Shopping can also Protect the Environment
by Olivia Wang
This week we ushered in our first outdoor teaching this semester. This time the outdoor teaching location is the Hard-Off in Taoyuan. This is a second-hand store from Japan. People can take things that are not needed anymore to Hard-Off. Hard-Off will buy these items at a low price, and make these things that you no longer need to become someone’s treasure.
When you walk into Hard-Off, its storefront gives people a sense of clutter and disorganization. There are many kinds of things in it, including CDs, electric guitars, dummy models… I found a rabbit bag among the stuff in the store. which taught me a way to solve the entanglement when shopping. First, before you buy something, you can consider what value it has to you. such as “It will make you happy, look good, reduce your stress, keep warm, or it will reduce your work.” . Like this time when I was struggling whether to buy a bunny bag, the teacher suggested that I consider the value of this bag to me, and then I began to think “Will buying this bag make me happy? It can be used when I go out? Can I put all my stuff inside?”. Then I thought about many objects in the same way, and finally I thought that I actually didn’t need it. In this way, Not only did I save a fortune, but I also avoided buying a lot of things that I would never use after I bought it back.
Hard-Off is a store for people who like to buy things, people who want to sell stuff, because there are too many things in the house, or those who like to buy things but don’t want to spend too much money. Hard-Off provides a satisfying place where everyone needs it. Everyone comes to Hard-Off for different reasons, but they all can achieve their respective needs in Hard-Off. I think this is a very special thing. Hard-Off provides people with an opportunity to share resources, so that we can all obtain new value without creating new objects. and conform to people’s inertia to like the new and dislike the old. Hard-Off cleverly reuses the same objects, but makes them continue to create new value, so this has prompted a situation where all kinds of people can be satisfied in Hard-Off.
The concept of Hard-Off is the same as the concept of circular economy. What humans produce is actually enough for people to use, so if we can reuse these resources, then our harm to the environment will be much reduced. Some things we may not need, but if these things are placed in different places, then it may be a vital existence for someone or something.
Back to our title “Environmental protection while shopping”. When we're shopping, first think about the value of this shopping to you in your head, and measure whether it is worth it? so that you can maximize the value of each shopping, and at the same time weed out things you no longer need, cut off, discard, and leave. In order to achieve resource recycling. Even if you don't need it anymore, let it create new value for others, instead of letting it waste time and waste a lifetime in a certain corner of the world.
原來購物也可以做環保
by Olivia Wang
這禮拜我們迎來了這學期的第一次校外教學。這次校外教學的地點是桃園的Hard-Off，這是一家來自日本的二手商店，民眾可以將家裡用不到的東西帶去Hard-Off，Hard-Off會以低價收購這些物品，讓這些對你來說已經用不到的東西，變成某個人的寶物。
一走進Hard-Off，它的店面給人一種雜而不亂的感覺，裡面有著各式各樣的東西，有CD、電吉他、假人模特……。我在這滿屋子的東西裡找到了一個兔子的包包，這讓我學到了一個解決買東西時糾結的方法。首先，在買東西之前，你可以考慮一下這東西對你來說有什麼價值，像是「它會讓你開心、變好看、減少你的壓力、保暖又或者是會減少你的工作」之類的……。像我這次在糾結要不要買兔子包包的時候，老師建議我考慮一下這個包包對我的價值，然後我就開始思考「買這個包包會讓我開心嗎? 我出去玩的時候它可以裝得下我的東西嗎?」…..等等，接著我以同樣的方式思考了很多個物件，到最後想了想，結果就會發現我其實並不需要它，這樣一來，我不只省了一筆錢，也避免買了很多買回去後根本不會用的東西。
Hard-Off這家店為喜歡買東西的人、家裡東西多到沒地方放，所以想拿來賣掉的人，或者那些喜歡買東西但不想花太多錢的人，提供了一個可以滿足他們每個人需求的地方，每個人都因為不同的原因來到Hard-Off，但卻都能在Hard-Off實現他們各自的需求，我覺得這是一件很特別的事情。Hard-Off為人們提供了一個共享資源的機會，讓我們都能在不製造新物件的情況下去獲得新的價值，順應人們喜新厭舊的慣性，Hard-Off巧妙地重複運用相同的物件，但卻使它們不斷地創造新的價值，所以這就促使了各種不同的人都能在Hard-Off得到滿足的情況。
Hard-Off的概念和circular economy的概念是一樣的，我們所生產出來的東西其實已經夠用了，所以如果我們能重複地利用這些資源，那麼我們對環境的危害就會減少很多。有些東西我們或許並不需要，但是如果把這些東西放在不同的位置，那麼它對某個人或某件事來說可能會是至關重要的存在。
回到我們的標題「一邊購物一邊做環保」。在購物時，先在心中思考這次購物對你的價值為何，並衡量是否值得，讓自己每一次的購物都發揮最大的價值，同時也適時淘汰你已不需要的東西，進行斷、捨、離，以此達到資源循環。即使你已不再需要它了，也讓它再次為別人創造新的價值，而不是任它在世界的某一處角落裡虛度光陰、荒廢一生。