Earth and Body Friendly

‘Reduce, reuse and recycle’ is a mantra that almost anyone interested in helping the environment will know well. Recycling is all very well and good, but the process of recycling still uses resources. Reusing is a wonderful thing, as it negates the need to recycle. For me, though, I think reducing is the key.

I tend not to go to the shops. It’s probably, in part, a habit I developed from not having much disposable income, because when you go to the shops, you tend to spend money, even if you didn’t plan to. Having a five year old who is driven by every whim that takes him is another good reason to not go to the shops. The very design of shopping centres, especially the larger ones, are done in such a way as to make you spend money, and they are full of so many things that we simply don’t need.

Despite the fact that I’ve somehow collected so much ’stuff’ that I can’t find a place for it all in my new (smaller) house, I don’t actually have a lot of things that I don’t need. My son does. Most of them have been given to him for birthdays, for Christmas, or just to keep him amused on long car trips. The quality toys, built from materials that will last, I like. The junky ones—usually made from plastic—that break easily, or never work properly from the start, I’d prefer were never bought for him. Not only does buying those products support cheap labour and use up resources in an extremely wasteful way, but it almost always ends up in the bin, and therefore landfill, within weeks. (Or perhaps they should have been in the bin instead of being put into boxes to bring to my new place.) As well as collecting so much junk, it instills in him certain values that I don’t want him to have; mainly that of ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!’

And don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying that things for entertainment or amusement shouldn’t be purchased. Relaxation, ‘down time’, is just as important as shelter and food. ‘Play’ is a very important aspect of our lives which we require for our sanity.

From an environmental perspective, it makes sense to not buy so much. An easy way to start is by buying things in bulk where possible, or if not bulk, at least in larger jars or packets and avoiding single serves. It shocks me, on my rare trips to the supermarket, how much packaging is used for products all in the name of convenience. The other day, I came across a pack of eight pieces of sliced meat, served in four quite large plastic packages and then those four packages wrapped in more packaging to hold it all together. They were sold as ‘Sandwich Combo’s’ (including their incorrect use of the possessive apostrophe.) Are we really so useless that we can’t handle going to the deli to buy eight slices of meat, and then take one slice out of the fridge at a time to pack into a lunch? We’re being brainwashed into believing that convenience is what matters.

Convenience is being sold to us in huge amounts of packaging, making us believe that we can’t cope with doing things the ‘old fashioned’ way. It’s not only bad for the environment to buy such convenience, but it’s bad for our purses.

There’s so much we have that we don’t need. It clogs our air, our land, our houses, our lives, and our brains, stopping us from realising the value of people, instead of things. It makes us believe that we have to work harder and longer to pay for the all the things we think we need, causing us to lose focus on people and family. When you decide not to buy so much ’stuff’ you’re saving money and you’re enriching your life and the lives of those around you by instilling better values into your children and/or those who look to you as an example of a way to live.

Possibly related posts:

1. Limiting and reducing your use of plastic
2. Using technology for good instead of evil: eBooks
3. Buying second hand clothing
4. Guilt over environmental hostilities
5. Clothes swap parties