I’ve been frustrated lately. While the planet continues to warm up way too fast for comfort, that slow burn of climate change has been shoved to the back of most of our minds as our world’s so-called leaders make takeover threats and commit human rights violations so egregious that the headlines are starting to feel like dystopian fiction.

(Feel free to jump right to the T-shirts if you don’t feel like following my meandering thoughts…)

Sitting here in my life, raising a kid, socializing in my community, writing a novel, and trying to get healthy (non-US) groceries into the fridge, I was beginning to lose faith in the sustainable step model. A few of us buy local while Donald Trump wreaks havoc on everything from social justice to climate change? How could we possibly win?

And then Mark Carney delivered that inspired speech at Davos that reminded me of the power of the less powerful.

The collective power.

The whole philosophy behind Sustainable Steps is that we build as we go. We add a new eco-forward habit here, maybe show up for a rally there, bring a friend in when we can, make sure we vote for a sustainable future with our wallets and at the ballot box, and keep growing the movement until creating a world that works becomes the expectation of the many, not the pipe dream of the few.

Carney’s speech heartened me. The enthusiastic response from all around the world shows that maybe the movement to create a fair and workable world order has grown more momentum than we realize. Maybe the Trumps and the Putins of the world are shouting so loud that it’s not obvious that our daily sustainable steps are doing any good. And maybe that’s fine. Maybe they won’t see us coming.

But we have to keep building. Reducing consumption, buying local, showing up to vote, inviting our friends and building the movement until we simply overwhelm the dictating dinosaurs with our numbers.

Which comes back to the T-shirts…

(Again, feel free to skip the reading and go right to Etsy.)

I’ve been designing shirts with messaging I want to wear.

There are lots of shirts out there with messages like “Save the Planet,” “Keep Earth Chill,” and “Be Kind to Your Mother (Earth).” That is awesome – everyone who designs, buys, and wears a shirt like that is already part of the movement – and the fact that there are a lot of these messages out there is a very good sign.

But I want the T-shirts I wear to get more specific. How can we keep Earth chill?

I see it as a combination of small daily steps and big policy changes.

It was important to me to source ethical fabrics. One of the cornerstones of sustainable development is fair treatment of workers throughout the world, so all of the blank t-shirts I work with have accreditation for both good eco practices and fair treatment of workers up and down their supply chain.

I want the fashion to be fun. I’m making clothes I want to wear, and that my daughter wants to wear. We know we can put something up in our shop when we stop saying, “How can I change this?” and instead say, “Hmm, which colour do I want?”

I want the messages to be hopeful, and easy to digest. I went dark with a couple – and probably will again – but the goal of this exercise is to lift people up and out of climate anxiety, and into a mindset of “What can I do to be part of the solution, in a way that works for my life?”

The Designs

I’m still in the honeymoon stage of the creative fugue, where ideas are coming faster than I have time to create them.

For now, I have the shop arranged into a few different sections:

Evolving Business Model

I’m on a continual hunt for new shirts that are sustainable, feel and look nice, and that I can offer at prices that work for most families. For now, I’m happy with both Bella + Canvas and Gildan (a brand that has made sustainable leaps in the past couple years). I’m not using any heather colours, because they mix in polyester (which is nasty for the ecosystem when you wash it). But in both cases, their solid colours are pure cotton, and ethically sourced.

If you see a design you’d like on a different shape or size of shirt, let me know. (It’s easy to chop and change since everything is printed on demand.) You can email me at: robinspano at gmail dot com.

All prices include shipping in Canada, and GST/HST. (Some provinces add their own PST.) Because shipping costs me less per item when items are grouped, I’m offering volume discounts (15% off) when someone buys three or more items.

I might change this – if the sticker shock of seeing the full price with tax and shipping included is too much of a deterrent. But for now, as my wise little niece counseled, “I think you should do things differently. Just say the real price, so people know what they’re paying upfront.”

Come join me on those mean streets, spreading subversive messages of hope, and looking great for the battle. (Here’s the shop link one more time.)