Blog Post 4 – Peer Review
Having read through so many of my peer’s blog posts, I really enjoyed viewing people’s different opinions and perspectives overall and how they experienced the Better Lives unit. Narrowing it down to one blog post the one that stood out for me was Chloe Penhallurik’s first blog post on ‘Reflections on one or more of the better lives lectures and how they have influenced your thinking’.
Throughout Chloe’s blog post she reflects on the lecture Fashion and Nature by Kate Fletcher. She states that up until this unit she had never thought about sustainability before in her life. This shows that Chloe was engaged and dedicated to learning the true meaning of sustainability. She also describes how she felt upset on realising the true cost of the Fashion Industry’s input when it comes to sustainability and how it is not practised enough. I can completely resonate with her on this as I feel very strongly that the industry still has such a long way to go when it comes to being more sustainable. I also agree with her thoughts on how she describes how past generations didn’t take good enough care of our planet. Only now are we starting to see the younger generation really care about protecting our planet as we all have become more aware of the devastation that in the past has been reaped on it.
Chloe also reflects on Jekaterina Rogaten’s lecture on ‘Fashion and Well-being’ which she states made her realise that she never really considered well-being before this. She mentions that she never thought of the connection between fashion and wellbeing and that she is guilty of partaking in that ‘Happy’ feel purchasing that overall amounts up to $4.2 trillion. As I also reflected upon Jekaterina’s lecture in my first blog post, I agree that most people are guilty of this ‘happy’ buying as I myself am but I have come to realise that the ‘good’ feeling and raised mood that it gives me hasn’t a long term effect and most times the end result does not leave me as satisfied as I’d hope. I refuse to do it now. Do we really need all these ‘purchases’ for that short term, superficial boost of feeling ‘happy’? Particularly now in the realisation of how bad it is for our planet also?
Chloe ends her blog post by mentioning how she may end up with better satisfaction by going to charity shops or car boot sales. This is something I have done over the years as I reconsider if I really need the things that I purchase. Knowing that I am also helping the planet by not buying in to fast fashion or spur of the moment purchasing provides me with a more long term deeper feeling of satisfaction as I realise that I am helping the environment and that I am good enough as I am and don’t need to constantly acquire new things to make me feel validated or more interesting.
Overall, I thought Chloe’s blog post was a good read and I would agree with her on many of the thoughts that she has expressed. She has shown that she has understood and gained a better knowledge from the Better Lives Unit and in particular sustainability. I believe Chloe could even add to her knowledge if she researched further into the connection between the Fashion Sector and well-being.