Green Craft

Consumerism. It’s on my mind from last wekend. I promote handmade items a lot, I think it’s worthy of thinking about what it is I ostensibly promote, and why. For me, that’s sidestepping mass commercialism, supporting local or independent businesses. But am I really?

Exhibit One: I’ve pondered going a month only spending my money at local stores. Can I do it? Is it even possible to do so and still procure all the things I might need? Where does internet shopping fall in that equation?

Exhibit Two: Say you have an independent seller. What about the stuff that person sells? Is it just as mass-produced as it would have been in the Big Box store? Is there a difference between purchasing Item A in either place? How about independent design but mass production?

Exhibit Three: Say you have someone who makes handmade stuff. So how are the supplies produced that a person uses to make that handmade stuff? At what level do we have to go to find something that’s really not mass-produced? Is it actually possible to avoid that? What’s the value of avoiding it?

So where does Ecology come in? There are a million questions and not a lot of great answers, I think. In honor of Earth Day, I am going to link to a lovely story from Crafting A Green World that looks at some of these questions and then takes off on considering craft and the crafters’ supplies from an ecological standpoint. Some interesting thoughts, some interesting survey results. You’ll see more of this soon via Etsy and the Maker Faire.

And don’t forget to read down and check out the DIY Guide (of course) to Drawing Your Own Conclusions about the Craft Supply Industry.

And there you have it, my contribution to earth day.