Are We Gonna Move?

So I was reading a review for this cartoon that premiered recently called The Goode Family about a family obsessed with being green. A commenter posted that this show was the creator, Mike Judge (also created Beavis and Butthead, Idiocracy, and King of the Hill) acknowledging that the green movement was not just a 90's trend. This may make me sound very young, but I had no idea the green movement started in the 90's. I always assumed it was a millenial thing. Then I remembered so many of my childhood cartoons had enviroment protection undertones. Does anyone remember The Dinosaurs? There was a facebook group that my friend joined which made me noslogic enough to google it. The series finale was quite sad, and while I remember watching it, at that age I did not fully understand its implications. My head continued to explode with memories of kid show examples: Rocky's Modern World's recycling song, Lisa Simpson fighting Mr. Burns and his soda plastic netting schemes, and remember when Bayside School struck oil? If they were shown in the 90's then some adults must've been writing them right? I hope that this green trend sticks, because as Fashionology states, fashion is a cultureal symbol, and I want this style to last. I wish I could youtube all those clips for you, but memory lane is a long road to walk down, so I'll just stick with The Dinosaurs. I can't save the video on the computer, so please follow this link Enjoy!

Janice Lam
Blog #6

Yuniya Kawamura "Fashion-ology"

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/glenn-garvin/story/1065395.html

Fast Fashion, Fast Food

In my last blog, I discussed the ease in which we throw away food that we do not appreciate. Today I'd like to compare it with fashion, thanks to a very interesting article on www.jezebel.com that I read back in August titiled, "We Love Cheap Stuff, but Fast Fashion is Hard to Defend: by Sadie Stein. In this article, Stein compares the trendy clthes from Forever 21 to a meal at McDonalds, "Just as McDonald's is no substitute for a nice — or healthy — meal, a trip to Forever21 doesn't make you feel especially good. It's loud and chaotic, the sizes are all over the place, employees are often disaffected, you make poor decisions - sometimes just to avoid the hassle of a dressing-room line. Perhaps, as in the case of fast food, fast fashion is yet another degredation of our quality of life." She argues that while Forever 21 clothes may be cheaper, the more basic ensembles last longer, is worn more often, and is of better quality. I whole heartedly agreee. Hasn't everyone looked into their closet and wondered why they bought such ugly clothes in the first place? Today I am wearing black work pants from Express that were a gift to me from the 8th grade. Nearly 8 years later, i still continue to wear them while some of my fast fashion items were worn once and now just sit on the other side of my closet (somewhat) forgotten.

Now this isn't the first time we've critisized Forever 21, remember the article "Forever in Trouble?" by Chuck Q. Bun? Forever 21 has been critisized for their unfair labor practices, and continues to not listen to boycotter's calls.

Well now I've just give you a second reason to boycott Forever 21. These fast fashions are dangerous because, not only does it waste money for the consumers, but they also are a waste of the earth's resources.

Janice Lam

Blog #3

Chuck Q. Byun. "Forever in Trouble?"

http://jezebel.com/5040032/we-love-cheap-stuff-but-fast-fashion-is-hard-to-defend

Mommy the Sane

Even though I planned to write this blog during mother's day, I'd still like to announce to the world that Maky Lam, greatest mom ever, is a much better buyer than me. In fact, I'd say in some ways, she's the best in the family. Our family are big bargain hunters: we use coupons, rebates, "cheat-codes," etc. But my biggest weakness is that I cannot resist a good deal. For instance, I once bought a pair of ballet slippers from Aeropostle for $1.09, even though it was a whole size larger. I told myself that "it's only a dollar!" and convinced myself I could just stuff the shoe. Those shoes still sit in my closet.

Another thing my mother is also much better at not hoarding all her old stuff. I'm a pack-rat. My closet explodes a little bit when you open the door, and I have less and less space in my room every year. This summer, my goal is to get rid of the things I don't use/wear because well I don't use it, and someone else can. I plan to donate whatever I can to the nearby thrift store, or Salvation Army, whatever they'll take from me anyway. According to http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/business/3077571/part_2/ever-wondered-whos-wearing-your-castoffs.thtml , this 1 billion dollar industry, even if your clothes is torn up and tattered from, oh I don't know, an eventful rugby match, the thrift stores still find uses for it! They shred them and make them into rags. Think about the Multiplier Effect!

Oh, and that creepy guy smiling at you in the picture above, my dad. How do you think I was born?

Janice Lam
Blog #4

http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/business/3077571/part_2/ever-wondered-whos-wearing-your-castoffs.thtml

Dressing Up to Save!

So I work at the Segundo Dining Commons and have been to the other side of that dish wall, let me tell you, it is not pretty. It should come as no surprise to anyone that people frequently waste food. I do it myself all the time, food gets thrown away before finished or they just rot. I'll confess something here; I know what happens when you leave vegetables (vegetables = yuck) in the storage part of your refridgerator for more than 8 months. Lets just say if it wasn't for my memory, I wouldn't know what it was/used to be. According "Some Statistics on Poverty and Food Wastage In American" by Samana Siddiqi of http://www.soundvision.com/, Americans waste nearly 100 billion pounds of food per year. I think a large part of our waste comes from mindless eating. Food comes so easy to us, so mass produced, that we lose sight of what happens to all of it, despite how many people starve their days away.
That's why I am suggesting for everyone to start dressing up their food. As mentioned in "Toward a History of Appearances" by Phillipe Perrot, "The nineteenth-century bourgeoisie worked out an elaborate system of appearance, which reveals the importance it attached to clothing's signifying role as opposed to its functional role." The French reimagined themselves to a look of refinement, so can your food! I'm not saying you have to buy or learn how to make 5-star quality cuisine, just take your regular food and do something that makes it more unique. This way you appreciate the food more, and eating becomes less function, more emotion.

Janice Lam

Blog #2

Phillippe Perrot. "Introduction," "Toward a History of Appearances."

Siddiqi Samana, "Some Statistics on Poverty and Food Wastage In America" http://www.soundvision.com/info/poor/statistics.asp

Barbie to Guzz-me

I know this sounds very egotistical, but I'm going to admit right off the bat that I'm a pretty good consumer. It sounds bad, and I know there are a lot of thriftier and better consumers than me, but I'm proud of my spending habits. My biggest splurge to date would probably be my 100 dollar haircut for when I lobbed off 17 inches for charity, I had a pretty good paycheck back then and it felt good. Oh, and another big splurge that comes to mind is U.C. Davis, Davis has driven me into (student) debt! Here's hoping it'll pay off... A regular splurge of mine would have to be the occasional eating out, this includes the chips you sometimes see me eat in class. Besides those three instances, the majority of my consumption is well thought-out. Prices are compared, deals are sought after, and patience is exerted. To be a good consumer, I think it's important that you also consume little, and if so consciously.
So I had some trouble thinking of the topic of my blog, school, rent, utilities, food is what I basically buy nowadays, if I was still in San Francisco, I’d be shopping more, but since I’m not, I didn’t want to do a project that wouldn’t change anything. Then I realized one thing that puts my consumerist pride to shame, my habit of drinking from water bottles. I know it’s bad! I know! I swear I know! I’ve grown up drinking pre-boiled water, except in restaurants, which I’m pretty sure they serve tap anyway. I’ve gotten so many free, reusable water bottles, I think it’s time I start using them. “Forever In Trouble?” by Chuck Q. Byun emphasizes the need for consumers to take responsibility, but I wonder if the manufactures of the water bottles are to blame as well. For some reason, I’ve never gotten used to Davis water; it has this metallic taste to it, so I’ll start off slow by boiling my own stock.



But why stop there? Plastic is one of the world’s most common resources but is non renewable. Plastic comes from gas, in turn, more plastic consumption equals higher gas prices, chew on that. So I looked up this article about how to use less plastic and realized another big impact I could have on reducing plastic was abolishing the use of plastic bags. When I’m in Davis and I always choose plastic over paper. Why? Because it’s outlawed in San Francisco, and I line my garbage cans with them. In actuality, I’ve don’t need all that plastic. A lot of times I double-line the heavier products so they don’t ripe, and the outer layer ends up being ripped anyway, rendering it useless. So in addition to abolishing water bottles, I’m going to use only my canvas bags when buying anything!
Good luck everyone with your own projects! Happy Blogging!

Janice Lam

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/images/060224_bottled_water_big.jpg