Sustainability came to Melbourne at last! There were plenty things to do, taste, try, listen to all related to sustanable living or eco-friendly solutions.
Here is just to list a few:
learn something new from a vast range of presentations,
try delicious vegan cuisine or bio-lemonades and organic beers,
explore living in an eco-friendly house,
learn about city gardening,
have a chat with representatives of various organizations concerned with animal protection,
purchase some cool sustainable products (from reusable wax cloths to pack your food, to furniture made of old tyres),
go bio-honey-tasting,
listen to music and much more.
I was thrilled with the number and variety of the stalls and was happy to see that so many people are focused on changing the course of our lifestyle.
We might not have such an apocalyptic future ahead of us after all.
However.... There was 1 thing missing- FASHION. There were no brands with sustainable, ethical or fair-trade clothes, neither any DIYs for upcycling old garments.
There was only one presentation about sustainable fashion (you can watch parts of it in the video), but it was super ispiring! Connecting experts from different fields:
Clare Press - Sustainable Fashion Expert, Author and Podcaster,
Michael Spencer — Chair & CEO, Alliance for Water Stewardship (Asia-Pacific region),
Courtney Sanders — Co-founder, Well Made Clothes,
John Condilis — Managing Director, Nobody Denim,
Courtney Holm — Founder, A.BCH,
the discussion led from showing the biggest concerns of today's fashion model to envisioning brighter and more sustainable future.
But to achieve this brands would have to start being more transparent (showing exactly where the clothes comes from), using natural fibers and new technologies, which would allow them to reuse fibers from old clothes, and reducing all the waste along the way.
For now it is up to us, consumers, to demand better fashion and to shop responsibly.