Planet Unwasted's Mission, Vision, Values, Beliefs, and Goals

Mission

Planet Unwasted is dedicated to raising awareness of waste issues while reducing waste through paper crafting.

Vision

I want Planet Unwasted to be a community of people who want to take action for the environment in small ways. Crafting waste into beauty is one way we contribute, but it is not the only way.

We are a community dedicated to thinking about the impacts our actions have on the environment, on society, and on our own lives, and on everything in between. 

I don't see Planet Unwasted stopping at paper crafts. I see other types of crafts in the future, and probably some collaborations with other makers.

Values

Most people have a plethora of values. Some are conscious, some are subconscious, and some may be not even realized. I am no different, but I do want to mention a few of the values that I hold most dear for both myself and Planet Unwasted. 

Although it is just me running the show at Planet Unwasted, I will use the collective “we” to refer to the community as a whole, as these are values I want the community to share.

First are the more obvious values, like honesty, integrity, and intention. 

But what I'm really interested in talking about today are some less often invoked values. I call these my Re-3 Values: Reason, Respect, and Responsibility. 

The order is important. They are in the order from most common to least common. Reason is losing popularity, but it is still more common than respect, and respect, though it is not nearly as common as it should be, is more common than responsibility, which is alarmingly rare.

So, what is reason? Reason is the ability to think logically. If A, then B, therefore C, and the like. I think you know what I mean. 

Respect usually means being treated with dignity and how you would want to be treated. If you like being treated poorly, the latter part of that statement doesn't apply.

But respect applies to more than just people. It applies to other living and even non-living things as well. I'll explain more about this in other articles, but this is a really important part of Planet Unwasted's philosophy. 

Responsibility is the act of owning your part in any outcome. If you make a decision, right or wrong, and it leads to or contributes to a particular outcome, good or bad, then you are responsible for that outcome. 

There are times when you are responsible for something even when you didn't make a decision. For example, you are responsible for yourself even if you experience something that wasn't your fault, like an illness. It is up to you to seek treatment, pay for treatment, and plan for this possibility in advance. You can even decide in advance that you don't want treatment at all.

You are also responsible for the care and decisions of your children until they become adults. You may not agree with the decisions they make, but you are still responsible for them, at least in part.

Most of the responsibility that I discuss here on Planet Unwasted is that in which a decision is made. That is all we can control directly. 

The Re-3 Values are especially important in environmentalism and sustainability. If you can't think logically, there is little hope that you can accomplish anything. If you don't respect the Planet and the people on it, why would you care? And if you can't accept some level of responsibility for yourself and your actions, then there is no way you can take pride in acting for the good.

Beliefs

We believe that waste is, for the most part, unnecessary. We believe that “one man's trash is another man's treasure;” one industry's trash can be another industry's treasure.

We believe in a circular economy.  One in which materials can be reused and recycled routinely. It begins with how products are made, which will enter into some discussions, but is not the part of the cycle that we are most focused on. 

We believe that change must happen at all levels, but without change at the levels of governments and businesses, individual efforts will never be enough.

We all need to do our part.

Goals

1. To raise awareness of waste issues. 

2. To promote creativity through paper crafting. 

3. To promote thinking about actions and the impacts they will have at scales beyond the individual. 

4. To have fun.