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Just One Change

 

“I initially started to make a conscious effort to change some of my lifestyle choices when my daughter was born five years ago, realising just how much waste is being created through our everyday lives and in particular when we have children. Starting by investing in reusable nappies and using small cloths instead of baby wipes. Anything that wasn’t reusable was biodegradable – which yes, is usually more expensive but not in comparison to the overall cost of buying, even the cheapest nappies and wipes, regularly over two and a half years, and I was determined not to add to the ridiculous amounts of waste already created from the use of disposables. This was the start of my own journey, to attempt to become plastic free and conscious of the environmental impact of my existence on this planet. 

 Once these new habits had set in, it was difficult not to keep learning and exploring other ways to reduce waste and the impact of our behaviours (all learnt), on the environment. Coming from a fairly simple upbringing, with northern, working class values, I always had a sort of ‘make do and mend’ attitude and have always recycled, but when I started to look at some of the biggest problems with how we live and after meeting some inspiring people along the way, who live solely from the land and spend no money, I realised that maybe there could be more I could be doing, to find a balance between the pressures of modern society and a desire to live entirely off grid. Although I often fantasise about living on a remote island somewhere, with no electricity and no roads (preferably with a beach) I know that for me this is unrealistic. Often the extremes are unrealistic and unsustainable but to find a way to introduce new healthier habits into the life I already lead, seems to me, to be the best way to make a positive impact. 

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I started by aiming for a totally plastic free household and so switched to bamboo toothbrushes, soap bars instead of bottles of shampoo, refillable toothpaste, a menstrual cup to minimise sanitary waste, an old fashioned razor for husband’s shaving and reusable face pads instead of cotton wool for make up removal. Over the past two years we were lucky enough that a new zero plastic shop opened in our local town, offering refills of washing up liquid, washing detergent, surface sprays and toiletries (all chemical free too), although before that I did find some good ethical online stores, including charities, online. We changed our shopping habits and only bought fruit and veg from the supermarket that wasn’t wrapped in plastic, stopped buying meat and fish from supermarkets  and drastically cut down on eating any meat at all. Again shopping local as much as we could for fresh food from sustainable sources. 

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Any plastic waste we had, that couldn’t be recycled, we started to make into eco bricks – putting small bits of plastic and cellophane inside larger plastic bottles. I started doing this without really knowing what I would build with them but then one day a friend asked me and I replied, in jest ‘I dunno, maybe it will be the set for my next show?’. We laughed about it but then clearly, it triggered an idea in my brain and from that point onwards I started to dream about a new outdoor theatre show, telling a story that would be set in a dystopian future, where plastic had infiltrated our lives so much so, that we didn’t know where our veins began and the plastic ended, a world where we’d lost all sight of what it meant to be human and humane and became so disconnected from nature that any other living thing on the planet scared us. 

Destroying our planet and ourselves all ‘For The Love Of Stuff’.

 

 I’ve been researching ‘For The Love Of Stuff’ now for two years. I’ve begun to develop characters and a storyline with my amazing team of artists and with designer Fiona Chivers who is going to make the aesthetic magical and a beautiful piece of artwork in itself (all made from materials set for landfill of course!). The process has become particularly exciting since our first week of studio time, at Warwick Arts Centre in the Summer earlier this year and we’re about to embark on another two weeks of research at 101 Outdoor Arts Creation Space, in Newbury, in a couple of weeks time. I’m working with musicians in the coming weeks to develop sound and songs for the show and I’m instigating various bits of community engagement – School and community group workshops, social media campaigns and interviews with the public, talking about the Climate Crisis, teaming up with Warwick University’s Sustainability Champion, to help us get our facts right!   

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 The research for the new show has led me to even more changes in my own and my family’s life. We’ve reduced to using one car instead of two, We’ve shifted from initially introducing one or two meat free days in the week, to now only having one or two meat days. We’ve made changes to where we buy clothes and gifts for birthdays and Christmas and told family and friends (with respect) that secondhand toys and books for our daughter are fine, but also that it isn’t necessary to buy more stuff, just for the sake of it. Most of us really buy more than we need and actually there’s a lot of pleasure in finding a bargain item from a charity shop. 

Someone once told me that where we have power is where we spend our money, however much or little we have…

 

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In our house, most of our furniture is secondhand or someone else’s rubbish that we’ve up-cycled. There really are so many buying options out there that can bring the same pleasure as buying new. There are also some great clothing companies who are local and ethical, you just need to look for them. These changes for me and my family, have happened gradually over the past five years I’d say, but really we haven’t noticed the shift, because we started with one or two things and then we got hooked. Sometimes that’s all it needs – like opening a box of Pringles (totally not encouraging anyone to eat Pringles!!!) 

 The more you get into it, the more you realise how much is wrong with the way the western world lives and it becomes a social justice matter too – we’re directly effected as a race, by the damage we’re doing to the planet – extreme poverty, migration, war, it’s all down to our need for more stuff, more money, more consumption to feed the ego.

 

Don’t get depressed about it though, do something positive!

 

Make a lifestyle change, sign petitions against big corporations (The Big Evil), buy from local businesses.

 

And make art! Art can speak to people more than preaching with facts sometimes – write poetry, paint a picture, make a film, a dance, anything. 

 

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So what I’m saying is, you don’t need to do anything drastic or extreme but just try to shift the balance slightly. Start by making one change, do one thing and you’ll find you might get addicted-like any habit. The way I see it is that we just need to introduce a couple of new healthier habits to begin to eradicate the old bad ones and talk about it with others, soon it will catch on and the rest will take care of its self. Generally you’ll find that those changes have a positive impact on your health and your bank balance, as well as the injustices in the world and of course saving the planet. It’s a win win situation.

 ’For The Love Of Stuff’ will aim to inspire action for change, by starting these conversations and inviting audiences/the public to laugh, cry and sing along with us, ultimately encouraging them to open up and be sensitive to the world around them and feel gratitude and care for our planet (and each other). We hope after seeing the show, they’ll be inspired, moved and want to join our campaign to make a change.

 A statement that came out of our first week of research back in August, a comment that has stuck with me ever since, is that

‘It would make more of a difference if everyone did things imperfectly, than if just a small few did everything perfectly’ 

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In the words of Greta Thunberg “No one is too small to make a difference” Why not start now?”

 

Sioda Adams, Artistic Director

 

For The Love Of Stuff will be ready for touring in Summer/Autumn 2022

Our R&D is funded by Arts Council Lottery Funds and a commission from Warwick Arts Centre, also supported by 101 Outdoor Arts Creation Space, Leamington SYDNI Centre, Campion School, Leamington Spa and Coventry Dance.

If you would like to financially support the development and creation of the show and participatory workshops you can donate here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/for-the-love-of-stuff

 Executive Producers – Amy Dalton-Hardy and Chelsey Everett moc.setaercadoisobfsctd-84799e@recudorp

Illustrations and poster design – Lea Dekany

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