Student Life October 2019

INSPIRING
PEOPLE
BY THOMAS HEATHWAITE
Do you ever find yourselves
wondering where something
came from? Do you ever stop
and take a moment to press
pause and think…? Do you ever
think about the social, economic
or environmental impacts of
what you buy, wear or use?
To begin with, I want you to ask yourself
what don’t you like about what you recently
bought? It could be anything maybe it’s the
culture it creates (for example, Nike is known
to have a negative impact on culture with its
“just do it” slogan). Or maybe, it’s the brand
that you’re buying from; the lack of fair pay
that workers get (the case with Amazon, and
many other large transnational companies
like Coca-Cola etc). Or maybe it’s the type of
environmental impact it has or how it hurts
you to say it will go to landfill (for example
buying plastic bottles), to name but a few.
Yours could be focused on the dislikes of that
moment – what do you buy, wear or eat now
that you don’t like? Do a bit of research and
find out what you buy now and what you’d
like to change.
Once you’ve thought about what you dislike
about what you bought – change it! For
example, if you bought a plastic bottle
recently you could instead use a flask when
you’re out. Or, socially, if you dislike what the
brand represents (personally I don’t like how
Amazon treat their workers) then don’t buy
from them again. Each change is something
small, but it all adds up and helps to create
a better place. For example, by not buying
from Amazon, I’m actively saying, “I don’t like
it” and if everyone did that, then they would
have to change their principles and how they
treat people. A positive impact!
Although, when viewing the world as it is, we
might think, what with all the atrocities of the
modern world, “that this is not the world we
had in mind”, but with these changes we can
actively reverse this trend – one small step at
a time! (quote is from a line of a song called
“Different World” by Sofia Carson)
I’ll leave you with this extract of a poem
I just wrote.
We may have made a world
that we don’t like,
But it doesn’t mean we
can’t change it,
For, we can all try to find a small
solution to a small problem,
And create a better world,
all together
No, it’s not easy, but we can
reverse our demons
And reverse our mistakes,
If we act now, and only if we act now.
78 • OCTOBER 2019 • STUDENT LIFE