Beyond Consumerism
A famous (or infamous) president said to his country's people after the fatal September 11 attacks on New York City: 'Go out and shop!' We hardly need such incentives or excuses: many people do like to shop. Some even consider shopping a hobby. The trouble is that all too often we buy things that are not really necessary and are a result of impulse-shopping or pure... well, dare I say it, vanity and trying to keep-up-with-the-Jones'. Cutting back on the things you think you need is not easy but there may be some areas where even a die-hard shopaholic can reduce his or her impact.
The so-called '3 Rs' do not mean, replace, redress, rejoice but refer to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
You can start reducing your environmental impact by changing some of your daily habits, for example the following:
- Bring your own mug for all those trips to the coffee-shop for your daily caffeine habit. Thermo-mugs come in all shapes, sizes, colours and price ranges. Even though you will need to wash your mug regularly, you will be lowering the need for production and disposal of paper, plastic, or Styrofoam cups and plastic lids.
- To stay rehydrated after all that coffee or tea, get into the habit of filling your own reusable, safe water bottle with tap water at home and taking it with you. Most cities in Canada and the United States (and other Western countries) have safe, drinkable tap water and buying into the bottled-water fad is a bad choice for the environment and your cash flow. (See details on "Bottled Water versus Tap Water" under NUTRITION).
- For your office lunches, food on-the-go, or your children's school snacks use reusable lunch-boxes and drink containers. You can find any size to fit your needs and it means you can pack foods that stay fresh and don't require individual wrapping in shrink-wrap, aluminum foil, or a brown bag. This also means you can avoid buying prepared foods and snacks in single-serve packaging; these are very wasteful in terms of packaging materials. Whenever you can, buy your groceries in larger quantities, as long as there is no risk of food spoilage and therefore unnecessary waste, or buy loose foods from a bulk food store. And don't forget to bring your own reusable shopping bags or boxes.
- Shop at smaller, local stores. Big-box stores take away a huge amount of business from local shops, often forcing them to close down. By supporting individually owned, small businesses you're supporting the local economy instead of buying mass-produced items from a country on the other side of the globe (not that it's a bad thing to support another country's economy but you live here, don't you?).
Get into the habit that when you have bought something new (or used) you make room for it by getting rid of something else. Donate or sell your gently used items to somebody less fortunate, who would be happy to reuse them. There are many places that will take not only clothing, CDs, books, and computes but also furniture, home installations, flooring, and construction materials. Check your local Yellow Pages or do an Internet search to find appropriate local businesses or charities, for example Freecycle.
(See more under HEALTHY LIVING - Home Improvements)
A very good educational yet fun video about materialism and over-consumption is an animation called 'The Story of Stuff'.
You can watch the individual sections or the whole video (20 minutes). It's well worth it, and your children would like it too! Go to Story of stuff.
