When striving for sustainability, it is essential to keep in mind the six R’s: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, (Buy) Recycled, Rot (a.k.a. composting), and Restoration. But considering the alarming rise in rates of consumption and waste, as well as the rising cost of new goods, what may be on your mind is how to reduce your personal spending while still accessing the goods you need. Look no further than your very own Mills campus!
Wallets are thinning as quickly as the ozone layer, making it pertinent to consider the resources already existing in our own community.
You see, buying new goods means more than just an addition to your home or wardrobe, but comes with an environmental cost as well. By now we have all heard of carbon footprints, which calculate energy resources in manufacturing and transportation as well as the packaging that promptly feeds into polluting waste streams, to name a few. Not only do most new goods get discarded, but each leaves a harmful trail of wasted resources, which once disposed of only leaves us wanting more as trash heaps dwarf our cities.
At Mills we can combat this disgraceful process by making good use of our small yet mighty community. As proponents of the six R’s and to show some love for the Mills women with thrifty thumbs, Mills Earth CORPS wants to start spring semester by putting an end to wasteful consumption and reducing the waste stream at Mills. And of course, we want some new clothes.
The first annual Suzie’s Closet Swap is a campus wide clothing swap intended to reduce waste and promote the reuse of valuable goods on campus. It is a marvelous chance to find a new home for old clothes or find some new, FREE, clothes for yourself. It will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 28 in the Student Union from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Clothing for the swap may be donated from 9 a.m. to 11a.m., and again, everything is FREE.
If you love the swap, make sure to check out its permanent alias, the Reuse Stuff Depot. As the latest addition to the sustainability center, you can access the culture of Free year round at the Depot located in Reinhart’s C-Wing, below Founders Commons. The place to go before buying something new, it’s free for you, satisfying for us, and really really good for the planet.
Start 2009 the right way, by showing the strength of the Mills community in combating the harmful environmental effects of global capitalism. Come to Suzie’s Closet Swap!
-Sophie Leininger, senior
