Blog It’s not all doom and gloom….
March 30th, 2009
….in fact there are lots of things to be positive about:
1. When the economy goes belly up, sometimes rent prices drop, wouldn’t that be nice?
2. If you are old enough to remember the recession of the early 90’s, you will recall that the warehouse party scene thrived, along with the thriving rave culture.
3. Music is generally awesome during economic downturns (think the 30’s jazz, the 90’s hip hop era)
4. Apathy is reduced. People start having opinions again (and therefore personality) which is way more interesting than the current tv-fed mass consumption culture that stops people from caring about anything except the beer they are drinking and their latest whizbang gadget they bought on credit.
5. People stop buying stupid wasteful material things that turn into mountains of landfill, and start thinking about what they are spending their dollars on.
6. When huge corporations can’t afford to buy stuff/mine stuff/develop stuff anymore, the environment generally benefits.
7. Who needs massively powerful insurance companies and banks anyway…maybe we can try some other frameworks like barter or freecycle?
8. This can be a very rewarding time for those who are interested in self-development, and for creating a healthy work-life balance. When there’s no work on there’s more time to do other fun things like go camping, spend more time with loved ones, learn a new language, repair that bike you have been wanting to fix for years, or plant some vegies in the garden. The recession won’t last forever so enjoy the spare time while it lasts.
9. Often governments spend lots of money to stimulate the economy during a downturn, so maybe we will see more improvements to amenities, like public transport!
10. Generally the best thing about a downturn is that it can only go up from here….
May 8th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
hey, there’s a great Samoan myth about the rat and the octopus, told to explain the origin of how Samoans catch octopus. the photo reminded me- if you just add the face of an ockie over the toad’s voila! The story’s not all doom and gloom, but them rodents better keep on their toes!
The story goes…
The Rat and the Octopus
By: Pemerika Logotaeao Tauiliili
The Rat and the Octopus is an old Samoan legend which parents tell the children as a bedside story. Its continuation shows how the local people have captilized on it and make lures in the shape of the rat to make the octopus angry wanting to devour the rat.
The Rat and the Octopus
By: Pemerika Logotaeao Tauiliili
The Rat and the Octopus is an old Samoan legend which parents tell the children as a bedside story. Its continuation shows how the local people have captilized on it and make lures in the shape of the rat to make the octopus angry wanting to devour the rat. read it here…http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=500#
chiao
May 19th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Great blog Sofie…
just a short comment on freecycle.. I mentioned freecycle to someone in oz recently and they had never heard of it… all I can say is sign up or start a group in your area today and help each other out… giving is one of the greatest feelings in the world… everyone I know uses it in london to get rid of things they no longer need or borrow things they do with the premise that it’ll be passed on again when you’re finished with it..
May 19th, 2009 at 9:18 am
I agree DIane, I also wrote an entire post dedicated to freecycle a while back now, but it’s still relevant. http://www.sofieloizou.com/blog/p,94/
Glad to hear it has been embraced in London. Let’s see if we can inspire some Aussies to do the same.