Voluntary Simplicity
Jun. 27th, 2011 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jakebeThe dragon and I had a pretty spirited debate about the best way for people to help the environment in their daily lives. The conversation had grown up around my long-standing (and often-thwarted) desire to be vegetarian, and Tube argued that it actually didn't do that much to stop the slaughter of innocent animals or actually mitigate any of the other harmful things attributed to our meat industry. From there, he went on to say that most of the things we do in the name of environmentalism actually doesn't do all that much.
It stung to hear that buying a Prius, shopping with reusable bags, getting local and/or organic produce and staying away from meat is questionable and misguided at best, more harmful at worst. It always rankles me when people say that well-meaning, environmentally-conscious people are wrong. Oh yeah, wise guy? Well, what the hell are you supposed to do instead? Where's the alternative that actually helps things the way we want to believe we're helping?
That's when Tube stopped me short. It's a simple thing, it turns out. You just need to stop buying so much shit.
When you think about it, so many of our problems could be solved this way. Are you in debt? Can't find a way to make your savings grow? Stop buying so much shit. Are you looking to lose weight? Learn to eat less food. (And in doing that, you'll quickly realize that the food you eat has to do *more* to get you through the day. That's when you get really interested in nutrition.) Worried about all of the trash we produce, the energy we consume, the rampant, crass materialism that our country is plagued by? Consume less. Consume less. Consume less.
This is a very simple idea that is monstrously difficult to put into action. In the United States we're pretty much capitalism in action. Our entire society runs, not just on making sure we buy things, but on making sure we buy MORE things than we did a year before. It's never enough to keep up with the Joneses at this point. In order to help our economy run, we have to outspend the Joneses -- and ourselves -- year over year.
Everything is geared towards getting us to buy things. Television ratings only matter because it's a guarantee of visibility for advertising campaigns. Movie theatres, websites, park and bus benches -- they're all flush with advertizing for products and services that get us to part with our money. And these ads always try to convince us that there's a need to spend the money, that we won't be happy or successful or reach our potential until we have it.
I don't want to go on a big anti-consumerist screed with this. I'm just saying that if you stop to think about it, the ultimate solution for many problems -- to learn to get by with less -- runs in direct counter-point to everything that's thrown at us. Even weight loss and environmental causes are about us buying this or getting that. And it's always up for debate whether or not these things actually help. Meanwhile, it's all but certain that consuming less will get you where you need to go.
So, thinking about it, I've decided that I'll start taking baby steps in the direction of consuming less. Before buying just about anything, I'll ask myself why I'm buying it. If I need it, I'll buy it. If I just want it, well...I might still buy it, but I'll examine what itch I'm trying to scratch and whether or not I can do that without having to spend money. And there'll be days -- like most of this week -- where I'll simply resolve not to spend any money at all. Perhaps for one week out of every month I'll aim for absolutely no spending. Which, honestly, is a lot harder than it sounds.
I've always been in love with the idea of simplicity and minimalism, and the aesthetic it points towards. You only buy what you need. What you do buy, you get with an eye towards making it last as long as possible. Your focus shifts from getting what's new to getting what's great. I love that idea, that you buy only a few things of lasting quality.
What this means for now is simply focusing on getting less stuff, and making sure what I have is enough to last me. Hopefully over the next few weeks I can go over my things, determine what's needed and start giving away all the rest. Nothing major mind you; just a few little jaunts here and there to get into the right mindset.
Of course, like most of my grandiose, high-concept ideas it'll be long, slow progress with infrequent updates. But this is the idea that I find most exciting today.
It stung to hear that buying a Prius, shopping with reusable bags, getting local and/or organic produce and staying away from meat is questionable and misguided at best, more harmful at worst. It always rankles me when people say that well-meaning, environmentally-conscious people are wrong. Oh yeah, wise guy? Well, what the hell are you supposed to do instead? Where's the alternative that actually helps things the way we want to believe we're helping?
That's when Tube stopped me short. It's a simple thing, it turns out. You just need to stop buying so much shit.
When you think about it, so many of our problems could be solved this way. Are you in debt? Can't find a way to make your savings grow? Stop buying so much shit. Are you looking to lose weight? Learn to eat less food. (And in doing that, you'll quickly realize that the food you eat has to do *more* to get you through the day. That's when you get really interested in nutrition.) Worried about all of the trash we produce, the energy we consume, the rampant, crass materialism that our country is plagued by? Consume less. Consume less. Consume less.
This is a very simple idea that is monstrously difficult to put into action. In the United States we're pretty much capitalism in action. Our entire society runs, not just on making sure we buy things, but on making sure we buy MORE things than we did a year before. It's never enough to keep up with the Joneses at this point. In order to help our economy run, we have to outspend the Joneses -- and ourselves -- year over year.
Everything is geared towards getting us to buy things. Television ratings only matter because it's a guarantee of visibility for advertising campaigns. Movie theatres, websites, park and bus benches -- they're all flush with advertizing for products and services that get us to part with our money. And these ads always try to convince us that there's a need to spend the money, that we won't be happy or successful or reach our potential until we have it.
I don't want to go on a big anti-consumerist screed with this. I'm just saying that if you stop to think about it, the ultimate solution for many problems -- to learn to get by with less -- runs in direct counter-point to everything that's thrown at us. Even weight loss and environmental causes are about us buying this or getting that. And it's always up for debate whether or not these things actually help. Meanwhile, it's all but certain that consuming less will get you where you need to go.
So, thinking about it, I've decided that I'll start taking baby steps in the direction of consuming less. Before buying just about anything, I'll ask myself why I'm buying it. If I need it, I'll buy it. If I just want it, well...I might still buy it, but I'll examine what itch I'm trying to scratch and whether or not I can do that without having to spend money. And there'll be days -- like most of this week -- where I'll simply resolve not to spend any money at all. Perhaps for one week out of every month I'll aim for absolutely no spending. Which, honestly, is a lot harder than it sounds.
I've always been in love with the idea of simplicity and minimalism, and the aesthetic it points towards. You only buy what you need. What you do buy, you get with an eye towards making it last as long as possible. Your focus shifts from getting what's new to getting what's great. I love that idea, that you buy only a few things of lasting quality.
What this means for now is simply focusing on getting less stuff, and making sure what I have is enough to last me. Hopefully over the next few weeks I can go over my things, determine what's needed and start giving away all the rest. Nothing major mind you; just a few little jaunts here and there to get into the right mindset.
Of course, like most of my grandiose, high-concept ideas it'll be long, slow progress with infrequent updates. But this is the idea that I find most exciting today.
