I’ve seen a fair bit of discussion about excessive consumption from older generations, but what are some habits you got from your parents that fit with anti-consumption?

Here are some of mine:

• Reusing gift bags, bows, and tissue paper. Also keeping the scraps from gift wrap because you never know when you might need to wrap a gift for which the scrap is a perfect size.

• Fixing rips in clothes or repurposing to rags after they’re “too far gone.”

• Wearing out what you have already before buying a replacement.

• Investing in quality things that will last, not what is cheap or flashy or “cool” at the time.

I just did something I’m very proud of. I have somewhat of an addiction to YouTube Shorts, but to be quite honest I’m in a low spot right now and am not sure what else to do. Well, this gorgeous influencer comes across my feed for probably the 50th time, and I like her sense of style. I had followed for her a while in the past but had unfollowed for a reason I forgot. I follow her again. After a few more videos of her go by, I realize how absurd the amount of clothes she buys is. While hauls upon hauls isn’t necessarily out of the ordinary for a person whose job consists of them posting about fashion (even if it is wasteful), she had over two dozen Halloween costumes last year. I don’t think she rented them, either- I was floored when I saw that video. I unfollowed her. I don’t need to be watching that, it’s just going to make me sad- about what I don’t have, about all the waste she’s causing, about all the people who watch this and think it’s normal to have more articles of clothing than there are days in a year. I wish more people with large (mostly preteen, teenage) followings were more conscious of what they posted. She has over half a million subscribers, on YouTube alone…

Literally, solar energy and wind energy are free and unlimited sources of energy. Capturing that energy takes a little bit of work and effort, but it does not involve tearing up the earth, oil spills, causing earthquakes, and the burning of which will kill the planet.

There is absolutely no excuse not to transition to green energy as soon as possible

The super-rich continue to squander humanity's chances with their lavish lifestyles, polluting stock portfolios and pernicious political influence. This is theft—pure and simple.

Hey yall as promised I would try to post landfill finds. These are some I found this week. I've found a Disney mono rail, Vintage Mickey phone, a blue glass jar (filled with loose change I've found in the last 9 months or so), glass jugs, an air plane propeller, and a lightly used rock tumbler. These are just the items I've saved for myself (yes I bleach) I didn't have time to take pictures of everything I've put in the reuse this week. Dvds, home decor, records, end tables, etc. I also did find a nice Bose cd player this week, sounds incredible, but left that at the shop. Anyways, I'll try to post weekly of awesome finds. (It's the slow season so things aren't as good)

Each month my kids get a Kiwi Box subscription. I know, not very anti-consumption, BUT it’s an ongoing gift from a grandparent and a better alternative to junky toys and whatever else. At least their having an experience and learning something first?

This is what I did with one of the boxes. Admittedly, it’s typically not this elaborate. I usually just cut off the top and use the box to organize closets and miscellaneous around the house.

I used scissors, a box blade, a pen, and hot glue to assemble. The curves for the handle bit were traced from the flaps on the box top, no fancy foot work on my end.

You can see the caddy in use here fas my embroidery basket. I also used some of those scrap pieces to create a spool for loose threads. For those, when I cut out the shape I let the horizontal cuts go a bit further into the body, if you will, so that the ends of the threads stayed secure.

Shiner keg. Just ended up w it and not a gen sure how long is been in my garage. I do not want it any longer. I’m in Texas

Using pilling for lack of a better word - I bought this coat around a year ago from a secondhand shop and it’s served me well until recently.

These white bits of fluff keep reappearing on my jacket. It’s not lint, and I haven’t manhandled the coat or put it in a washing machine or anything.

They go away for a few days and my coat looks normal if I pull them out, but they eventually return. There aren’t any visible holes in the sleeves/armpit area.

Is my only option to sew up the holes individually/get another jacket/look scruffy forever? Thanks!

my mother is the kind of person that feels she isn't giving enough - every time someone's birthday or Christmas comes around, she stresses about whether we (my siblings and I) have "enough gifts" or if our feelings will be hurt receiving something cheap/small.

There's no way I could convince her to buy less, or to buy anything too "cheap" (last Christmas she said I was really hard to shop for, because she thought I was joking about most of the things I wanted...), but if I don't ask for anything specific (or if I ask for something that's too difficult to get), she'll buy stuff that I don't want instead - I know this makes me sound ungrateful, but I have so much stuff sitting around that I don't have a place for and can't get rid of without feeling guilty because it was a gift.

What sort of gifts are good to ask for in this situation?

I’ve been making fleece beanies for a food pantry program I volunteer with for homeless and low income. Most of the fleece is purchased from thrift/second hand stores. Have leftover scraps, didn’t know what to do with them. Finally came up with a bright idea, doggie pillows! What do you guys think?

Christmas just passed and if you’re anything like me, you’ve found yourself sitting on a pile of stuff from your family once again. My own family shops from temu a lot which makes my heart cry, but I do believe they have good intentions.

We just really don’t want things like mugs, novelty decor, desk calendars, posters, etc.

How do you (or have you?) have the talk with your family about wanting a “no stuff” kinda life/holiday?

Thanks in advance!

Saw a post in this subreddit, I believe, about how every toothbrush you have used still exists in a landfill somewhere. That really struck me and I’ve been thinking about it since I saw that post.

I was aware (or so I thought) about the general horrific amounts of waste our society produces … but this subreddit has opened my eyes further.

I’ve always been on board that we as a society produce too much worthless shit, useless decorations and knick-knacks that people give as thoughtless & impersonal & unwelcomed gifts.

I go to any store now and am disgusted by all the plastic stuff I see. Big Lots and Michael’s, as two recent examples for me; an endless sea of plastic storage bins in various sizes and colors. Polyester clothing, acrylic yarn skeins.

But the toothbrushes brought it home on a personal level somehow.

I don’t know if this post has a point. I guess, I just want to say thank you for existing as a community and the discourse.

Just that. Will see me through another winter now.

If so, how do you feel about it? Are you making plans to do something differently for work? And, how are you preparing for the probable income loss from going in a more ethical direction?

I’m currently looking for ways to improve soundproofing our house from noises outside, as well as between rooms. I’ve looked online and found some great suggestions, but most of them involve major purchases or “filling” rooms with items to absorb the sound.

While I’d eventually like to make some long term changes (proper double glazing to windows and better sealing on doors etc), I’m wondering if there’s something I can do with items I already have at home and may have overlooked, or things I can thrift and maybe upcycle.

A couple of things I’m working on now:

•attaching old stained/torn rags to the back a couple of painting canvases I have and hanging those up

•hanging the one decorative quilt I have to a wall

Any tips or advice welcome!

The most difficult part for me is not ordering takeaway. I just love the food too much but it is crippling my and my husbands finances to the point that we can easily spend close to 250€ a month.

Anyone struggled with this? What helped you?

Food and meal delivery services are increasingly popular these days, and they all use tons of plastic. What could replace plastic for food packaging, yet not great a larger carbon footprint?

You can watch it here

It's a 2009 movie where a digital archive worker browses through data and interviews up to 2010 about the climate. It's 2055, London is flooded, Sydney and the Amazon are burning, Las Vegas is swallowed by the desert, the Alps are snowless, and nuclear war had destroyed India; civilization and the biosphere collapsed. The world warmed at 4°C above preindustrial average. He asks "why didn't we save ourselves when we had the chance?".

It includes news reports as well as interviews. Interviewed people include George Monbiot, Mark Lynas, as well as the oldest tourist guide in the Alps who witnessed the changes in the climate in the Alps and society (more on that in a second), Jeh Wadia, who established an Indian low cost airline GoAir, a doctor in Nigeria who's region was ravaged by the oil industry, a Shell employee who's home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, a family of refugees fleeing the imperialist invasion of Iraq by the US, and a wind energy developer in the UK facing backlash from rural NIMBYs.

It also includes clips about how the oil industry and its obscene profits impact politics, society and the biosphere, how humans always fought for resources (and how it stayed that way with oil and the rising consumerist expectations of the working class), how consumerism and capitalism destroy us and the planet, and a solution known as C&C (Contraction and Convergence), where each country would be allocated an emissions and resources quota corresponding to their current level and then reduce them to equal levels, with the Global North starting to slash its emissions and the Global South doing it slowly and later to lift people out of poverty and develop themselves.

This movie goes beyond "saving le planet", it actually looks to the root of the issue: capitalism, colonialism and imperialism.

It takes about how ridiculous consumerism is (the Alps tourist guide talks about being "invaded by cars, and later by trucks" with the Mont Blanc tunnel and its expansions), how capitalism is unsustainable and disastrous not just for the planet, but for most people too, and about the horrors of colonialism, imperialism and wars

My best quotes are "Capitalism's only goal is ever expanding growth, but ever expanding growth on the just one, not expanding planet, is impossible. The current economic system is disastrous not just for the planet, but for most people too. 400 years of capitalism have allowed the richest 1% to take 40% of the world's wealth, leaving just 1% for the poorest half. But anyone wanting to live differently is thwarted at every time. With profit the only measuring stick, destroying the planet is written into the system, and runaway climate change is a not very surprising result", "The emissions from Nigerian gas flares are 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, more than 10 million homes [...] because they have the money and they are big companies, they can just do whatever they like", "why are US cities designed so that it's almost impossible not to have a car? [...] Why was the same PR firm employed by the tobacco industry to persuade the public that smoking is healthy, then employed by the oil industry to convince us there is still doubt about climate change? [...] Because right from the early days of the industry, the oilmen and their obscene profits have had an unhealthy relationship with the people running our country [the US] and now, they are the people running our country", "Human history is littered with corpses of people who had stuff worth stealing [...] as cheap, energy, slaves were unbeatable, until a less troublesome energy source was discovered, and a new era began [...] and with each person wanting more and more stuff, oil became THE resource worth fighting for, all around the world", "Skiing in the desert, heating the air, lighting empty offices. Energy is so ridiculously cheap, it makes perfect economic sense to just piss it away. [...] Western companies pay Chinese workers crap wages to make crap plastic toys [...] People drive to the out of town store in their gas guzzlers, plastic toy in a plastic box goes into plastic bag, a day later, the toy is broken, and back it goes to a Chinese landfill, where it goes for hmm, 50 thousand years? [...]".

5 DOLLARS A CUP - 1400 CUPS TO GET TO 7000 DOLLARS - OH I FORGOT THE BEANS !! . who are they kidding with this ridiculous "making at home for 7000$"

dough flour a tiny amount of oil and hands to mix costs pennies and you dont have to clean a machine :))

what is the cost of the cartridge? soda stream lasts a long time - you can make at home and use a reusable bottle . what are they trying to solve with a cartridge.

yes we need to eat 3000$ worth of ice cream - oh I forgot - even with the machine I have to buy ingredients. May be its cheaper to buy ice cream or even better cut down on junk food

has anyone ever seen these make a meaningful difference in usage - I can see the instant pot - that is useful and not this junk for 500$$ why cant you grow herbs in small containers indoors - why do you need this ?

planet fitness 10$ a month - you can get 30 years of subscription and more equipment :))

I use this retractable lanyard all the time at work. When I dropped it on the floor, it popped open and the spring unwound. So I grabbed a pair of needlenose pliers and wound it back myself. Good as new!

Food Inc 2 came out last April but I saw this week it's now available for Free in Canada on CBCs Youtube Doc Channel. It tackles how broken our food supplies are due to capitalism and overconsumption (and how the pandemic revealed a lot more issues).

Here's a link to the free CBCDocs link, unsure if it works abroad but it's also avail on other streamers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToWTxhYkrKk

Have you watched it? Did it illuminate anything new for you? I was struck by how many more calories are being produced than humans need and how so much of that goes to waste. And it was a good reminder of how exploitative so much of the food supply is on labourers.

My hoodie has a broken letter on the zipper. It’s supposed to be a J in a gothic font but looks more like an upside down L to me. I’m thinking if this can be fixed somehow or should I just let it be? It doesn’t bother me much from an aesthetic standpoint, but it’s a bit sharp and I worry it can get caught on some other clothing even in the washer.