The repurposing of decommissioned shipping...

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Your daily source of inspiration for creative reuse and mindful consumption.

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[Background on, & press coverage of, Unconsumption can be found here and here.]

Consumption is a word used to describe acts of acquisition – generally, the acquisition of things, in exchange for money.

Unconsumption is a word used to describe everything that happens after an act of acquisition.

Unconsumption is an invisible badge.

Unconsumption means the accomplishment of properly recycling your old cellphone, rather than the guilt of letting it sit in a drawer.

Unconsumption means the thrill of finding a new use for something that you were about to throw away.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a service like Freecycle (or Craigslist, Goodwill, or Salvation Army) to find a new home for the functioning DVD player you just replaced, rather than throwing it in the garbage.

Unconsumption means enjoying the things you own to the fullest – not just at the moment of acquisition.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a pair of sneakers until they are truly worn out – as opposed to the nagging feeling of defeat when they simply go out of style.

Unconsumption means feeling good about the simple act of turning off the lights when you leave the room.

Unconsumption is not about the rejection of things, or the demonization of things. It’s not a bunch of rules.

Unconsumption is an idea, a set of behaviors, a way of thinking about consumption itself from a new perspective.

Unconsumption is free.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Founder & Editor: Rob Walker, journalist, Savannah, GA

Editorial & Community Manager: Molly Block, marketing and business development geek, Houston, TX

Brian W. Jones, designer & writer, Göteborg, Sweden

Kashvi Kumar, Environmental Studies and Economics major at New York University

Deirdre Nelson, ever threading artist, Glasgow, Scotland

Shanna Trenholm, writer. catalyst. force of nature. San Diego, CA

* * *

Alumnus & Unconsumption logo creator: Clifton Burt, graphic designer, Portland, OR

Further information about Unconsumption can be found here.

5:08 pm - Tue, Feb 28, 2012: 31 notes

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The repurposing of decommissioned shipping containers is a recurring theme here on the Unconsumption blog.

To add to the gallery of container projects we’ve featured, there’s this impressive-looking pop-up installation for Google, set up in Long Beach, California, for the 2012 TED conference. (Fun fact: Unconsumptioneer Brian Jones is currently there.) Seems pretty fitting, given that Long Beach is home to one of the world’s busiest seaports, handling, on average, the equivalent of more than 16,000 containers each day.

Friend of Unconsumption Boxman Studios (mentioned previously here), which creates event venues out of containers, constructed the “Google Garage” from five, 40’-foot-long containers. After the TED conference ends, Boxman will reuse the containers for other clients’ projects.

Boxman tells us to be on the lookout for a shipping container installation in Austin for this year’s South by Southwest events.

More: Boxman Studios | We’re Feeling Lucky With Google (at TED!)