Everywhere I look, people are offering free this or that, if only you'll buy their product. Sometimes I love the product, like The New Internationalist magazine, who have a great deal out for a subscription. However, I do not want the free, organic cotton backpack. It is not right. I am trying very hard to buy second hand things, if and when I need them. What's more, black dyes, such as that used in the making of the free back-pack, are shocking for the environment, even if they are eco and anyway, I hate black.
It is ironic that the cover of the magazine may well have the title "Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle" or "Why do we need a carbon tax?" stamped across its cover, while at the same time, there is a black back-pack going for free if you subscribe. When is the connection going to hit people and, instead of all this talk and argument, commonsense start to be a little more common?
I have stopped all subscriptions to paper products and I wait rather impatiently for the chance to buy an e-subscription for my favourite magazines. Then, if there is an article I want to keep, I could save it on my computer or even print it out at home. There are mountains of e-magazines but not the ones I love, yet. They have to be user-friendly too, and able to be saved, article by article.... not just be a pdf version of the paper product.
Here I am, 52, wanting to make the best use of the technology we have. There must be millions like me and millions of younger, more tech-savvy people ready to reduce their carbon footprint and take to the e-waves in a truly useful way. I saw on the TV that there are now 3 billion internet users now. What a customer base!
In the meantime, I have asked many people here if they'd like to share a subscription to The Organic Gardener, for example, .... people who fight for sustainability, grow their own food.... wonderful people in every way.... but so far no luck. I thought if 4 of us shared a monthly subscription then that would mean we could have the magazine for a week each. Maybe this rant will change their minds!!
Make the connections and DO something.
4 comments:
Completely agree about paper, writing stories on the back of bleached dead trees and shipping them around the world in crates is crazy!
On the free thing, it's funny that you mention it because just this afternoon... it was warm and sunny and I decided to find an ice coffee at the food court, so I walked in the door and the first thing I saw was (no kidding) "FREE ICE COFFEE TODAY". It turned out it really was free and no-strings-attached, which was fantastic - but not as good as farmers union!
Wow, Alex, that is one free thing that is worth coming across!
Too right Kate. Trying to de-clutter and de-paper life is a challenge. Magazines are such a lucrative cash cow for media organisatiobns such as PBL who own heaps of the common ones, they are not going to put them online gracefully. Don't hold your breath.
Sharing subscriptions is a great idea. My Mum, mother-in-law and BFF are often sharing mags.
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