This month the theme for Leeds Craftivists was ‘Repair, reduce and reuse’. Ed Carlisle came to speak to us about local community approaches to embracing a sustainable lifestyle. He spoke about many community activities in South Leeds that have made repairing and reducing more widespread, such as Repair Café, Bike fixing and community den building.
The ideas were exciting, inclusive and encouraging to anyone interested in building community around sustainability.
We all made ‘rubbish collages’ which we are going to send to MPs and big companies to encourage a culture of repair rather than one of increased consumption. We are supporting The Restart Project’s ‘Right to Repair’ campaign, you can sign the petition here: https://therestartproject.org/
If you want to get involved in our craftivist campaign for Climate Justice this month, get a few things out of your recycle bin and create a beautiful ‘rubbish collage’ like the ones below:
Then send it to your MP or a big company CEO.
An example letter to your MP is:
Address
Dear MP name,
I am writing to you from the Leeds Craftivists as your constituent. I have created this collage from things that would be thrown away as a gift to thank you for all you have done to create a sustainable future. It is to show that beauty can come from things considered rubbish and we can find a solution to our current unsustainable living.
We want to encourage you to support The Right to Repair bill which would make it compulsory for companies to make items that can be repaired rather than thrown into landfill.
I know you, like me, are passionate about sustainable living and want to reduce our waste as a nation. This bill is key in making sure we can all do that.
Please be part of the solution and our shared vision for a sustainable future.
Best wishes,
Your name
An example letter to a big company:
Dear ‘company CEO name’
I am writing to you from the Leeds Craftivists as a loyal customer of company name. I have created this collage from things that would be thrown away as a gift to thank you for your commitment to providing quality goods. It is to show that beauty can come from things considered rubbish and we can find a solution to our current unsustainble living.
We want to encourage you to make your goods more repairable. To make sure that they have a long life and people can repair them rather than them ending up in landfill.
I know you, like me, are passionate about sustainable living and want to reduce our waste as a nation. Your company making this important step could be a game changer for this. You could be innovative in larger organisations making this important step.
I would love to hear back from you about your stance of sustainability and your products.
Please be part of the solution and our shared vision for a sustainable future.
Best wishes,
Your name
Monthly Meet-Ups
Don’t forget that we will also be meeting in-person this month, at Left Bank Leeds on Wednesday 16 February at their Creative Takeover night. You can see our timetable of other monthly meetings below, and sign-up through our Events page.
