The Vegan Era Crew came across this sweet blog today called New Dress A Day.
Marisa will be going a whole year without doing any traditional clothes shopping. From the blog:
"So, that’s where my ode to no traditional shopping begins. This year, I will be foregoing trips to Bloomies and Nordstrom for brand new gear. Goodbye to H&M purchases and accessory grabbing at Forever 21. And seeing the “must have” French Connection dress in People’s Style Watch will just have to suffice as a cut out on my inspiration board.
Instead, the only shopping that I’ll be able to do is that of pieces that have been used and worn already. So long to mall trips and hello to sifting through piles of vintage pieces at flea markets and at neighborhood garage sales. Each day for the entire year, I’m going to introduce a new piece into my existing wardrobe that I’ve found from these places. On top of this, I’m giving myself a budget of $1 a day.
One person’s trash is becoming my treasure this year.
365 days. 365 items of clothing. 365 dollars. And the blogging begins…"
There are people all over the world taking pledges like this and even taking it one step further and going without buying a thing! We are always inspired by people taking steps to reduce their impact on our beautiful world.
A man taking it a big step further is vegan Irishman, Mark Boyle who lives without MONEY. He began his money-free challenge "simply as a means to a more connected, respectful, loving and gentle way of life." He is the founder of the Freecommony Community and has just released his first book called The Moneyless Man which is available from Amazon.com. The moneyless man believes that issues such as environmental destruction, resource wars, factory farms, sweatshop labour are all related.
"I believe the fact that we no longer see the direct repercussions our purchases have on the people, environment and animals they affect is the factor that unites these problems. The degrees of separation between the consumer and the consumed have increased so much that it now means we're completely unaware of the levels of destruction and suffering embodied in the 'stuff ' we buy. Very few people actually want to cause suffering others; most just don't have any idea that they directly are. The tool that has enables this separation is money, especially in its globalised format."
While the Vegan Era Crew are not making any dramatic pledges, these stories remind us to live more consciously and frugally in this world. Be Love; Be Peace; Be Vegan. Save Our Home.
