Something that’s been on my mind a lot is the place and responsibilities of creating art, of embellishing our homes and lives and my environmental concerns. I got more motivated to address this after reading a post at Simple Living this morning.
I can satisfy a lot of my creative urges by doing useful crafts, for example knitting and sewing, to make useful things. I can feel good about this in an environmental sense because I can use organic products, I’m avoiding sweatshop labor (well-I’m providing that part!), and I’m buying local materials or buying from local stores. The other day I smiled to realize I had made everything I was wearing but my shoes and my underwear (working on that too). But this doesn’t quite meet all my needs emotionally.
I can satisfy my need to garden and grow things with fruits, vegetables, herbs, and with flowers that attract bees and other beneficial insects and birds. I’ve preserved a huge crop of raspberries from my garden this year, I’m making hard cider at the moment, and I’m going to make green tomato jam (green tomatoes are all I’m getting this year in any quantity, but that’s another story). I just made a wonderful batch of herbal shampoo by adding an herbal infusion I made to some water and some Dr. Bonners. I’ll be making some salve with some herbs soon too. But I’m not quite happy unless I can some primroses in the garden. Not just any primroses either, but some arriculuas.
What it amounts to for me is that life isn’t complete if it’s just about feeling good about how I get around town, about the fact that I’m working on being responsible about my usage or resources, or that I grow as much of my food as I can and eat organic and local foods. Life can’t be just about living life in a sustainable manner. I think we also need to feed our souls. I think it is part of our humanness to want to embellish our lives. I think there is something inside most of us that craves having beauty in our lives. The trick is how we do this.
I think the answer is to create art in responsible ways and to find better sources for our embellishments. Reuse materials for example. I’ve been working through my “Stash of trash” for materials. This is a collection of stuff that I look at and think, “Hmm, this tin that tea came in could be reused for a diorama.”
Look for healthier materials to use. Digital photography is a better environmental choice than traditional methods for example. Buy local art rather than mass produced prints from stores that will remain unnamed. Or buy used art from a yard sale. Buy a wood or glass hair clip from a local artist rather than a plastic one from the drug store chain.
And know when you have enough. I have 5 or 6 pairs of earrings that I wear. Various local artists made them and I’ve had most of them for over 10 years. I have a lot of pottery mugs. One of my recent pledges is that I can’t buy any more unless I break one. I have enough.
Maybe some of these things aren’t strictly necessary and there are better ways to spend money. I certainly don’t want to promote mindless consuming. But I do think that the reality of being human includes artistic expression and appreciation. And that there is a place for it in a sustainable lifestyle.