How can you personally participate?

Be responsible for the whole life of what you buy, from beginning to end

Rampant consumerism is not something that is forced on us, it is something that we choose.  Admittedly sellers have powerful tools to entice us to buy the ever-increasing list of what we just must have.  They are appeal to our love of the new, the exciting, the desire to keep up with the Jones, to be noticed, to have status, to feel special and reward ourselves.  Shopping can be highly addictive.

But, if we buy a pair of expensive runners that are made out of lots of synthetic materials which cannot be recycled; have to be replaced in a year’s time when fashions change; and are made in a sweat shop in a developing country where desperate workers slave away for long hours in atrocious conditions to produce huge profits for producers and investors; then we have to recognise that we are part of the problem.

Care for the possessions you have

Try to get the longest life you can out of your possessions.  Look after them, mend them, revitalise them.  They are valuable ways of helping the planet.  See them as beloved workhorses that are all you need despite the swanky models coming on the market.  It also helps if when you do buy possessions you buy things that you love, are long lasting, and contribute to your well-being.  You can make do with fewer possessions, people did in the past, people in less well-off countries do now.  Happiness is actually independent of the number of possessions you own once you have met your basic needs to live a healthy and productive life.

Buy preloved items

There are lots of places that you can buy and sell preloved items or just give them away to a deserving home.  Some items are virtually brand new. As well as helping the planet this also saves you heaps of money and if you look after the items you can recycle then on.  You have to use your imaginations sometimes and think laterally.  For example, do you need a complete 8-piece dinner service, or can you mix and match crockery that you buy at Op Shops and have a lot of fun in the process?  You can repurpose items that you find in Op Shops to fill a useful purpose in your place.  You can also be part of the barter economy, swapping what you don’t need for something somebody else wants to exchange. The other approach is to share possessions. Does every household need a lawn mower for example.  Do we all have to go to work alone in our cars or can we have a ride share system. 

Practice Hedonistic Frugalism 

Spend less, buy less, preserve more, live more modestly but still live a good life. You don’t have to live like Scrouge to live with less.  In fact frugalism can be liberating. Possessions cost a lot of money, and it takes time to earn the money to pay for them.  If you borrow a lot of money to have your dream house built from scratch for example, then your options for how you live your life are limited.  Imagine selling your dream home and buying a more modest dwelling.  You may have money left over, you may have less debt, you may be able to work less.  You would then have more quality time to spend with friends and family and doing the things you love.  Time is the most precious commodity we have and in our relentless pursuit of more and more wealth we are squandering it.

The book The Art of Frugal Hedonism, a guide to spending less while enjoying more; by Annie Raser-Rowland with Adam Grubb, is highly recommended! It talks about how we approach feeling good, what effects our spending, how to change habits to have a life in which you have less things, but which is richer and more enjoyable.