What are the staggering costs we have to pay for the benefits of mass consumption? - But the costs have also been staggering. Economic inequality and wars over non-renewable resources have killed untold numbers. The steep increase in products in recent decades has accelerated pollutant emissions, deforestation and climate breakdown. It has depleted water supplies and contributed to the rapid extinction of animals. There are vast “garbage patches” floating across the world’s oceans, with infinite bits of microplastics working their way into food webs. Even if we accept the positives of mass consumption to date, we must acknowledge that the situation is unsustainable. And yet, we can’t seem to stop ourselves., What examples of minimalist households did the author draw inspiration from for the changes in his life? - At the start of 2021, my wife, our daughter and I sat down for a family meeting to see if we could restrain our household’s consumption. I had been drawing inspiration from a range of so-called minimalists and wanted to give it a try. I had investigated the likes of Lauren Singer, who lived a “zero-waste lifestyle” in Brooklyn, limiting her trash of eight years to so few items that they could fit in a single mason jar. I’d read about a family of four in Los Angeles who had given up all plastics. I had learned about Lara Joanna Jarvis, a mother of two in Hampshire, England, who didn’t buy anything for a year and saved £25,000., If you were to try out a slow-buy year (only buying 5 things a year), what approved items would not be counted toward those 5? - (your answer), Are there any apps in Russia that allow people to borrow, trade or give away things? - (your answer), Do you agree with the idea that in today’s world anyone can consume anything, and thus be turned into the person they want to be? - (your answer), “The items brought into the household were a way of showing thought and concern about the needs of the people in it. In this way, shopping is a means to express care – an act of love.” What can you say about this? - (your answer), How did the author end up feeling about their minimalism efforts? And his wife? - While these arguments against minimalism – particularly in its most extreme forms – struck me as worryingly true, I also reflected on how much, by at least trying it, I learned about myself, my family’s needs, my relationship with things. When I asked my wife about these critiques, she explained how our slow-buy phase made her pause before each purchase, to ask herself if she really needed the item, or if there was some other way to obtain it. She was less stressed during holidays and birthdays because she knew she didn’t have to worry about what to buy. And it made her consider how, just because a person has the ability to buy something doesn’t mean she should. For her, minimalism isn’t faux spiritualism, but a real contentment and reframing of what brings true joy., According to Marcus Eriksen, who is primarily responsible for solving the environmental crisis? - Eriksen believes the primary responsibility for solving the environmental crisis belongs to businesses and governments. Those who produce materials, and those responsible for overseeing it, can act at the scale necessary for real change., What can and already are governments implementing to mitigate the environmental crisis? - Governments can pass laws that ban certain materials or products, and moderate planned obsolescence – for example, in the US, proposed right to repair legislation would support far more gadgets being repaired instead of replaced. In 2020, France passed an anti-waste law that compelled makers of smartphones, washing machines, televisions, laptops and lawnmowers to list their products on a “repairability index”, and banned companies destroying unsold items. Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania have all banned single-use plastic bags, and Kenya recently outlawed all single-use plastics, along with glass and silverware, in national parks. Legislation in Chile will ban all single-use food and beverage products by 2025. “There is also the zero-waste city model,” Eriksen said. “We especially see this movement in emerging markets that don’t have space for landfills or funds for incinerators.” This strategy involves creating a workforce built around waste sorting, recycling and composting.,

Article Discussion on Overconsumption and the Environment C1+

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