Sustainability - Change starts with you

Welcome to our new sustainability column. Whether you’re a banker, community gardener, ex-sea/tree changer or 4WD driver, this column offers a sustainable perspective in a pragmatic urban environment without making you feel guilty.

I look like a Christmas pudding… Over the last two months I’ve stuffed myself with more stuffing than stuffanuffagus, lusted after fruitcake and eaten prawns straight off the barbie. Although this abhorrent period of over indulgence and getting wasted is now over, for many, the excess-consumption becomes the norm. Yet another glass of Pinot, Pina Colada or Pimms doesn’t satiate the void.

Investment bank wealth manager-turned-nun, Dr Catherine Cowley, recently spoke on the BBC about “enough.” Individuals need to be able to tap into their instinctual threshold of what is “too much” and develop the discipline to stop. Stop eating, stop drinking, stop shopping. Easy for a nun to say.

The problem is, we’re programmed to seek ‘value.’ I’m constantly buying more than I need because I’m tricked into thinking I’m getting a better deal. I end up with six baps because it’s only 10c more than buying three.

Marrickville Council is leading the way against overconsumption with their “Love Food Hate Waste” campaign, asking local consumers to shop responsibly. Diametrically opposite are the major retailers who are extracting every last cent for that bonus bap. The battle over Marrickville Metro will be exhausting. It wouldn’t need to happen if consumers shopped responsibly…and looking at my list of last week’s waste, I’m guilty as charged.

 

Purchased Jan 20th: • Dandelion Chai• 6 baps • 1 pack Vogue cigarettes • ¼ watermelon.i• 6 bananas • 5 zucchini • bag of cocktail potatoes • 2 punnets tomatoes • basil, mint, parsley, coriander • 6 vegie sausages • 3 bottles Tamburlain organic riesling • Quinoa

 

Wasted/thrown out Jan 30th: • 5 zucchini • 1 pack Vogue cigarettes (minus 1) • 5 baps • Bag of cocktail potatoes • Mint • ½ bunch coriander • Everything else has been consumed ■ Cindy Mullen