? Are cable, internet, Netflix and other services also part of the banned items list? If you have any info about this I would appreciate hearing from you.
Thanks:)
|Dear Anonymous
There really are no hard and fast rules. You and your fiance have to just sit down and decide how far you want to take it. As for Bob and I, personal care products were ok to buy new if for no other reason then sanitary.
We don't have cable or netflix, so that was not a decision we had to make. We did rent movies though. I guess it comes down to whether your reason for doing this is to live more simply or reduce, reuse, recycle.
Sorry I can't give you any more concrete answers. Bob and I looked for a list of rules when we first started also, and soon just realized we had to follow our vision of the compact and made our rules (many as we went along)
Good luck and let me know how things go for you!
God bless
Lori
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