Wednesday, January 28, 2009

shop 'til you drop


I am sticking to it but, an alternative to the spending hiatus that would avoid the "paradox of thrift" (a Keynesian idea that Keith brought up, explained by wikipedia here because I am lazy and not an economist) could be to change my spending habits to be more mindful of what I buy and from where.

I thought of this article that I read a few months ago about Scott Ballum, who on his 30th birthday decided only to buy things made by people he actually met. He met the farmers who grew his food, went to the New Balance factory when he needed some new sneakers, he met the Nicarauguan woman who grew his coffee when she was visiting New York, etc.

on his blog he says, "My intention is not neccessarily to change what I purchase, but to change my level of awareness and participation in the acts. I'm as interested in knowing where a large, mass-produced object comes from as I am in meeting local entrepreneurs and artists. It's about understanding the labor and encountering the people that make my life, my consumer life anyway, possible."

check out this magazine he put together about his year long project.

As and artist, designer and maker I love this idea. And since Keith has a show coming up in Baltimore (that all in the area should go to and put any spending hiatuses on hiatus) I think he might too.

maybe I could go to the Netherlands to meet the folks at Humanoid before the weather gets warm.  

image from Life (obviously)

3 comments:

Steven said...

I am wondering what the difference in size there might be between the old shopping cart (early supermarket style) and a Costco cart is (big box style!)

Keith said...

wow...you've gotten so "linky"

krugman said the other day that we need to spend what we earn...not what we can borrow. of course, this was on abc sunday sitting near george will who also said that the fact that mcdonald's is doing well proves that the market is "sorting itself out."

has the size of a mcdonald's tray changed along with the shopping cart? obviously the containers in mcdonald's have grown with the boxes at the big box stores.

abigail said...

I saw that. No matter how many times PK smacks him down, George Will just keeps spouting nonsense. Next time I think Paul should bring his nobel prize.