NY resolution - nothing new for a year!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

It's that time again - party, get drunk, make a fool of yourself, spread your mascara all over your face as you get emotional about the year gone by and share your hopes about the one ahead with your family and friends.

Well, yes......but once you've done that, its the big decision of the year - which New Years resolution this year?...... lose a stone, walk up the escalators instead of stand, generally be a nicer person, grow a beard (well the last one's not for me...... at least not yet).

Well, this year, I've decided on two big ones - go vegetarian and buy nothing new for a year.   The decision to go vegetarian is based on health grounds and Ill go into more detail about that in my next post.  In addition to these two I will continue on my Intermittent Fasting journey and will continue to post about that through the year.

So my second resolution - to buy nothing new for a year?...... I've been coming to this conclusion for quite some time but it's always at this time of year it comes back to me as something which I should try following (albeit in a small way) in the

footsteps of some inspirational people, most notably No Impact Man.  Colin Beavan, a guy from New York,  embarked on an experiment in 2007 to try to live for a year without having any net effect on the environment.  You can read more about him here... No impact man


This time of year is, despite best intentions, inevitably dominated by consumerism and I'm just as guilty as anyone as I buy presents for those I love.   But do we really need new stuff?   Well 'need' is relative of course....there are those who would say they 'need' an iPhone 5 or a kindle..... But there are very few things we really do need in life..... Water, Food, shelter, clothing, medication, some basic comforts..... But the rest is simply what we've become accustomed to enjoy.

I'm old enough to remember life before the iPhone, life before the mobile phone, life before the Internet and even life before the personal home computer...., and you know what?    It was great - we were creative, used our imaginations, had fun and talked to each other.

I'm not advocating going back to a pre-internet life as I appreciate things have moved on and I enjoy the benefits the internet can offer.  I also believe that personal mobility and flexibility are the future and the internet and personal communication devices can help with that.  BUT..... What I'm trying to say is that if we try, we can manage without upgrading our phones, TVs and computers quite so often.  We can buy fewer clothes, and slow down on updating our wardrobes, changing our home decor and kitchen appliances!

There is surely enough 'stuff' already out there for us all to live happily without buying newly manufactured products for some time.  New products require raw materials which have to come from somewhere - unfortunately, we are stripping the earth's natural resources at a rate which is completely unsustainable.

As I wrote in my post of 26th September, it currently takes the planet 1.5 years to regenerate the natural resources used by the global population in 1 year. Current UN scenarios estimate that by 2050, if population growth and consumption trends don't change, we will need 3 planets to support us...... 

With that in mind, I have decided that my New Years resolution is not to buy anything new for a whole year.  So what about consumables?  Well there are those which I would consider essential such as food, basic toiletries and medications.  Non essential consumables would include stationery, Make up, etc...... I'm sure I will encounter other examples as I go along but I'll post these along with whatever solution I come up with as they appear.

I'll also be looking for more natural alternatives to some products such as using grape seed oil as a hot-oil treatment to replace hair conditioner....

So items I will not be buying include:
Clothes
Shoes
Household items
Kitchen items
Electrical goods
Stationery
Books
CDs
DVDs

This doesn't mean I cant buy any of these items but if I do they must be second hand - so bought from antique or charity shops or sourced through free-cycle schemes.

I see this as just a part of a larger picture.   In addition to this, of course I already cycle everywhere as my partner and I sold our car a couple of years ago and now use our legs, bikes and public transport as our means of getting around.

Also, as already mentioned above, we are going vegetarian this year, so will be eliminating all meat and fish from our diet.   This will also reduce our packaging waste as we buy vegetables loose from the local market.   I hope eventually to be able to eliminate all non recyclable packaging from my life too..... more on this in a future post.

Good luck with all your New Years resolutions and if you're doing anything similar, I'd love to hear about it.