'Being the alternative' while 'living within capitalism' creates stresses. It is a contradiction. What is the answer?
This is a question that is continually on my mind, and maybe yours as well. We want to do things better, do things differently, be earth and people-friendly with our clothing. But how? We live in a capitalist system and we have to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. We are complicit in supporting the capitalist system with our pocetbooks even while we are trying to live the alternative.
We are not the only ones struggling with this. I was just contacted by the maker of this website. What do you think? Is a new monetary system the answer? And if it is, how can we make it work for regenerative fashion?
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I think reinventing financial systems is an essential part of enabling commoning. While I'm having a hard time grasping the vision Common Planet is putting forward, it's good to widen the conversation and I know there are many interesting small scale alternative currency and mutual credit projects out there already (maybe there's a parallel there to the fragmentation of non-industrial fashion). David Bollier also has done some deep thinking on "commons-based alternatives" to the current financial system that is worth a read – https://commonsstrategies.org/democratic-money-and-capital-for-the-commons-2/