I hadn't heard of this initiative before so it must be a European thing perhaps? It still reads as a "middle class and up in rich countries" thing to me because a lot of these, poor people can't afford, wealthy surrounding country or no.
end clutter - keep products and gadgets for at least seven years.
...I generally do that but we also have to talk to electronics manufacturers about planned obsolescence because a lot of it is "we've decided not to support that device anymore and you can't upgrade it and it's designed to break" in regards to phones and computers. Like right now, I need to find money to buy a new phone by this summer, not because a single thing is wrong with my current phone, but because it only goes up to 3G and the US has decided to turn off 3G towers this year.
travel fresh - if you can, no personal vehicles.
...never have owned a car in my life, can't afford one. Would like an ebike, would make my life a ton easier.
eat green - a plant-based diet, healthy amount, no waste.
...was veg for over a decade, can't anymore due to allergies, but even then it's mostly dairy products and only a pound or two of meat per month. Meat and dairy is expensive, and artificially so here in the US for the dairy as they actually produce a surplus and the govt buys it to artificially inflate the price. And poor people generally can't afford to waste food. I have had panic attacks if I had to throw something out.
dress retro - three new items of clothing a year.
...I actually hit that mark last year due to poverty. I have bought underwear this year though, and so as your thoughts imagine, I've already crossed the number. But they're organic cotton and fair trade underwear!
holiday local - one flight every three years (eight years for long-haul)
...poor people don't generally get to fly anywhere or take vacations. I've been on a plane 4 times in my life (8 if you count back-and-forth as separate) and it was only because someone else bought me a ticket (visit family x2; family wedding x1; friend wedding x1). So given that I'll be 44 this summer that's "one flight every 11 years" and would be zero if it came out of my own pocket.
at least one life shift to change the system.
...do these fairly frequently, little activist heart that I am.
I mean like, I'm sure this applies to the majority in rich countries, but a lot of the time I read these eco-advice things and I'm like "bold of you to assume I have money for those luxuries." 😂 I just read some article that said I think 1/3 of Americans earn 30k a year or less, which is NOT A LOT TO LIVE ON when about half of that amount is going to be just your rent.
My take on the initiative was that it is attempting to address specific problems. The website has suggestions about how to do intermediate things, much like we've had no-buy months (rather than years) in Saturday Savers Club. The end clutter is especially around phones and the push to upgrade frequently, even though there is nothing wrong with your current phone. I think we have legislation in this country now about domestic appliances - that manufacturers must provide repairs and are required to re-cycle obsolete items. (Couldn't find the link, sorry).
We've known about private vehicles for years but:
We do have some good changes here, though: for a long time you have been able to hire bikes in London and some other cities - just pick them up from one stand, do your journey and drop them at another stand. I noticed in Canterbury the other day that you could hire escooters next to the rail station - great idea for a tourist town. And we have zip cars and vans in some places, where you just hire the car from a street location in your neighbourhood by the hour. In Leicester, there is a lot of infrastructure work going on to make it safer and more pleasant and convenient to walk or cycle (or scoot, I guess).
I balked at the clothing ambition - I think the one that you talked about in your end of year clothing audit was much more realistic. I've had a fairly conservative approach to buying clothes and it's still been an average of more than three items a year, although probably not more than twelve on average including underwear. That seems to me more realistic and do-able. Again, I think the initiative is trying to focus on the massive over-consumption of fast fashion and tackling the likes of Boohoo and Shein with their associated labour and human rights issues, as well as environmental ones.
I was thinking that it may be a little like health and safety training - health and safety at work improves immediately after training but then declines over a period of time, so it has to be repeated at intervals (and, I guess, in a new and refreshing way, otherwise it is pointless). Maybe it is the same with evironmental shifts, there is a need for constant refresh, both to remind folks and to bring in new people. Maybe a bit like having Veganuary(?) in January?
Yeah I agree that the clothes number that was I think a dozen as the average in the 80s is more doable.
You're probably right about that. And if you think about it, real change comes from making habit changes one or a few at a time, not a whole-life overhaul all at once where you feel overwhelmed and like it's too hard and so you can't sustain it. Dieting is that way; people who are like THAT'S IT I'M THROWING OUT ALL THE JUNK FOOD AND BUYING MORE VEGETABLES THAN I CAN CONCEIVABLY EAT ...generally fall off the wagon and feel like it's impossible, but if you make a goal like "I'm going to do Meatless Mondays and limit myself to one soda per day instead of three" or whatever your goal may be, that's easier to maintain and make it a real lifestyle habit. Then once you've made it normal, then maybe you can add in something like, "now I'm going to try cooking a new recipe once a week" or whatever gets you closer to your healthy eating goals.