Kirstie Clements: Why I won’t be overdoing it this Christmas
When we're surrounded by the excess of Christmas, it's a good time to contemplate how our consumer style effects the world. Photo: Getty
It’s upon us. Underwhelming Christmas trees have popped up around the Sydney CBD and absolutely every single piece of inanimate and in some cases animate matter is being sold to us as a possible gift idea.
We have the semi-ominous Black Friday sales now, an Amazon-created online discount day which has spilled over to retail stores, and something called Cyber Monday, which as far as I can deduce is just whatever was leftover from Black Friday put on further sale after lacklustre weekend sales.
Pope Francis denounced this rampant consumerism at a Mass in the Vatican this week calling it “a virus that attacks faith at the roots”.
“We need to expose the delusion that you’re happy when you have so many things. Resist the glaring lights of consumption that shine everywhere this month … we must overcome the temptation that the meaning of life is accumulation,” he proclaimed.
I mean, he’s not wrong. Now, more than ever, it doesn’t seem like the right time in the world for over-consumption. For the past couple of years, the more privileged amongst us have been inspired the Marie Kondo philosophy and tried to rid ourselves off our excessive junk and clutter.
Black Friday has spread out of the internet and into the real world. Photo: Getty
While it may have seemed faddish, the greater purpose was to make us think about why we have all these unnecessary items in our lives, and hopefully reflect on the state of the planet and the role we play in it.
Nothing like a $10 office Kris Kringle to bring all that that back in the door.
Gift giving, however, is a lovely gesture, so all we really need to do is put a little more thought into it.
One of my colleagues left work recently, and as a parting gesture, she left us all a small potted marigold on our desks, along with a little leaflet that described all its uses, both medicinal and edible.
Simple yet effective. I was recently given a marigold, and it sure does spark joy. Photo: Getty
I am a pretty terrible gardener, but I took the marigold home and planted it in our front flowerbed. It is now thriving, and it gives me joy every time I pass it.
As a person who has spent decades working in the fashion industry, one of the most wasteful and polluting industries in the world, I have become far more focused on making more conscious sustainable choices in every area of life.
Natalie Isaacs is the inspirational founder of One Million Women, an Australian organisation created to mobilise women and girls into taking practical action in addressing the climate crisis.
When I interviewed her this year, she said something very simple that stopped me in my tracks.
“You can’t just march in the streets. You have to live it. Women make 85 per cent of consumer decisions that affect the carbon footprint of a household. You must decide to make some type of lifestyle change.”
Depending how lightly you currently live upon the earth, the choices are very personal, from eschewing wasteful Christmas decorations to deciding that you don’t need actually need a car. I’ll start by giving marigolds.
