Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle (Digital collage by Geo Davis)

Did you know that today, July 11th is World Population Day. This is a real day, not a holiday exactly, but a reminder to deep-think the global population bubble. This is a recurring topic over at Why No Kids, and I’ve already spilled enough digital ink there, so I’ll skip the soapbox.

At least for now.

But it’s worth noting that our species is on track to hit 8 billion people by 2025. That’s a lot of mouths to feed. A lot of bodies to clothe and educate and keep healthy and entertain and house and wash…

Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose & Recycle

It’s pretty clear that we all need to trim our appetites. That’s right. Reduce consumption. The economy will take care of itself. Or not. But there are limits. Real limits. And our fragile orb spinning through space just might begin to wobble if we keep stacking new $#%& in our garages.

One one way to reduce our consumption is to reuse the stuff we already have. Not easy with a banana or a bottle of bourbon, but cars and furniture and clothing and so much of what we replace without a second thought.

Reuse is a simple first step in curbing the effect our growing population has on our world. While it may not feel like much… simple acts of conscientiousness ad up and can change the world. (Source: blog.yerdle.com)

Remix?

And remember, reusing and recycling and repurposing isn’t necessarily boring or stifling. It can be super creative. This of it as remixing. Collage. Mashup. Curating. All those buzzwords are creative ways of reusing things and sounds and images and ideas and t-shirts that we already have. Task your brain with reinventing something new and useful. Or not useful at all, but weird or wild or wonderful. Something beautiful. Something tasty. Something sexy…

Purge Positive

I’ve dabbled off-an-on with purging years — no, decades! — of stuff. Books. Files. Shoes. Fountain pens. Skis. Artwork. Coin collection. Sticker collection. Cuff link collection. Old tech…

I say I’ve dabbled, because I’ve made small, brief inroads and then shied away. But the time is coming. And I can’t wait. It’ll be a perfect bitch to go through 4+ decades of detritus and make most (much?) of it go away, but it’ll feel so liberating once it’s gone. And while a landfill run would accelerate the process, it would be so wasteful. So sad. So selfish. Instead I want to purge my lifetime’s hoard of mostly forgotten treasures by offering them for reuse. I’m hoping to find others who want or need my unused treasures. I’m hoping that recycling and repurposing will offer a new life to my unnecessaries while enabling others to avoid consuming brand new necessaries. A pipe dream? Stay tuned!