Reduce, reuse, recycle. This has become a familiar mantra, but they are not all of equal value to lessening our impact on the planet. Recycling is great to do and helps give more life to some materials such as paper, aluminum and some plastics, reducing our need to extract new raw materials. Even better is reusing items that have already been created and assembled, decreasing the need to replace them as frequently. Using environmental impact help guide our buying choices still results in acquiring more stuff. The most impactful is to reduce or refuse: if we just buy less stuff, we reduce up front the need to extract resources, burn fuel for shipping, create packaging that is thrown out as soon as we take it home, and deal with the waste that is produced throughout the life of the item, from its production to the point it is no longer useful. Take a hard look at your purchases. Ask yourself if it is something you really need. Think about where it will be a month later – will it still be useful? How about a year later? Will it just be adding to clutter in your house? Living with too much clutter creates its own kind of stress. This also applies to giving gifts to others: give experiences or donations to a favorite charity in place of giving stuff. Find satisfaction in your life through ways other than stuff. You and the earth will be happier for it.
Photo by Mike Mozart, Flickr
Photo by Mike Mozart, Flickr
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