I've been consuming for all of my adult life to the point that my accumulation has now become a stressor as I consider how best to downsize and what to do with all of the accumulated "treasures" that have made my life more than comfortable and satisfying. The joy, the curse, and the shame of plenty. I do not consider myself a victim of Madison Avenue's successes, but I wish I had been more thoughtful about the subtle and not so subtle messages that are incessantly hammered into us. I may not be able to change the world, but I can begin by changing me. I only hope that it is not too late for those we love and for those we will never know, yet deserving of a better world then we seem capable of managing or leaving to them.
Thanks for teaching the term "ecological overshoot." As someone who lives in a house with three consumers, I feel like I have a very SOBER (maybe even cynical) take on what it will take to get people to consume less. I wish I felt more hopeful. Makes me think about "affluenza" - an old term and an old film, that was trying to sound this alarm back in the 90s. I wonder what the most successful anti-consumerism efforts/campaigns have been over the last 30 years?
And thanks for the delight of the underground tree!
UGH, that news about the climate impact of the U.S./Israel attacks on Gaza are so intense, and not something I'd thought about at all. I wonder if that information has any chance of reaching the hearts and minds of people who somehow don't feel moved by the massive loss of Palestinian life and home?
I've been consuming for all of my adult life to the point that my accumulation has now become a stressor as I consider how best to downsize and what to do with all of the accumulated "treasures" that have made my life more than comfortable and satisfying. The joy, the curse, and the shame of plenty. I do not consider myself a victim of Madison Avenue's successes, but I wish I had been more thoughtful about the subtle and not so subtle messages that are incessantly hammered into us. I may not be able to change the world, but I can begin by changing me. I only hope that it is not too late for those we love and for those we will never know, yet deserving of a better world then we seem capable of managing or leaving to them.
Thanks for teaching the term "ecological overshoot." As someone who lives in a house with three consumers, I feel like I have a very SOBER (maybe even cynical) take on what it will take to get people to consume less. I wish I felt more hopeful. Makes me think about "affluenza" - an old term and an old film, that was trying to sound this alarm back in the 90s. I wonder what the most successful anti-consumerism efforts/campaigns have been over the last 30 years?
And thanks for the delight of the underground tree!
UGH, that news about the climate impact of the U.S./Israel attacks on Gaza are so intense, and not something I'd thought about at all. I wonder if that information has any chance of reaching the hearts and minds of people who somehow don't feel moved by the massive loss of Palestinian life and home?