Posted on February 25th, 2009 by Diana in Responsible Buying
Despite the media attention, reading the books and the articles, learning about it in school and having a best friend who is truly an environmentalist at heart, I am guilty of being a consumption-holic. I am conscious of the fact that a) I already have a lot of stuff and b) I don’t need anything else but I still find myself buying a lot of items that I justify with these reasons:
- It’s cheap, I should stock up in case I need it in the future,
- It’s so pretty, having this will make me just a little bit more happy and confident (I know I’m already happy and confident, but now I can be just this much happier and this much more confident), and
- This is so innovative and practical, this will be more useful than what I have now.
I am a true shop-o-holic but I thought I got a little smarter. Every time I am faced with the decision to buy something, I hold it and think about how badly I need it and what I already have that is similar or could use in place of it. I weigh things out and sometime I will hold the item and walk around it in the store while I look at other things. Sometimes if I’m really undecided, I will leave the store without it and see if I still think about it later. This has been quite a hard practice for me but I had been doing pretty good and held off a lot of purchases but I think I'm relapsing.
I’ve run into the trouble lately of finding a lot of things that are on sale, look good on me, are very innovative or all of the above and I just want it all. Impulsive buying was something that I thought was in the past for me. I have to confess now that I just bought a new flat screen TV on impulse. My intention for going to Best Buy was actually to just pick up a movie. Mind you, this is my first TV and I now intend to move out by summer so it’s kind of justified. If you knew me well though, you would know that I don’t watch cable/satellite TV and rarely do I get the occasion to pop in a DVD. Still, I think it was a good purchase and it’s there for me to enjoy whenever I want. I could almost say the same about for my car.
My problem I think is that I enjoy doing a lot of various activities that require different things. In 2008 alone, I picked up snowboarding, yoga, soccer, ultimate frisbee, ceramic painting, and dance. This year already and it’s only February, I’ve picked up swimming and Spanish lessons. I also don’t have just one style in clothes, I have about a million and they all reflect who I am. I don’t know if you’ve guessed it yet, but I’m a Gemini characterized by multiple personalities. Since it’s hard to change someone’s personality I think it’s hard to change what I consume. I am still going to make a conscious effort to think about what I’m buying because I love the environment and I love my best friend the environmentalist. I agree with the problems that consumption poses for us and I don’t like how I’m contributing to those problems but I have a personal problem that is misaligned. One of these days, I might stop my hobby of taking up new hobbies but hey, at least I gave being an environmentalist a try.
A video to watch: http://www.storyofstuff.com/
If I can’t change, maybe I can get one of you to.
Comment made on February 27th, 2009 at 2:15 pm by Derek McBurneysadsa
..but your post depresses me. I don't think you have to stop trying new hobbies to be environmentally friendly. I'm like you, I like to try a LOT of things, but I don't think that's irresponsible of me. I've bought soccer equipment, loads of camping and hiking gear, ski equipment, badminton and squash rackets , etc., but they're investments. They're reusable. I plan to use a lot of the equipment I've purchased for a long long time. If you make informed choices and invest in some good equipment, it will last longer, and chances are you won't be tempted to replace it the next year.
You can always sell or give away stuff when you are looking to get something new. I've probably bought more than my share of computers, but I've always managed to find a new home for them. Infact I haven't thrown out a single piece of technology, I've always managed to give it away to someone else. Same goes for clothes, I usually get sick of them before I destroy them, so I always donate them.
Now, we are driving the forces of consumption, but if we are smart and responsible about it I think we can make a difference.
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