What is conscious consumption

By focusing on our actions, you can see how many things we do out of habit, as if we have no choice or as if “it will be fine.” At the same time, a conscious approach to everything that is bought, used and thrown away can change the privacy of modern citizens and the state of the planet as a whole for the better. If unproductive spending is not your goal, it’s good to think about ways to avoid them.

How “fast fashion” forces you to buy too much

Until the 20th century, fashion was “slow”: dresses and suits were made to order by tailors, fabrics were expensive. However, with the advent of factory production and ready-made dress stores, the opposite problem arose: overproduction. Now every resident of developed countries can go to a store and buy a cheap polyester sweater that may only be worn once. This is fast fashion — “fast fashion”, which causes random purchases to accumulate dead weight in closets and then go to the trash. In Hong Kong alone, 1,400 t-shirts are thrown away every minute.

At the same time, huge amounts of water are spent on clothing production. According to Greenpeace, a shirt consumes 2,700 litres, which is what a person consumes in 900 days on average. When dyeing fabrics, many harmful substances are used. For example, fluorinated compounds (PPS), heavy metals, and solvents. All this ends up in rivers, polluting drinking water. The problem is particularly acute for Southeast Asian countries, where many factories are located.

Every year, the world produces 400 billion square meters of fabric, of which 60 billion are simply thrown away or burned. The same fate awaits unsold items. What customers do take home in bags with popular brand names also does not last long. But only a quarter of textile waste is recycled.

Despite the fact that the fashion industry is expensive for the planet, this state of affairs is supported by all market participants.

Manufacturers are trying to sell as much as possible. Mass market collections are replaced several times a season. Each time, a new marketing campaign proves that these are the things you can’t do without. Brands create an artificial buzz by limiting collections: hurry up to buy it, otherwise you won’t get these things! And the same thing happens next season.

Shoppers want the quick pleasure that impulse shopping brings. A short euphoria ends in regrets when you get bored with what you have learned. This gives the feeling of “the closet is full and there is nothing to wear”. As American economic theorist John Galbraith noted, in a consumer society, purchases are made under the influence of emotions.

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According to Katherine Ormerod, author of How Social Media Is Ruining Your Life, social media makes people spend money they don’t actually have. At the same time, buying inexpensive clothes created according to the principles of “fast fashion” is not so profitable. In an effort to reduce prices and translate quality into quantity, mass market manufacturers use the cheapest materials. Such clothes quickly lose their shape, become covered with pellets and deteriorate after washing, and the customer returns to the store for a new one.

Another way to make production cheaper is to pay workers less and not provide them with decent working conditions. Understanding that clothes from mass brands like H&M and Zara are made by people forced to work without fans and in emergency buildings for $100 a month slightly changes the way we look at the fashion industry. Garment workers are on strike in Bangladesh right now. The main requirement is to improve working conditions.

What to do

It is better to buy a more expensive wardrobe item, but from high-quality materials. Instead of buying an inexpensive trendy item, get an interesting second-hand wardrobe item for the same amount — there you can find well-known brands with high-quality tailoring.

Instead of mass-market shoes that are losing their decent appearance by next season, buy a more expensive pair that will last a long time and pay off next year.

Don’t throw annoying clothes in the trash. It’s better to have a dress sharing party. Items can also be taken to a thrift store: “The Shop of Joy” and “BlagoBoutique” in Moscow, “Thank you” in St. Petersburg, “Obnimir” in Obninsk, “So Simple” in Cherepovets.

Give yourself a challenge or join an existing one. In the West, the no-buy movement, supported by fashion bloggers, is gaining momentum. The point is not to buy new clothes and cosmetics for at least a year. Instead of showing new purchases, participants talk about how they manage their old ones or plan a budget and choose the products they need most.

How edibles are sent to the trash

Overproduction of food is another significant problem that wastes a lot of human labor and land resources. Much of the food we buy in supermarkets is simply wasted. Both half-eaten meals and food that never made it from the packages to the plates fly from the refrigerators into the trash can. Moreover, a lot of store products are thrown away before meeting the customer: those that have reached or are about to expire, batches with packaging defects. And this is not to mention the huge waste from food production.

According to a report by the UN’s FAO (the UN’s agricultural branch of work), about 40% of all food produced in the US is wasted. On average, about a third of all food is wasted worldwide — about 1.3 billion tons per year. According to the Federal State Statistics Service, an average of 25% of purchased fruits, 15% of canned meat and 20% of potatoes and flour are thrown away in Russia.

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At the same time, resources are distributed unevenly. About 1 billion people in the world are hungry — and this is happening in the 21st century. Residents of more prosperous countries don’t even have to deny themselves anything to help them. It would be enough to simply reduce waste by half, the UN notes. Due to overproduction of food, a huge amount of other valuable resources is also being wasted: water, land, and energy. And all this in order, for example, to grow fruit that customers send to the trash can and stores send to trash cans.

A careful approach to shopping in supermarkets, storing and preparing food will help not only save the planet’s resources, but also save money.

What to do

Do not neglect products that do not lose in quality, but look slightly worse than others: asymmetrical and “ugly” fruits, packages with broken labels. It is these products that will be the first to be thrown away by the supermarket. Recently, the Prizma chain of stores launched a campaign in support of lonely bananas, hanging posters explaining that such fruits are no different from others (customers rarely take bananas torn from a bunch).

Start sharing and sharing. Do not rush to throw away expired boxes of cereals and porridges — it’s better to place an ad in one of the many “Give it away” groups on social networks or post it on Avito. There you can also borrow something for yourself or change.

Review the approach to expiration dates. They are exhibited by the manufacturer based on its own research, and, according to Russian GOST, after the expiration date, the product is considered unsafe. However, it does not necessarily become harmful on the same day — it makes sense to pay attention to the smell and appearance. Non-perishable foods may still be quite edible. In addition, some things can be saved by recycling. For example, make cottage cheese from milk.

Buy and cook just as much as you need. If you’re not going on an expedition and the store is in the house next door, it’s better to be unhappy than to be on the lookout.

How electricity and water are used

Fossil fuel power plants deplete non-renewable natural resources: gas, oil, and coal. In addition, the use of such fuel causes the production of a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. The Earth’s temperature has continued to rise, especially since 1980, when each of the past three decades was warmer than the last. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this is largely due to human activities.

The operation of power plants also harms our health, which can already be seen today. For example, in the Chinese province of Heibei, coal burning stations cause 75% of premature deaths within one year. Such air pollution leads to an increase in lung cancer, childhood asthma and chronic bronchial diseases. Of course, no one is ready to completely abandon electricity yet. However, even devices in standby mode that are simply plugged into an outlet consume electricity. Therefore, reasonable consumption of resources is also an opportunity to significantly reduce utility bills.

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The way water resources are used is no better. It would seem that the world’s oceans are vast, and there is more water on the planet than land. Nevertheless, more than 40% of humanity suffers from a shortage of clean drinking water. Its absence and unsanitary conditions are the cause of high child mortality in developing countries, where up to 1.5 million children under five years of age die from infectious diseases each year in the poorest regions. At the same time, in countries where residents are able to freely use water, 1 liter flows out of one tap per minute. And this is when we, for example, are brushing our teeth or are just distracted by something.

What to do

Turn off lights in rooms where you are not. Sometimes you can get by with natural light, especially if you hang light curtains. It makes sense to buy energy-saving light bulbs that last 7-8 times longer than incandescent lamps.

Replace old electrical appliances that consume a lot of energy with more economical ones (again, choosing responsibly — let the device be durable). Do not use equipment in vain: the less time the refrigerator is open, the better, and fill the washing machine and dishwasher completely. By the way, this will help save on detergents and cleaning products.

To save water, place water-saving showerheads and faucets. You can find them on Aliexpress for 200-300 rubles. You can also buy a toilet with different drainage modes — more abundant or economical.

Reuse water after washing fruits and other items that are not particularly dirty. For example, for watering flowers (of course, if detergents were not used).

How we produce garbage and what happens to it next

Almost every day we take a bag of garbage to the trash bin and say goodbye to it forever. But the existence of waste doesn’t end there. They go to landfills that pollute water bodies and literally prevent residents of neighboring areas from breathing out, or turn into hazardous smoke from incinerators.

In Russia alone, 70 million tons of household waste are generated per year — 10 times the weight of the Cheops pyramid. When you look at the statistics, it seems that the human economy is a huge mechanism that processes natural resources into toxic substances. And this is despite the fact that very few things even have time to serve properly. 80% of all goods are thrown away within the first six months after they are produced.

greenpeace.org

The most advanced way to handle garbage is recycling. This will reduce landfills and save resources for the production of new things. To start recycling, separate garbage collection is required, which has already been introduced by many countries from Japan to Sweden. However, in Russia, such initiatives remain private due to the lack of consolidation of such practices at the state level. In 2014, out of 71 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW), only 7.5% were used in household circulation; the rest was buried at landfills.

The most radical project, Zero Waste, offers a lifestyle in which people do not produce garbage at all. According to the movement’s ideologists, it is not so difficult to give up everything superfluous, reduce consumption, reuse things, recycle and compost. Of course, a completely waste-free life in a metropolis is a difficult task, but you can start small: make sure that there is less garbage and sorted. This will help the environment, facilitate the work of public services and make it possible to go to the trash less often.

What to do

Try sorting trash at home. In particular, the Prostodivision.rf project explains how to do this. It is quite possible to achieve separate garbage collection in your home. You can do the same with office junk. To find out where recycling points are located, use the Recyclemap map.

Don’t use plastic bags. According to forecasts, by 2050, there will be more bags in the world’s oceans than fish. You can get a canvas bag or use an old-school string bag that is suitable for large products. At the checkout, when the seller starts putting each purchase in a plastic bag, discard that either.

Choose items with the least amount of packaging, as well as larger packs instead of small ones. Don’t buy bottled water. A good filter usually solves problems with cleaning tap water. If it still raises doubts, cool the boiled one.

Carry a water bottle and cutlery with you to avoid using disposable ones.

Dispose of hazardous waste properly. Some stores and public spaces have battery collection points.

Who needs awareness and why

Consumer awareness is not a problem for those who do not have even the most basic necessities. However, if any surpluses are generated, this is a reason to think about how they are spent.

Of course we can’t control everything. If you’re not Angelina Jolie, you can’t help African children directly. This means that you should not go to the opposite extreme and live with guilt. However, along with things beyond our control, there are some that we can personally influence. Even if it seems insignificant on a global scale.

The reasons for a conscious approach to consumption can be different: ethical, environmental, purely practical and even psychotherapeutic (rapid consumption and unbridled consumerism do not make people so happy). According to Marie Kondo, author of the book “Magical Cleaning”, a small amount of truly beloved and useful things brings much more joy and peace of mind than shelves full of vague rags and knick-knacks.

Whatever the motivation, a conscious approach is to stop for a second before you buy a product or use something and ask yourself: what consequences will this have for me and the world around me?

Source: https://lifehacker.ru/osoznannoe-potreblenie/

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