I picked up a new book this week called, The Day We Stop Shopping: How Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves, by J.B. MacKinnon. (Big shocker: this book does not seem to be available on Amazon.
The book offers an exploration of what would happen if we actually stopped shopping, as considered by a Canadian journalist.
Hold up: can I say the thing I have wanted to say, but couldn’t quite bring myself to type before now?
As a society, as a nation, as an economic market, we are shopping way too much. Does anyone else see that? So, first I came to acknowledge that I shop too much, and now I can clearly see that I’m not alone. Our entire globe has become fixated with consumerism. We have become drones who buy shit all day every day.
And for WHAT?
The book not only confirms what I suspected (we are buying, credit card swiping, debt generating robots) but goes a step further to purport what would happen if we just stopped buying shit.
Guess what would happen?
Economic ruin.
Global collapse.
Think I’m being sarcastic?
Only a little.
We need to buy and sell shit to make the world go round. The book expresses this reality: if we stopped shopping so much, A LOT of people would be out of jobs. Factory workers, warehouse workers, those responsible for packing and shipping, jobs in retail, and all the marketers who spend lifetimes getting us to buy all of the shit, would be out of jobs.
MacKinnon writes, “The apparel trade as a whole is valued at $1.3 trillion. If Fashion Nation was an actual country, it would have the world’s fifteenth-largest economy and employ a global workforce roughly equal to the population of the Unites States. The cotton industry alone provides wages to 250 million people in eighty countries, or about 3 percent of the world’s population” (2021, p. 25).
That’s a lot of fuggin’ people!
I don’t want to put those people out of jobs!!!!!
But there’s an upside to canceling out excessive shopping, too. MacKinnon goes on to say, “One of the most instantaneous…changes takes place in the planetary atmosphere, where in the first split second of stopping shopping we accomplish what we’ve been unable to do for decades: reduce the global carbon pollution that is causing climate change” (p.25).
So, now I’ve lost some of you, and that’s ok. If you don’t believe in climate change, I get it. It’s hard to believe in something you can’t see….like God and Jesus, right? Not everyone believes in what is intangible.
But I know deep in my bones that the amount of factories in existence on our planet, constantly pumping CO2 into the environment is not exactly what God had in mind when He made this beautiful planet. I know He didn’t picture 2-3 cars per family, all pumping exhaust fumes into the air. He probably didn’t think all of us would want air conditioners, like, everywhere, blasting all the time.
But when I get into my car to drive someplace, my heart knows beyond a doubt that we would all be better off if we were walking. We would all be better off if we turned off the lights, closed stores earlier (and on Sundays), or decided to operate a family on one car. Doesn’t it just seem like that would make sense? Sometimes that gut feeling, that instinct, is truth looking to find the light.
But change can’t happen overnight, and it can’t be so abrupt and crazy that it crashes the system. I’m not looking to dive headfirst into complete chaos by halting all shopping.
So, where does that leave us?
Where does that leave me?
What the heck am I supposed to do if I care enough to want to change, but don’t know how?
I can take turtle steps.
Prevailing Facts in My Life: I need a car to get around unless I choose to live in a different place where things are closer. My kids can’t walk 5 miles to school. I also need to buy items I can’t craft myself, like clothing and cheese and shoes.
But I can start to do better.
I can curb my appetite, and begin to do less.
So, here’s the new plan:
- I will make a concerted effort to consume less
- I will not buy new clothes every month or even every season. I will buy things when I need them. I will consign what I don’t need, or donate it.
- I will make an effort to learn more about cooking so I don’t feel compelled to eat out as often, in search of better, tastier options (what if I can make the better option!?)
- I will teach the kids to be inventive and creative, using toys and items we have in the house more frequently, instead of buying new crap
- I will ask to borrow things more often (this one is especially hard for me because it seems so much easier to buy the things I need when I need them….but sharing is a form of community building, and I see lots of opportunities here)
What changes do you see ahead of you? Are you willing to change? I’m only willing to change if it benefits the planet and those around me. This sounds like I can begin walking a new path. What about you? As always, hang in there! Namaste every day!
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4 the Love of Peace 