This is not a spinning video. Rather, is a craftivism project about climate change. In the video I use spinning as a means to reflect over climate change and my own carbon footprint. This is I choose to stay on the ground.
Reduce, reuse recycle and respect
I try to live my life in a way that is as resourceful as possible. Reduce, reuse, recycle and respect are words that influence everything I do. Bike riding, car pooling, growing our own vegetables, eating less meat, cutting down on plastic etc. These are all things that have become a way of living. It doesn’t feel like a sacrifice and I wouldn’t want to go back to the way we lived our lives before.
My husband and I have also decided not to fly. We take the train to visit my family in Austria. Choosing to stay on the ground is an important step we have taken to reduce our family’s carbon footprint.
Spinning and climate change?
Where does spinning fit in and what does it have to do with climate change, you may ask. Well, there are several ways I find that spinning plays a part in my effort to reduce my carbon emissions. First of all, making garments and textiles from wool that I have bought locally and spun myself is an important part of reducing my carbon footprint. This is an important part of my videos, especially the documentary videos like Slow fashion and Slow fashion 2. Spinning your own yarn is in itself sustainable, especially when you use (local) wool that is such a versatile material.
Secondly, the act of spinning also generates feelings of love, mindfulness and kindness. I try to express this in last year’s documentary video For the love of spinning. I like to think that I spread these feelings in my videos. I get lots of comments from my followers about how the videos have helped them find peace and a sense of grounding.
Thirdly, spinning – or any other craft – lets me reflect on a deeper level over what I do and what I experience while I am crafting. These reflections in turn influence what I do and the decisions I make. To remind me of these reflections I have the yarn, with all the gentle thoughts spun right into it.
A craftivist approach
I’m not telling you all this to be a miss goody two-shoes. Climate change is too important to me to care about the appearance of things. The climate can’t wait, we have to make drastic changes in our daily lives, now.
I choose to stay on the ground combines my concern for climate change with the power of spinning, or crafting in general. I have been investigating craftivism and read an excellent book, How to be a craftivist: The art of gentle protest, by Sarah Corbett. The book is a kind of manifesto for a kind of activism that is beautiful, kind and fair in a world we want to make just that – beautiful, kind and fair.
I do have quite a large group of followers and I’m taking advantage of that when I’m releasing his video. This means that I use you all for spreading a video that has an urgent message.
A call to action
The video is divided into two parts. The first part is my own experience from a three day train journey through Europe to visit family in Austria. I spin and reflect over climate change and why I choose to stay on the ground. The second part is a call to action. I invite you, the viewer, to take part in this craftivist project. I have chosen five questions about climate change that I would like you to reflect over while you craft in public transportation. I also ask you to share your thoughts (and the video!) under the hashtag #crafterthoughts and #ichoosetostayontheground.
Making the video
The scene is a three day train journey from Stockholm, Sweden to Salzburg, Austria. I shot about 150 small clips from the train and narrowed them down to fit in a five minute video.
The train ride obviously took a lot of time. Frustrating sometimes, yes, but mostly surprisingly pleasant. We sat together for three days, talking, playing games, reading, napping. Some of us were spinning. Just being in each other’s presence brought us closer together on both physical and mental levels. It felt so good to just be together.
There are no actual shots of my husband and children in the video, but if you look closely, you can see clues of their participation. In the beginning for example you can see them on the station with our suitcases. Also, you can see them on a hiking trip when we have arrived in Austria. And, of course, Dan has helped me with some of the video shooting.
Tools I use in the video:
- Supported spindle from Malcolm Fielding
- Magnetic spinning bowl from John Rizzi
- French spindle from NiddyNoddyUK
- Turkish spindle (Lark model) from Jenkins yarn tools
With that said, go and share that video. And happy spinning!
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I live in the country, outside a small town in the USA, where public transportation is not an option. And I typically do not travel, though the last time I did, to meet my marathon-running daughter and part of her family when she was in Boston for that run earlier this year, I DID go by ground, on public transportation (Greyhound bus) and I DID spin much of the trip (suspended spindle). In Boston, we used Uber to transport the 4 of us when we were going too far to walk, and again I spun (twiddle spindle) in the crowded back seat of the hired cars. That was this spring, though, well before your challenge.
Back on the farm, I try to go to town only once a week in our old farm truck. Sometimes it doesn’t happen, thanks to being old and having more medical visits than possibly most young folks, but I do my best to combine my trips to buy staple foods we do not produce, feed for the animals, and other sundries when we have an appointment that requires a trip.
Yes, it takes a lot of planning to travel and transport in a sustainable way. But once you have the awareness of the impact transportation has on carbon emission and what you can do to reduce it you can’t not think about it. Hopefully there will be better legislation against fossil fuel to the benefit of non-fossil fuel so that we can transport ourselves in a more sustainable way.