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I grabbed an old, used sewing machine in grad school to repair some things. Sewing is one of the simplest "practical" skills, I'd encourage more people to lear

I grabbed an old, used sewing machine in grad school to repair some things. Sewing is one of the simplest "practical" skills, I'd encourage more people to learn the basics. I have taught a bunch of people in about a day, at least enough to make very simple garments and patch more complicated ones. The real downside of it, now that I'm older, is that it's very time consuming, especially for larger projects. Sinking a couple hours into getting set up, measuring, cutting, sewing, etc is just hard to fit in. Clicking a couple buttons on Amazon and getting it off my to do list is often a lore more important.

paulryanrogers 5y ago
Being older I feel myself drawn to the shortcut of buy something and throw out/donate the old. Time is precious. Yet I try to remind myself of the growing mountain of landfill that I've been building with every trip to the garbage can. (Typing this from a thrift store parking lot where I'm trying to avoid buying more new clothes.)
- gkop 5y ago
  This resonates. It’s kind of like a carbon footprint lifestyle inflation. For me, I’m using more paper towels around the house than what I allowed myself to use when I was younger. Honest question to the environmental experts here: what’s the best way for me to throw money at this personal problem? Carbon credits? Donations to particular nonprofits? Other ideas?
  - warlog 5y ago
    Not carbon credits. Personal disengagement from the heat engine.
    - gkop 5y ago
      Can you suggest a resource for getting started with disengagement, geared towards people like myself that have more money than time?
      - warlog 5y ago
        If you're a doomer (i.e., not for everybody): an interesting perspective on radical disengagement: [0] Ran Prieur - discussed in another thread on HN, or [1] ** [0] https://youtu.be/dsNWH8ESCAM https://youtu.be/dsNWH8ESCAM [1] http://ranprieur.com/essays/dropout.html http://ranprieur.com/essays/dropout.html
        gkop 5y ago
        Is there a company I can pay to actually do the dumpster diving for me, though?

paulryanrogers 5y ago

Being older I feel myself drawn to the shortcut of buy something and throw out/donate the old. Time is precious. Yet I try to remind myself of the growing mountain of landfill that I've been building with every trip to the garbage can. (Typing this from a thrift store parking lot where I'm trying to avoid buying more new clothes.)

gkop 5y ago
This resonates. It’s kind of like a carbon footprint lifestyle inflation. For me, I’m using more paper towels around the house than what I allowed myself to use when I was younger. Honest question to the environmental experts here: what’s the best way for me to throw money at this personal problem? Carbon credits? Donations to particular nonprofits? Other ideas?
- warlog 5y ago
  Not carbon credits. Personal disengagement from the heat engine.
  - gkop 5y ago
    Can you suggest a resource for getting started with disengagement, geared towards people like myself that have more money than time?
    - warlog 5y ago
      If you're a doomer (i.e., not for everybody): an interesting perspective on radical disengagement: [0] Ran Prieur - discussed in another thread on HN, or [1] ** [0] https://youtu.be/dsNWH8ESCAM https://youtu.be/dsNWH8ESCAM [1] http://ranprieur.com/essays/dropout.html http://ranprieur.com/essays/dropout.html
      - gkop 5y ago
        Is there a company I can pay to actually do the dumpster diving for me, though?