Personal Consumption Reflective Journal
The Assignment...
To create a reflective, digital, personal consumption journal in 2 parts:
Observe my personal consumption patterns for a 1-2 week period.
pay attention to marketing and how it is used to create desire for spending
Take action to shift my patterns of consumption
In any way that feels personally meaningful
Consumption
On the road, and at home.
The timing of this assignment was especially interesting for me because when I first read about it in September, I was in midst of 2.5 months of travel away from home.
This was possible because I am on a year of education leave to complete the course work for this MEd SCI program, and my husband is also able to do some of his work remotely. As we had not seen our families in over 2 years due to the pandemic, we decided it would be nice to spend some time with them during the fall in Cape Breton.
Thinking about my consumption while travelling was a unique experience I am thankful to have had, but it was also really important to me to honour the spirit of this assignment (and have it be more impactful to me in the long run) by waiting until I was back in Cambridge Bay to finalize my thoughts based on my daily life in my own home.
Part 1: Habits & Patterns
I decided to observe, reflect on, and frame my analysis around:
What I purchase and consume
the physical/digital resources, but also the why
Advertising
physical: there isn’t really any physical advertising in my daily life. People post things on the bulletin boards sometimes at the co-op or post office, but in a small town everyone knows what businesses exist and where they are so physical ads aren’t really necessary
digital: I am autistic and have a lot of sensory sensitivities that make it very difficult for me to multi-task. This means I don’t spend a lot of time of social media, I don’t listen to the radio, don’t watch a lot of tv, and when I do I stream it or mute commercials because those are all things I can't have on "in the background" if I'm trying to carry on a conversation or think.
Together, I think these two factors mean I likely am exposed to far less marketing than an average Canadian
Cultural considerations
because I am a settler living in an Inuit community, considering my privilege (and the responsibility that brings) is critical in all things
in thinking about my consumption, I tried to evaluate the ways in which my actions either:
support the anti-racist and reconciliation work of aligning with Inuit societal values, or
work to reinforce exploitative and colonial views of capitalism
Taking stock...
Areas of strength
remote living = few stores = almost no casual consumption
very little social pressure to consume in a place where 70% of households are food insecure (Burton, 2021) & many people don't have adequate housing. (Ritchot, 2021)
In fact, I feel the opposite effect. Seeing so many kids and people I care about struggle to meet basic needs from Maslow's hierarchy (Mulligan, 2018, p. 41) for food, shelter, clothing and period products that I feel like it makes me hyper-aware of my consumption
good at re-homing items we no longer need/want
bought a condo instead of a stand-alone house. This is collaborative consumption (Mulligan, 2018, p. 44)
don't own a car and walk everywhere daily
this is a conscious choice my husband and I have made towards voluntary simplicity, as explained in Mulligan (p. 43).
I chose not to have biological children.
many factors went into this decision, but a major consideration for us was the ethics of adding to the population
If this is not something you have considered before, the following may help provide a window into our thinking:
The couples rethinking kids because of climate change (Scheinman, 2019)
eat mostly vegetarian, mostly at home
except for country food, which is local and ethically and sustainably harvested
no fast fashion
own lots of long-lasting, reusable items
often made locally, by people we know. This allows us to act as customers instead of as consumers (Norris, 2011, p. 31)
often traditional clothing or jewellery or art - which works against cocooning and towards relocalization (Mulligan p. 44), both in a physical sense and a cultural sense
I do not participate in socially obligated gift-giving practices.
Room for growth
High Arctic remote living = LOTS of flying = massive carbon footprint
In Cambridge Bay it typically takes 2-3 flights just to get to our closest point of contact in the "South" (Edmonton)
all our power in town comes from diesel. Our condo building has no renewable energy plan to install solar or wind options
our home is much bigger than we need it to be for 2 people
we own a LOT of stuff
including a lot of specialty items (art/books/technology/Lego) that are not necessary
all items bought online are flown to us (again, huge carbon footprint)
we have a lot of duplication of items. My house is a prime example of what Lipovetsky calls the 'multi-equipped' home (Mulligan, 2018, p.35)
I own way more clothing/shoes than I need
most personal hygiene items we use come in plastic packaging
All produce and and food that can not last a full year on a shelf is flown in to us. There is no local production of food (only harvested country foods are local).
zero recycling in my community - we burn all our garbage
growing up, I did not have a lot. My family life way happy and my basic needs for food and shelter were met, but I was made fun of by my peers for everything from my clothing (hand-me-downs from cousins) to our house (a rental that was so small I did not have a bedroom until I was 13), to the car my parents drove.
This had a huge negative impact on my sense of self worth, and I still struggle with the desire to own "nice" (aka expensive) things
This means that many things I own are made in Canada, handcrafted, plastic free, last much longer than mass-produced consumer goods, and are meant to be repaired instead of discarded. (all things that are positive from a sustainability perspective)
BUT... I definitely use 'conspicuous consumption' (Norris, 2011, p. 28) not in quantity but in quality, to try and protect my inner child from past experiences that hurt me. I am aware of this, but it's a deep-seated wound I am still working to heal.
Cultural Considerations
I am so fortunate to live in a community (and a territory) with so many creative and skilled makers!
Buying clothing, jewelry, art or food locally, from real people I know instead of ordering things on-line helps support my community. As a settler living in Inuit Nunangat, this feels like a real act of reconciliation I can take. Not that I want this to be an ad for consumption. That would counter to the spirit of this assignment.
However... I am also well aware of the awesome power of social media as a vehicle for Indigenous people to re-claim cultural traditions and practices: both as a platform for sharing knowledge, but also as a way to earn money while working to revive culture.
One ray of sunshine in the cloud of the pandemic for me was the explosion of Indigenous TikTok.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, do yourself a favour and check out any one of these:
Indigenous TikTok is Transforming Cultural Knowledge. (Loyer, 2020)
“We’re not just relics of the past”: How #NativeTikTok is preserving Indigenous cultures and inspiring a younger generation. (Cohen, 2021)
Indigenous TikTok Creators You Should Follow Immediately. (Arenata, 2021)
Here are six Inuit artists/makers who make deadly stuff I have and love! Check them out.
Kalikuks (traditional Inuit shirt worn in summer) made by an amazingly talented former student of mine, with her mom and her sister
Made in Cambridge Bay/Yellowknife
Incredible beaded necklaces made by another amazingly talented former student in Cambridge Bay
Beaded jewelry made by an incredible young artist in Rankin Inlet
LGBTQ+ friendly work!🏳️🌈
Damien lives in Cambridge Bay but comes from a very artistic family in Gjoa Haven. Damien creates knives, carvings and jewelry using a variety of materials.
I can speak to the beauty and functionality of his knives especially – they are a joy to use!
Inuk designer making parkas mitts and headbands, originally from Rankin Inlet, now based in Iqaluit
Makes amazing and innovative jewelry, often incorporating pressed flowers from the land as well as bone and antler
Originally from Nunatsiavut (Northern Labrador), living in Ontario
Friendly settler to settler reminder: If you follow an Indigenous social media account and you learn from it, you can:
share their stuff (give others a chance to learn from them too!)
pay them*! (they may even make learning resources you can buy - courses or apps, or public speaking /facilitation- check out their bio and see!
check out who they follow and have fun as you go down an internet rabbit hole. 😉
References
Araneta, P. (2021, June 21). Indigenous TikTok Creators You Should Follow Immediately. FASHION Magazine. https://fashionmagazine.com/flare/celebrity/indigenous-tiktok-creators-2021/
Burton, S. (2021, June 1). Food Insecurity in Nunavut: An Ongoing Issue. Canada without Poverty. https://cwp-csp.ca/2021/06/food-insecurity-in-nunavut-an-ongoing-issue/
Cohen, L. (2021, January 28). “We’re not just relics of the past”: How #NativeTikTok is preserving Indigenous cultures and inspiring a younger generation. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nativetiktok-is-preserving-and-showcasing-indigenous-culture/
Loyer, J. (2020, April 23). Indigenous TikTok is Transforming Cultural Knowledge. Canadian Art. https://canadianart.ca/essays/indigenous-tiktok-is-transforming-cultural-knowledge/
Mulligan, M. (2018). Introduction to Sustainability (2nd ed). Routledge.
Norris, T. (2011). Consuming schools : commercialism and the end of politics. University Of Toronto Press.
Ritchot, M. (2021, March 25). Nunavut MP releases report on “deplorable” housing conditions. Nunatsiaq News. https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/nunavut-mp-releases-report-on-territorys-housing-crisis/
Scheinman, T. (2019). The couples rethinking kids because of climate change. Bbc.com; BBC Worklife. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190920-the-couples-reconsidering-kids-because-of-climate-change
Sovereignty & Sustainability in Nunavut
Guided by Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, Complicated by Colonization
The Assignment...
In this first assignment, we were tasked with creating a multimedia digital text to demonstrate our learning and further research related to the course material for this unit.
For this project, I was inspired by the interplay of 3 of our readings:
Decolonization is not a metaphor (Tuck & Yang, 2012
Returning to Netukulimk: Mi’kmaq cultural and spiritual connections with resource stewardship and self-governance (Prosper et al., 2011)
An introduction to sustainability: environmental, social and personal perspectives (2nd ed). (Mulligan, 2018).
In reading the Mulligan text, I was hit again and again by the feeling that I was reading an author that does not view Indigenous ways of knowing as equal in value to Western ways of knowing when he repeatedly made statements about things like the Bruntland Report introducing the “innovative ‘intergenerational equity’ principle” (Mulligan, 2018, p.15), and “In the history of human thought the concept of sustainability, as we know it today, emerged and spread quickly and it is important to keep that in mind whenever we worry about the apparent lack of progress in enacting its principles” (Mulligan, 2018, p.16).
I was yelling at my book. Which is a second edition (meaning Mulligan had ample chance to edit out Eurocentric statements like these). How can somebody who works in this field not know better than this? How can this type of colonial thinking still feel so evident in a field that should be led by Indigenous peoples?
I felt frustrated, and glad that we had other readings to centre Indigenous knowledge in a way our primary Mulligan text did not. This project was the result of those feelings, and my small attempt to ground myself in our work for this course from the perspective of the community I live in as I move forward in our learning.
So, for this project I chose to explore how Inuit concepts of sustainability and the on-going effects on colonization play out in Canada's only territory created by, and for a primarily Indigenous population.
Nunavut, "Our Land"
On April 1, 1999, the territory of Nunavut was born, the result of decades of hard work by Inuit demanding a right to self-governance in a territory of their own. Nunavut means "our land" in Inuktitut, and the creation of the territory represented a hopeful time for Inuit as an important step towards decolonization and sovereignty.
"with an 85% Inuit majority, it is Canada's first de facto experiment with Native self-government".
(CTV News, 2016, 1:15)
As Indigenous peoples all over Canada fight for their rights to self-governance and land stewardship, at the same time as they grapple with the on-going impacts of Canada's residential school system, Nunavut presents an interesting case study as Canada's first and only majority Indigenous province/territory.
Nunavut Settlement Area
From the Nunavut Draft Land Use Plan, July 2021
"The Nunavut Settlement Area... includes one-fifth of Canada’s land mass (some 2.1 million km2 of land and water) and is the largest jurisdiction in Canada, while also having the smallest population. There are fewer than 40,000 residents... living in 25 municipalities spread over three regions: the Qikiqtani, Kivalliq and Kitikmeot. All communities are accessible year-round only by air and seasonally by sea."
(Nunavut Planning Commission, 2012, p.2)
More than 20 years after the creation of our territory, Nunavut is still in the process of creating its own land use plan. When you consider the enormous size of the territory and the need to consult with each community on their own traditional lands and community knowledge, the magnitude of this task is evident.
Nunavut also contains mineral deposits in uranium, iron, gold and many other valuable non-renewable resources that have been largely undeveloped, given our extreme Arctic environment and lack of infrastructure and human resources in the territory. All of these factors combined make our development of a land use plan of critical importance as the climate warms and makes resource extraction more feasible in the Arctic generally.
The Nunavut Planning Commission just released a draft plan in July 2021, which will now go through more rounds of community consultations.
Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit
Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit encompasses all aspects of life in Nunavut. The 8 main Inuit Societal Values (shared by Inuit elders as the territory was formed) give guidance for how to live in ways that are respectful of Inuit traditions.
Avatittinnik Kamatsiarniq
is the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit principle of Environmental Stewardship. It emphasizes that Nunavummiut must show care and respect for the land, animals, and the environment. Living above the tree-line, in one of the harshest climates on Earth, Inuit survived by being resourceful and living sustainably with respect for the land.
Living with the Land
This video features Inuit explaining in their own words the importance of country food:
As a fundamental part of cultural identity
As a way to connect with the land in ways that are healthy for mind and body
As a necessity that helps feed Nunavummiut sustainably, given the high monetary, environmental, and physical costs of store bought food
Land Cannot be Owned
“In the process of settler colonialism, land is remade into property and human relationships to land are restricted to the relationship of the owner to his property” (Tuck & Yang, 2012, p. 5)
While Nunavut does not represent true decolonization as defined by 100% repatriation of Inuit lands to Inuit (there are still "Crown lands" and "Inuit Owned Lands" in the territory), land cannot be owned privately in Nunavut.
This represents a conscious choice made by Nunavummiut, evidenced most recently by a 2016 plebiscite where every one of our 25 communities voted against private land ownership.
This represents a very different way of thinking about the human relationship to land that is shared by many Indigenous peoples in the world, but it is also a response to fears that selling land could disenfranchise Inuit in their own territory, as settlers like myself often have greater economic means.
Inuit Data Collection, for Inuit
Too often, research done in the Arctic on the environment and sustainability is done by Southern researchers or institutions with their own goals and drivers that do not centre Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or that do not take the needs and wants of Inuit into account.
SIKU is an app/web platform that calls itself "The Indigenous Knowledge Social Network... Facilitating self-determination in research, education and stewardship for Indigenous communities."
I have many friends across Nunavut who use this app, and the data and connection it brings to hunters and other Inuit who use the land, but also to scientific research more broadly is an amazing example of why Inuit must be at the forefront of any sustainability initiatives or research on their traditional lands.
"We Do Not Consent"
Community
Inuit of Clyde River, under the leadership of mayor Jerry Natanine, took the National Energy Board to the Supreme Court of Canada to stop a proposed five-year seismic testing project set to run on Baffin Bay and the Davis Strait, in search of underwater oil and gas.
While they won that court battle and protected the marine wildlife on which they rely, it was not without the help of Greenpeace amplifying their voices worldwide.
As Jerry shared, even on their own homelands, in their own territory, Inuit of Clyde River felt
"We had no power, no authority." (Skura, 2016)
Challenges to Sustainability
- the lasting effects of colonization
While Avatittinnik Kamatsiarniq is a core value of Inuit, intragenerational equity (as defined by the Bruntland report of 1987), highlights the need for environmentally sustainably development, and considerations of the "triple bottom line" (Mulligan, 2018, p. 5)
of the environment, social needs and economics.
In Nunavut, we have many challenges yet to face in all 3 areas to reconcile life in settled communities with the values of Inuit in caring for the land.
Work to be done...
With respect to the environment: all 25 of our communities are still powered by diesel fuel (Mandel, 2021), and we burn our garbage - sometimes even creating an inextinguishable "dumpcano" (Purdy, 2014).
This may feel shocking to a Southern Canadian- it was for me when I first moved to Nunavut, and can still feel that way every time I see our dump on fire. But in truth, given the magnitude and urgency of the social issues faced by our population it is not even on my top 3 list of priorities for our territory, and I have all of my basic needs met in ways the average Nunavummiut does not.
With respect to society: Housing and food insecurity are realities for a majority of Nunavummiut. Without these two fundamental human rights met, and given the lasting impacts and intergenerational trauma caused by the residential school system (and Canada's lack of a mental health plan for Indigenous peoples affected by it), the suicide rate in Nunavut is between 5-40X the national average (Affleck et al., 2020). My community lost 3 of our precious youth to suicide in the 2020/2021 school year alone.
If reconciliation and sustainability are truly values of Canadians, we need to learn more about the First Peoples whose land we are on, recognize their right to sovereignty and then step up in the ways we are able, to support their leadership in creating a more sustainable Canada. As Albert Einstein famously said,
"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them"
It was, and continues to be, colonial, mechanistic ways of thinking about the Earth and our relationship to it that have created sustainability issues. We will not heal the Earth, or ourselves without Indigenous models of interdependence and systems thinking.
References
Affleck, W., Chachamovich, E., Chawky, N., Beauchamp, G., Turecki, G., & Séguin, M. (2020).
Suicide amongst the Inuit of Nunavut: An Exploration of Life Trajectories. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(6), 1812. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17061812
Bruntland, G. (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our
Common Future. Oxford University Press. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/5987our-common-future.pdf
Canada C3. (2017, September 14). Clyde River [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmYNuARczZs
Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment. [Indigenous People’s nutrition].
(2019, October 11). The Inuit and their Indigenous Foods [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReCQrz0-7n0
CTV News. (2019, May 21). Food insecurity in Nunavut getting worse federal despite aid:
report. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_oNwuo5xY8
CTV News. (2016, April 6). April 1, 1999: Nunavut becomes an official territory. [Video].
Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KKhzUNYqP0
Driscoll, K. (2020, August 31). Nunavut MP finds evidence of housing crisis. APTN National
News. https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/nunavut-mp-finds-evidence-of-housing-crisis/
Government of Nunavut. (n.d.). Inuit Qaijimajatuqangit [Brochure]. Government of Nunavut.
https://www.gov.nu.ca/sites/default/files/iq_brochure_draft_1.pdf
Mandel, C. (2021, August 30). Solar power in the Arctic? Iqaluit is giving it a go. Canada’s
National Observer. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/08/30/solar-power-in-the-arctic-iqaluit-nunavut
Mulligan, M. (2018). An introduction to sustainability: environmental, social and personal perspectives (2nd ed). Routledge.
Nunavut Planning Commission. (2021). Draft Nunavut Land Use Plan.
https://www.nunavut.ca/sites/default/files/2021_draft_nunavut_land_use_plan_english.pdf
Prosper, K., McMillan, L. J., Davis, A. A., & Moffitt, M. (2011). Returning to Netukulimk:
Mi’kmaq cultural and spiritual connections with resource stewardship and self-governance. International Indigenous Policy Journal, 2(4). https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2011.2.4.7
Purdy, C. [The Canadian Press]. (2014, September 16). Iqaluit’s long-smouldering ‘dumpcano’
garbage fire finally out. The Globe and Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/iqaluits-long-smouldering-dumpcano-garbage-fire-finally-out/article20620273/
Rogers, S. (2017, May 10). Nunavut communities deliver a resounding No to land sales. Nunatsiaq News. https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/65674nunavut_communities_offer_a_resounding_no_to_land_sales/
Siku. (2021). Siku. Retrieved September 21, 2021, from https://siku.org/
Skura, E. (2016, November 29). Celebrities, activists rally support for Nunavut hamlet's Supreme
Court case. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/celebrities-activists-seismic-testing-clyde-river-1.3871625
Tagalik, S. (2012). Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit: The role of Indigenous knowledge in supporting wellness in Inuit communities in Nunavut . Retrieved from National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health Publications: https://www.ccnsa-nccah.ca/docs/health/FS-InuitQaujimajatuqangitWellnessNunavut-Tagalik-EN.pdf
Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), pp. 1-40.