Excuse me, while I recycle this guy.
You know Rob Walker from such journalistic outlets as his Murketing blog, the terrific book, Buying In, his NY Times Magazine column, Consumed, and, of course such films as Earwigs: Eww! and Man vs. Nature: The Road to Victory. Oops, sorry that’s Troy McClure.
Rob’s got a new thing cooking that you should definitely check out. It’s a new blog called Unconsumption. Here’s Rob to describe the project a little bit:
“Consumption is a word used to describe acts of acquisition – generally, the acquisition of things, in exchange for money. Unconsumption is a word used to describe everything that happens after an act of acquisition.
Unconsumption is an invisible badge. Unconsumption means the accomplishment of properly recycling your old cellphone, rather than the guilt of letting it sit in a drawer.
Unconsumption means the thrill of finding a new use for something that you were about to throw away. Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a service like Freecycle (or Craigslist or Goodwill) to find a new home for the functioning VCR you just replaced, rather than throwing it in the garbage.
Unconsumption means enjoying the things you own to the fullest – not just at the moment of acquisition. Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a pair of sneakers until they are truly worn out – as opposed to the nagging feeling of defeat when they simply go out of style.
Unconsumption means feeling good about the simple act of turning off the lights when you leave the room. Unconsumption is not about the rejection of things, or the demonization of things. It’s not a bunch of rules.
Unconsumption is an idea, a set of behaviors, a way of thinking about consumption itself from a new perspective. Unconsumption is free.”
Here’s some more details on how you can contribute/participate. Image above is from iri5’s Ghost in the Machine series on Flickr. A must see.
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