The Curse of Consumerism

—

by

James Walters
in
The Curse of Consumerism hurting climate change

Here we look at; What I Mean by Consumerism; Is There a Better Way (That Also Helps Climate Change)?; and One Idea to Break The Buying Habit. This is one of over 40 ideas in our Sustainability Roadmap with Solutions to Climate Change, and part of our series on Living Sustainably.

If you already know that you want to consume less and waste less, here are some ways to get inspired:

  1. Work Smarter Live Better*
  2. The Minimalists
  3. Insight Timer

If you want some more facts before making any decisions, let’s get into the details:

This piece is a bit abstract.

Not what I usually create.

I’m going to get into a lot of detail with this topic.

But, not yet.

This one is meant only to float an idea.

To spark some thought.

I’m a minimalist.

Does that mean anything to you?

To me it means living with what I need.

Just the essentials.

Not living in poverty but living a meaningful life where everything I own and everything I do has meaning.

I also do my best to live in a way that’s good for people and planet.

I try my best to make decisions that are not selfish.

Decisions that don’t harm others and don’t harm our planet.

After all, I have a 7 year old son so it’s in my interest to consider how to improve the world, even after I’m gone…

Ideally, I’m trying to improve my life, the lives of my family and friends, and the lives of people that I don’t even know; by living a purposeful life based on a regenerative approach where I give back more than I take.

What I Mean by Consumerism

When I say consumerism I mean buying whatever we want, whenever we want, with no thought to the negative impact to the planet, in a way that ultimately makes us unhappy, uncontented, and harms the planet.

In another piece I covered Buying Used Instead of Buying New so for this piece I wanted to clarify what I meant and give a bit more information to explain From Buying Whenever to Consuming and Wasting Less in the Sustainability Roadmap.

Buying used is a good option because it reduces the amount of new materials and pollution associated with creating new things.

But, just because I can buy used, it doesn’t mean I keep buying what I want, whenever I want because that still leads to too much stuff at home, stuff I don’t use, stuff that gather dust, stuff that creates noise and distractions, stuff that creates clutter.

What I want to do is to own only the things that I need, that I use regularly. Enough stuff so I can do the things I want to do.

I heard a crazy stat on the amazing The Minimalists private podcast on Patreon, the episode called Shopaholics Anonymous, here’s the stat:

WHAT!

Isn’t that consumerism gone mad?

I checked it out and saw the same stat on the Boston Globe website in an article from 2012.

I also heard that the average child in the USA has 300 toys but plays with only 12!

WHAT THE!?

I couldn’t find that stat but I did come across an article from The Telegraph in 2010 that said 10-year-olds have £7,000 worth of toys but play with just £330 worth.

I can understand that.

We didn’t always live a minimalist life.

Just this year we had a BIG DECLUTTER at home.

We gave away TONS of things to charity, even though we’d always ‘tried’ to be good, and haven’t had lots of money in the first place.

It was upsetting going through everything that we owned and seeing so much ‘stuff’.

Is There a Better Way (That Also Helps Climate Change)?

Yes.

If you want it.

But, you need to want it first.

You need to have the desire to find a better way.

Otherwise, you’ll do the ‘10 things to declutter your home’ (that’s just a made up name, but it probably exists), and a month later you’ll be re-cluttering…

On my journey, I have found a way to live a more meaningful life at the same time as reducing my impact on the planet, helping climate change, and improving my life.

For me, this has been a long journey.

It’s a journey I will always be on.

It will never end because life always evolves.

But I do certainly feel more enlightened, and I’m comfortable with always searching for better ways to live, better ways to be present in my own life, better ways to absorb life and be hungry to know more.

There have been tons of things I’ve heard and watched and read and experienced.

There’s no one thing that took me on this journey, however, there are four things that stand-out, and I thought they could offer some inspiration to others:

A Comment About Retirement

I was talking to somebody that I used to work with.

We were talking about working lots of hours and weekends.

He’s older than me so he’s had a few more life experiences.

He made a comment that has stuck with me for years, and has inspired me to find ways to prioritise life.

His comment was:

That comment was like BANG, a slap in the face with a reality check.

I hope it offers some inspiration to others.

Work Smarter: Live Better by Cyril Peupion

Thanks to my amazing friend Leona, who gave me this book a few years ago, reading this book was a real milestone for me.

For years I had prioritised work.

Prioritised work over family and friends.

I’ve worked a LOT of hours.

Lots of 16-hour days.

Working until 2am.

Working evenings and weekends.

Working during holidays.

Waking up at 3am and not being able to go back to sleep because of the whitenoise in my head, thinking and worrying about work.

Being so mentally consumed by work that even when I’m at home and not in-front of the laptop, I was thinking and worrying about work, not paying attention to life.

This book was groundbreaking, for me, because it helped me to question the status quo.

It got me to question my personal priorities.

It got me working better. More efficiently.

It helped me to start prioritising my life. Prioritising what is genuinely important to me.

Find Work Smarter: Live Better Here on Amazon*

The Minimalists Podcast

My first experience with these guys was their documentary on Netflix, Minimalism.

That really got me thinking about the important things in life.

About living a better life, with less.

Then I started listening to The Minimalists podcast during the first lockdown.

Wow.

It was like a weekly personal therapy session, for free.

I was so moved and inspired that I signed-up for their private podcasts on Patreon.

A lot of what they talk about is not accepting the status quo. Tuning out of the adverts, the pressure, the manipulation of consumerism.

Learn More About The Minimalists

Mindfulness

I need my brain so I can live. To exist.

I also need my brain to think and feel and talk and move and, well, everything.

But until recently, I hadn’t looked after my brain.

I’d taken lots of training courses, always wanting to learn new things and better myself. But I hadn’t given my brain some love. I hadn’t given my brain some time to relax. I hadn’t learnt how to handle feelings and emotions and stress and anger and frustration.

10-minutes a day of mindfulness is a huge part of my life.

I can feel the benefits of mindfulness in my day to day. I’m less volatile. I’m more considerate. I’m more thoughtful.

I’m far from perfect, I still always make mistakes, and I will always be on this journey, but I feel a lot better for mindfulness.

It’s helped me a lot to be present in my own life…

Check Out Mindfulness with Insight Timer

One Idea to Break The Buying Habit

I try to follow the £1 / 1-minute rule (inspired by The Minimalists 30/30 rule):

  1. To help avoid impulse buys
  2. For every £1 that something costs
  3. Think about it for 1-minute before buying

That’s it for now. It’s a big topic that I’ll come back to again.

I hope that was enough to spark some thought and give some inspiration.

Here Is What You Can Do

Want to Continue Your Journey?

Where Next?

There is so much inspiring information to give you ideas of how to help climate change by growing, eating, and living sustainably, you can:

  1. Read Our Articles
  2. Sign-Up to Our Free Email Newsletter
  3. Get Started and Vote with Your Money
  4. Try the Sustainability Roadmap
  5. Use the Company Directory
  6. Support Nafford Junction

Help Us Inspire Others

If you are passionate about helping climate change, please consider supporting Nafford Junction, you can:

  1. Become a Patron to Give Regular Contributions
  2. Buy Me a Coffee to Make a One-Off Contribution
  3. Create for Us and Publish Thought Provoking Content
  4. Become an Inspiring Leader and Advertise with Us
  5. Go to NaffordJunction.co.uk/support

Sources Used to Create This

  1. Work Smarter Live Better*
  2. Buy Used Instead of Buying New
  3. Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things
  4. The Minimalists
  5. The Minimalists are creating a private podcast
  6. Clear the clutter; get rid of unneeded toys
  7. Ten-year-olds have £7,000 worth of toys but play with just £330
  8. Insight Timer

Production Notes

This was produced by me, James Walters, as a personal project to help stop climate change by inspiring others to grow, eat, and live sustainably.

Any advice given is the opinion of those involved and does not constitute medical, financial, or legal advice.

* We include links we think you will find useful. If you buy through those links, we may earn a small commission. It’s one way to support our work and to inspire as many people as possible.