Conflicting Thoughts

This week Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, “donated Patagonia to the Earth”.. I feel like if you do some digging you’ll see the conflicting pieces to this.. About how Patagonia’s past sustainability campaigns are under scrutiny.. or how no matter if you are using recycled plastics (polyester) or textiles made from virgin oil, micro plastics still end up in our oceans etc..

I think this being in the news has me confronting the same internal issue I have all the time..

Let me first say that I am inspired by Patagonia. I have listened to podcasts with the founder and I have found inspiration in his words. I think that even if there are flaws..trying to move forward to make positive change is a good thing. Nothing happens if no steps are made, and as I have learned in life the process for change is little by little and making small adjustments along the way.. Not being perfect before you begin.. because perfect doesn’t exist.

Anyways. Back to my internal struggle. I am constantly faced with. The desire to pursue clothing design and making products to make a living, while also acknowledging that production and consumption are huge problems that we face. Climate change has scared me since I was a kid. I do try to make an effort. I walk or skate to work, I drive a Prius (I honestly hate driving and owning a car so writing that almost feels comical to me), and I fix old clothes and design using old clothes and old materials, most of the furniture in my house is second hand.. These are all things I believe make small contributions.. but at the level of production I sit at now.. it is not a sustainable lifestyle. I barely make by each month and every week I worry about where the money is going to come from.. The only way I see out of that hole is to increase production and make more products. It just seems like I am stuck in this system and that production is the only way out. I dunno. I think I’ve lost my thought for now.. as I write these more as therapeutic musings than directed toward anyone. I hope that if anyone reads these posts that they at least make sense and act as an open ended type of writing.

It’s been a long week and I am fried.

Take it easy.