Waste is for Tossers:
Interview with Lauren Singer
Extract from Page 48, exceptional women, verity no.1
Why are these simpler products so much more expensive, despite there being less things in them?
Large companies’ products are artificially inexpensive, because they buy so much of a product and chemicals are cheap. Because I’m buying ingredients for just a couple of thousand units every time, it’s a lot more expensive than buying ingredients for four hundred thousand units. Once you get to that huge size, you pay nothing for shipping costs, because you have your own trucks and transportation. Then manufacturing – you’ll probably have your own factory, so that will be cheaper. The packaging – it’s cheap; chemicals – cheap. It just all becomes less expensive as you become bigger.
That’s kind of ironic, isn’t it?
I mean, when you think about it, not really. Because it’s more work to pack up five things than it is to have a system and process to pack up forty thousand regularly, and a regular large payment is more dependable.
So if we want to see cheaper, healthier products we need to see more of them for sale?
No, I think it’s more about prioritising how many products you need. The problem is that people are buying too many things. Then you realise that ac- tually most of what you need you can make yourself from ingredients that cost nothing. Buying my laundry detergent is exponentially more expensive than making it yourself. So if the price is too much for you, I suggest going online and looking around, looking up how to make it yourself. It’s not a dif cult product to make: it’s 3 ingredients. People don’t buy sustainable products if the price is too high – even if I think that’s a really bad reason. However, it’s so easy to make these products yourself for a lot less than it costs to buy any product. My toothpaste costs me 30 cents, there is nowhere anywhere that you can buy toothpaste for 30 cents.
Earth to Russel Brand
extract from Page 16 -17, letters to the editor verity no.1
Among the many types of addiction problems in our society, one of the most prominent forms is the addiction to pain. You can wrap it up in as many other names as you like, pathology, consumerism, food, drugs, alcohol, sex, money, power, but it fundamentally boils down to giving and receiving pain. People appear to be addicted to the pain you can control. People love watching it in films, they love experiencing it if only to be then relieved from it. They like to inflict it on others too, the pangs of regret bring a strange sense of existential purpose. I believe in order to positively transform our world, in order to annihilate corruption and destructive self-serving behavior, we need to deeply understand the parasitic nature of everything. There is a fervent antipathetic symbiosis taking place that has taken place for centuries. People, sub-consciously or consciously are wired to think they can only succeed if others fail. Even if cannibalism is deemed illegal, we live in a society of flesh-eaters.
There needs to be an alternative way to express and manifest human dissatisfaction without the need to cause so much suffering. Indeed the Narcissistic nature of certain individuals who make it their live’s mission to find other people to nourish them and train others to do the same, makes it even harder to get out of the Ego-driven cycle. Sensitive, empathetic and emotionally responsive people tend to be wasted on mopping up the self-esteem issues of narcissists, when they could be busy saving the world.
Editorial: Batteries not included in this toilet
extract from Page 9, verity no.1
I FANTASISE ABOUT LEAFING THROUGH A SWEET SMELLING PAPER MAGAZINE, THAT I CAN CARESS MY FACE WITH, ROLL UP AND SLIP INTO MY BACK POCKET, WRITE A NUMBER ON AND MOST IMPORTANTLY RIP PHYSICAL PAGES OUT OF TO PIN UP ON MY BEDROOM WALL. IF THE PORTRAIT I’M PAINTING SEEMS OUT-DATED AND DANGEROUSLY LACED WITH NOSTALGIA, THEN YES, THIS USED TO BE A TYPICAL GIRL’S MONTHLY IN THE 1960’S THROUGH TO THE 90’S. AN ABSORBENT FLEXIBLE PAPER PAMPHLET GIVING GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN A COMMON SPACE WITH USEFUL ADVICE, ACCESSIBLE FASHION, READER’S CONTRIBUTIONS, PIN-UPS AND INTIMATE CONTENT. This century, magazines for girls are not half as fun, Clever, witty, or realistic. thought- provoking articles are often cast aside to favor dim-witted guides to buying, plucking and preening-squeezing women into yet another sexist stereotype. Here at Verity we don’t want to tell you about 50 ways to reach an Orgasm - as far as we’re concerned, if two people actually like each-other, it will probably work out just ne. We (the verity girls) would rather sit under a tree (if we can find one) and get lost in a world that inspires, stimulates, educates and amuses. We want to belong to a community of freethinking women without depending on a battery. The myth that online magazines and emails are better for the environment than paper is also about to be debunked. The fields of servers that host unlimited online content are silently devouring our fragile atmosphere and making it difficult to breathe. A lot of glossy magazines are just as allergenic. They make us feel inadequate when they should be the symbolic girl’s bathroom they claim to be. After all, we are all equal in front of the toilet bowl. The notion of Feminism has always been controversial - because the mere act of asking to be treated with equality somehow suggests having an inferiority complex. The word Feminist has become akin to a winey complaint. But it should be associated with something more relevant, necessary and ladylike. To put it plainly, it should be cool, not a “cause”, to be a woman.
Weather Girl
Fashion and Beauty : Let our cover girl inspire you, center , verity n°1
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