Help Expand the Unconsumption Project

About

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

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We welcome your tips, suggestions, and feedback. Contact: unconsumption@gmail.com

[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.

Original by Knight News Challenge

3:40 pm - Sat, Mar 24, 2012: 242 notes

Help Expand the Unconsumption Project

newschallenge:

1. What do you propose to do? [20 words]

Expand Unconsumption’s capacity to serve as a resource for sharing stories and ideas about creative reuse and mindful consumption.

Read the rest here.

Remember my post last Monday about Unconsumption being in the running for funds from the Knight Foundation?

Well, thanks to many of you, Unconsumption is among the five most well-liked projects.

Now, to maintain our lead, we need your help — and helping is easy!

Simply open the Knight News Challenge post here, scroll down to the Disqus comments area, and hit the “like”/thumbs up button, and add a comment. (To do either one on mobile devices, you may need to switch from Tumblr’s mobile view to standard.)
Also, on Tumblr: You can “like”/”heart” the post and reblog it, to help spread the word.

This is a great opportunity for Unconsumption to qualify for funding to expand our (still all-volunteer!) work in encouraging mindful consumption and reuse. With your support, and that of other friends, we can help make it happen.