I’ve always thought Temu was mostly junk. My wife actually ordered a few things recently, kids’ colouring books and early reading stuff and I was genuinely surprised, the quality wasn’t bad.
That said, the sheer amount of plastic in the world drives me insane. Personally, I think plastic pollution is a bigger and more visible issue than climate change.
If you’ve ever been to the Maldives, you’ll know what I mean. The resort islands look pristine, but go to Malé (the main island) it’s surrounded by floating plastic and rubbish. In a country whose GDP depends on selling an image of untouched marine life and beaches. Same story in Sri Lanka. It does my head in every time.
And that’s the uncomfortable truth: to live the way we do in first-world countries, we accept that a lot of what we consume is made cheaply by exploiting people in developing countries. Zara clothes made in Bangladesh but labelled “European made” because the tag is sewn on in Zaragoza, Spain. Victoria’s Secret — same story.
There’s a massive disconnect between what we say we care about and how we actually consume!!