Material Stealth - Credit Culture Hits Back

 Climate change isn't the only thing on people's minds these days as the credit crunch bites. But of course the same attributes that are one of the causal factors of the crush on credit, are also to blame for climate crunch. Our wasteful culture, which has in part contributed to the current situation, is now in the spotlight as we struggle to keep up with rising costs and less for more. Over-consumption, throwaway and don't keep for another day seems for the foreseeable to be in limbo. Now through necessity, reducing outgoings and living a simpler life have taken on a new and perhaps more poignant role.

The marketers have the solutions many are re-packaged versions of what's always been available! ‘Staycations’ or holidaying at home is big news right now as a reduction in cheaper flights also add to the holiday dilemmas. Improving rather than moving, puts the home back in the house, re-visiting the make-do and mend of past generations.

Casualties of these tight-belt times range from car show rooms closures, as the oil fuelled price of motoring soars, to the house agents hanging their own 'it's gone sign'. On the domestic front, the darker side of a crippled economy brings with it unscrupulous vultures who make the vulnerable in society their prey. A recent cold-call debt advice scam has been recommending Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) which are a controversial alternative to bankruptcy; another sad facet of this time.

But when you consider how the spiralling costs of basic food have forced a re-think in grocery trends, with discounted own brand chains reporting increased turnover. Indeed the law of supply and demand pushing people down aisles they wouldn't normally frequent.

Worryingly but understandably, a recent Consumer Survey by Food Safety Standards indicates that our concerns with GM entering our food chain is way down our shopping list of priorities. We have less time for the bigger issues as we must now think about short-term matters much closer to home.

Despite all, market forces will prevail. There are perhaps lessons we can all learn to make the future better for the environment and our pockets. Reducing our footprint through our carbon and our credit demands and every other invasive or costly measure which depletes our lives, may now be adopted by many on a temporary basis and heeded by some.

A timely, small but significant new build is shaping up at WWT Castle Espie, near Comber in County Down. This wasn't planned as a reactive gimmick in response to the economic climate, but a proactive addition to the improved wetlands at the centre. The Reed Room, as it will be known, will be a cornerstone in newer building alternatives, providing the blocks for potential housing of the future.

Designed to create more energy than it uses and made from recycled material with hemp crete, the build will be a first on the island of Ireland to be totally self-sufficient. One of the techniques employed using a hemp crete mix for the walls, will indeed be a world first.

Read more about this on pages . . . or come to The LifestyleGreen Show, 13 & 14 September, when it will be unveiled and see for yourself. As one of the main features of this year's event, the Reed Room will remain at castle Espie to house a supply of books from Oxfam that visitors can read and inwardly digest, metaphorically speaking!

The LifestyleGreen Show in partnership with Castle Espie promises to be a great green family fun day out. Featuring alternative mainstream options for simplifying your life and of course taking care of future generations and the environment they will inherit. More information at www.lifestylegreenshow.com

Maybe now is the time to take stock; to re-discover the things which really matter to us in life rather than material stealth. To live rather than exist.

Gill McNeill Editor