Live music 'with' my mum!?!?

Modern communication reduces the distance

I ‘watched’ tv with my mum last night! The Parramatta festival by famous Indian musician, A.R. Rahman (two Oscars for Slumdog’s music) was televised live in Australia and across Asia Pacific channel. Text messages meant I was telling mum how brilliant the show was, enough so that she ‘gave in’ as she said, and changed from what she was doing to ‘watch’ the show with me.

How marvelous the concert already was; I think my favourite was the sitar, bass guitar, piano, flute piece although it’s a tough pick as it was all fabulously stunning music and showmanship of the singers, dancers and musicians. A perfect example of the bollywood musical spectaculars that I adore. But this spectacular went on for 2 and half hours – much better than songs scattered throughout a movie!

Whether the Indian and Australia concert collaboration was really reaching out in solidarity to try to overcome the allegations of racist targeting of Indian-Australians is either a cynical, commercial theme for a live music show or a genuine celebratory shift in Australia’s perception of Indian immigrants, I have no idea?

However the ‘human spirit’ as quoted a few times during the concert certainly became personal for me. Personal as I watched the show from my Cambodian apartment while mum was in country NSW. As I bopped along in my living room, I knew my mum was enjoying the same fab musical event. And that she would be as fascinated by the musical compositions as me.

Every drumbeat, exotic costume and song note connected me to my mum

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/abc2live/feature.htm

Purple silk will come to no harm

The poor bonsai didn’t make it. The extreme tilt of the plant and heat combined so that it uprooted itself! No longer were the roots actually in the soil. It was time to give up on this maltreated bonsai.

Silk flowers that are so realistic that many people have mistaken them as an extravagant gift, now sit on my work desk. They were all of US$5 as a bunch and that includes the vase. No harm can come to the silk, despite the revoltingly hot, humid, stale air of an office that they share with me. Of course they are varied purple colours!

Replacing gifts with donations

A donation instead of flowers at a funeral is common but I had never heard of someone saying at Christmas to skip the gift and instead give to a charity. Until this year, when I know 3 people who have done it and many more considering it especially once their children are older. And a few clever charities are promoting the idea as well. Its great. Its better than great. And surely this concept will only increase as people do worry about consumption. Plus people acknowledge they own everything they really want.

But then the doubts; the products will still be made and on shelves for sale, even if one person does not receive a gift? Personal consumption levels is actually not about giving a donation to a charity of choice; just as ‘offseting’ carbon produced by saving someone’s forest that you should not even destroy in the first place is not really a positive.

Climate change needs to be made personal. I wish I could do it. I wish we all could reduce consumption in a way that worked; but what would that look like?

I don’t do it, but I wish everything I bought was truly environmentally friendly. I looked at all my purchases of this past month, after reading of an artist who has made clever art out of her consumption over past 5 years; http://www.obsessiveconsumption.typepad.com

Sure I buy the enviro’ friendly washing detergent and I recycle containers and look for items with minimal food packaging. But …..

I try to imagine a world without the purple coloured writing pens I adore. Or the fun coloured manila folders or the glitter pen or the notebook with fabulous arty 3D effect picture on it, to name just a few minor items I bought in this month. All these things and more have chemicals in them. And all could be stopped so that the manufacturing of basic plain environmentally friendly items for the same tasks, was possible.

Demand will always be there. Thus a stationery factory filled with synthetic chemicals to make all these items will always exist. Or will it?

How can we change demand?

Can I just turn off the wish to buy the 50cent notebook with green spiral bound plastic doover over it? I should I know. I should do better. Yet it seems so futile because my not buying one or two items is not going to stop the factory right now. How to get critical mass? And what about the job losses, if production did reduce? Unemployment is already a critical issue in developing countries as well as so called modern societies … would enviro’ consumption mean further hardship for individuals out of work ….??

Eventually next generations I guess, will be attending addiction meetings for those who still crave for colourful pens; after the globe is destroyed because we all loved our colours in all our items we buy, whether minor or substantial purchases
Yet it pleases me that someone has taken a stand and asked for no gift. Its all about the individual gestures. And in a group setting having a donation to a charity of choice instead of a gift is a profound statement, to all who are there.

Now about my purple pens, what is the environmentally sound decision for me to make and can I do it?

For more clever art go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kateconsumption/sets/72157622729694162/
                                   - 14 new pens, wonder if they were coloured….