Less stuff = healthier planet? Why minimalism is good for us all

In this article, we examine how our collective human activity – notably our overconsumption – has contributed to the problems our planet and we as individuals are facing: pollution and environmental degradation, exorbitant debt, increasing stress and burnout (just to name a few). We also consider what might happen if we all adopted a more minimalist lifestyle and consumed only what we need. Intrigued? Let’s get right into it.

Why are we (humans) addicted to stuff?

Sigmund Freud dedicated his life’s work to exploring the human psyche. But did you know that Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays, leveraged his uncle’s insights to work out how best to control the masses and get them to do precisely what people with power and money want them to do? That includes the tale that the key to happiness lies in chasing (more) stuff.

If Freud is the father of psychoanalysis, Bernays is the father of the USD 832bn advertising industry that’s become such an integral part of modern life. In advertising, nothing is left to chance. Everything is calculated and measured to ensure it hits us right where it’s most effective: in our brains. We are being brainwashed all the time, and most of us don’t even know it.

Rewarding ourselves

When we are looking to buy something – a new house, car, phone, dress, you name it – our brain releases dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that enables us to recognize rewards and take action to capture them. Think of the big woolly mammoth and the excitement hunting and killing one would have created among our cave-dwelling forefathers.

Dopamine is released whenever we experience something new, exciting or challenging. These days, it’s no longer woolly mammoths that would feed a whole tribe for months. But anticipating the pleasure we may gain from driving that new car or wearing that new dress has the same effect (as do gambling and taking drugs, by the way).

Oh, and when we shop online, we get that dopamine hit twice: (1) when we order the goods and (2) when the package arrives at our doorstep. That’s two doses of dopamine for the price of one… bargain.

Speaking of which, our dopamine levels spike even higher when we buy that car or dress at a perceived discount (yep, Sales campaigns play with our brains). We now own that cool whatever, and we even paid less for it than we would typically expect. How awesome are we? Like our mammoth-killing forefathers, we can pat ourselves on the back for our ability to hunt down a… bargain.

The thrill of the hunt

Speaking of hunting, the release of dopamine has another effect:

• It activates our limbic brain, creating the same emotions and heightened response in our body we would experience in a fight or flight situation (critical for the survival of our mammoth-killing forefathers).
• At the same time, it drains blood from our prefrontal cortex, our rational decision-making centre (which may have otherwise told us that buying whatever is not worth parting with our hard-earned funds).

That’s why impulse buying is so familiar: We can’t help ourselves, and our emotions override our thinking ability. Once we can think again, we realize what we’ve done: It’s called buyer’s remorse.

The fear of missing out

A third aspect clever advertisers tap into is loss aversion (commonly called fear of missing out or FOMO). Research has shown that we perceive a loss or pain about twice as strongly as a potential gain or pleasure of the same magnitude.

That’s why Sales campaigns are so effective. For a limited time only, last chance and only the first 100 buyers (or a countdown clock ticking) – these are all intended to create a sense of urgency and activate our loss aversion behaviour. We buy to avoid the pain of missing out (or worse, someone else snapping up the goods).

Satisfying our needs

Human beings have needs, and when it comes to telling us what we need, advertisers get creative.

Clever ads make us believe that owning a big house, driving a flashy car, or following the latest fashion trend helps us meet our core psychological needs —belonging, recognition and respect. Even that black, artificially coloured and flavoured water Santa delivers in his big truck (apparently) makes us happy.

Shopping behaviours are always a means to an emotional end (Dr Chris Gray, Consumer Psychologist and Founder of Buycology)

Rather than valuing stuff for what it is – a means to an end – we derive the value of our things from how we think others will perceive them, especially the higher-end stuff we get. We associate ourselves with our stuff. It’s no longer about who we are but what we own.

AI – The great manipulation

Now add to that (consumer) data proliferation and artificial intelligence. Bang! Tech companies (who earn a ton from ads) have hit the jackpot. The digital tools we use every day – search engines, shopping sites, social media feeds, smart devices and chatbots – learn from what we click, watch, search for and buy.

This can be helpful as it saves time. The problem however is that these same tools also encourage overconsumption: AI-powered recommendations, targeted ads and personalised content keep showing us products and services at the exact moment we are most susceptible to buying. And they make buying effortless.  Impulse buying on steroids.

Shopping makes the world go around

If that wasn’t enough, our collective shopping addiction (commonly referred to as household consumption or household spending) has become the engine of the world economy – making up around 60% of GDP across the OECD (or 49% in Australia, 58% in New Zealand, 60% in the UK, 53% in Canada and 68% in the US):

• When our GDP grows, we do the right thing: consume more.
• When our GDP stagnates (or, God forbid, declines), Governments pump trillions of dollars into the economy so that we continue to do what we are meant to do: consume more.

Sounds like a scene from a zombie movie? Well, let’s look at what our mindless consumption has led to.

What has our addiction led to?

We are drowning in our stuff

In 2017, Americans spent $240bn on consumer goods, twice as much as in 2002, even though the population only grew by 13%. During the same period, Americans also spent ~20% more on clothing: a whopping 66 garments per person per year – that’s a new item every 5-6 days!

Where do all these goods go?

• They end up cluttering our homes: The average house size in the US has almost tripled over the past 70 years, from 950 sq ft in 1950 to 2,640 sq ft in 2016, and the number of storage facilities has doubled in the last 20 years.
• They end up in landfills: In 2016, Americans produced an astonishing 16,000 tons of textile waste – more than five times what our parents contributed in 1980! Americans also threw away a staggering 26 million tons of plastics.

All this stuff has an emotional effect on us, too.

Clutter is visual noise that competes for our brain’s resources. Too much stuff robs us of our ability to focus, drains our energy, and makes us feel overwhelmed, frustrated and anxious. It also distracts us from what is essential in our lives.

We are destroying our planet

We’re not just drowning in our stuff; our oceans are, too. Our collective human activity has led to

• the destruction of 85% of our wetlands,
• the alteration of 75% of our longest rivers, and
• the elimination of 40% of our primary forests.

An estimated one million species are on the brink of extinction – because of us.

We, the affluent citizens of the world, have the most significant impact on our environment: The top 10% of income earners are responsible for 25-43% of environmental impact, while the bottom 10% only cause around 3-5%. Furthermore, thanks to global trade, most of the ecological impact caused by the top 10% is felt in the Global South.

Our demand for ever-cheaper goods means manufacturers are cutting costs wherever possible and producing goods of ever-lower quality – to the detriment of our environment, and the health and well-being of those who make our goods.

Keeping up with the Joneses doesn’t make us happy

Consumer lifestyle studies conducted by the University of Otago in New Zealand since 1979 survey more than 2,000 Kiwis every 5-10 years about their lifestyle-related interests, opinions and activities. In their 2015 study, New Zealanders reported lower life satisfaction (66% compared to 69% in 2005) and lower personal well-being (63% compared to 67% in 2005).

David G. Myers, in his article Wanting more in the Age of Plenty, found that in the US between 1960 and 2000, divorce rates doubled, teenage suicide rates tripled, and depression increased ten-fold. And in most of Europe, life satisfaction has stagnated over a similar time frame despite higher disposable income.

The income gap is widening

While we collectively earn more than our forefathers ever did, that income increase didn’t end up in our wallets equally. The divide between the richest and the poorest of society is widening globally, but none more so than in the US.

Have you ever looked at Forbes’ Richest People list and wondered how they’ve made their fortunes? Well, let’s do just that.

Among the top 15, we’ve got:

• Jeff Bezos, the founder, chairman, and former president and CEO of online shopping giant Amazon;
• Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), the world’s largest luxury goods company;
• Amancio Ortega, the co-founder and former chairman of Inditex, the world’s largest fast-fashion retailer;
• Alice, Jim and Rob Walton, the children of Walmart founder Sam Walton (the world’s richest family dynasty);

plus multiple Tech billionaires – from Elon Musk, and Google’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, to Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg – all holding a stake in and driving our collective brain washing.

Where would they be if it wasn’t for our (over)consumption?

The income of the richest one percent […] adds up to more than the GDP of the poorest 169 countries combined – a list that includes Norway, Sweden, Switzerland […], the Middle East and the entire continent of Africa. (Dr Jason Hickel, Book Author and Anthropologist)

Consumer debt is sky-rocketing

While our collective spending has made the top 1% filthy-rich, it has also led us (mere mortals) further into debt. LOTS of debt:

• In July 2025, US consumer debt hit USD17.94 trillion (that’s USD17,940,000,000,000) or USD51,662 for each American, surpassing the debt levels experienced at the outset of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008. While primarily driven by mortgages (74%) – remember the house size increase mentioned earlier? – it’s still a scary number. It also means that American households spend 26% of their disposable income on non-housing-related consumer debt, compared with less than 23% at the end of the GFC and 16% in 1992.
• It’s not much better in New Zealand, either. In 2025, Kiwis used their credit cards to buy over NZD50 billion worth of stuff. In December 2025, Kiwis had outstanding credit card debt of NZD6.1 billion. With 51% of credit card debt not being paid off at the end of each billing period and an average interest rate of 19.7% in 2025, Kiwis have paid a whopping NZD7 billion in interest (on average NZD1,400 per person) over the past 10 years.

We’ve become slaves

Instead of spending more time with our loved ones, on our health or on becoming better human beings, we work long hours (and even multiple jobs) to afford bigger houses and more stuff. Our lifestyles have become increasingly unhealthy – for ourselves and our planet.

Contemplating how much we are absorbed in consumerism is frightening. […] We’re so accustomed to it that we seldom stop to contemplate it – which is probably a good thing since it’s daunting to realize quite how trapped and how brainwashed by the inescapable tide of consumerism we are. (Shelley Bridgeman, Journalist)

How can we overcome our addiction?

Our current collective (over)consumption is unsustainable, unethical and unjust. There is no sugar-coating it. So, can we step off the treadmill? Can we unravel the damage we have done (to ourselves and our planet)?

I believe we can. Paul, I, and many others are proof it can be done. I’d even say: Given we are (part of) the problem, we HAVE AN OBLIGATION to fix it – for our own sake and our planet’s.

But that requires some radical changes.

Our role as consumers

Firstly, we need to become aware of the problem, its magnitude, and the role each of us has played in creating it, which is one of the reasons why I wrote this article.

Secondly, we need to realize that we HAVE A CHOICE. We may be biologically and chemically predisposed to certain behaviours, but our conscience and willpower differentiate us from other living beings. We can make decisions that are not instinct-driven. Humans can choose to resist peer pressure, societal expectations and clever marketing tactics.

Thirdly, we need to change our behaviour. We need to consume less and consume more consciously, for example, by

• buying only what we genuinely need/regularly use,
• sharing items we already have but hardly ever use,
• eating food that is more environmentally friendly to produce,
• living in smaller places that have a lower environmental footprint,
• only owning/driving a car if we need to, and
• only flying when we need to.

As conscious consumers, we are the most potent movement: if there is no demand, there is no supply.

The role of manufacturers and advertisers

Manufacturers must do their bit, by designing and producing goods that

• are of better quality,
• have longer lifespans (effectively ending the current practice of planned obsolescence), and
• can easily be repaired, repurposed or recycled when they reach the end of life.

Advertising and product labelling need to change, too, by including the true and full cost of a product – taking into account the environmental sustainability and ethics of its supply chain – so that we (consumers) can make informed decisions.

Remember the change in advertising and product labelling for tobacco products? It’s time to be honest about the impact of ALL our products.

The role of AI/tech companies

And speaking of honesty… Responsibility does not rest solely with consumers, manufacturers and advertisers. AI/tech companies should help design better products (taking a circular approach) and services, and enable consumers to make more sustainable and ethical choices by

• providing impartial and easy-to-compare whole-of-life product information,
• helping to surface products and services that actually meet the NEEDS of a consumer (not a want driven by whoever pays most for ads),
• making AI systems more transparent (with increased disclosure), and giving consumers greater control over personalisation, and
• sharing fairly the profits generated from the data that belongs to us consumers and the intellectual property sourced from primary content sources.

Ultimately, it comes down to what AI/tech companies choose to optimise for: human wellbeing and a healthier planet or corporate greed (that benefits mostly the top 1% we spoke about).

The role of lawmakers and governing bodies

Given the richest people on earth benefit from our overconsumption the most, what’s the likelihood of corporations (manufacturers, advertisers and AI/tech companies) to consider the wellbeing of the masses (and our planet)? With a few exceptions, close to zero, sadly.

Likewise, it’s hard for us consumers to buy less when products are designed to break, repairs are difficult or impossible, and digital platforms profit from using our data to make us buy more (rather than help us make better choices).

That’s were lawmakers and governing bodies come in: Legislation must shift responsibility to be more equally carried among all stakeholders:

• Better data and privacy laws are already the focus.
• But stronger product durability standards, right-to-repair laws, extended producer responsibilities and clearer rules for online advertising are also needed.
• As are laws that better protect intellectual property from primary content sources and require AI/tech giants to share more fairly the profits gained from consumer data and primary IP.

And please: Stop using GDP (growth) to measure the (wellbeing of) our economies. Firstly, you’re missing vital components that make societies thrive, and secondly, it’s not supporting a triple bottom line. Here are some alternatives.

Our role as citizens

With many politicians acting more in the interests of those who substantially donate to their campaign funds (especially corporate lobbyists) than us mere mortals, there is another important role WE play. As citizens, we have a vote and a voice:

• a vote to elect those who act in our collective interest, and
• a voice to demand action that improves our collective wellbeing,

including that of our planet.

Freedom is never granted: It is won. Justice is never given: It is exacted. (A. Philip Randolph)

What if we all adopted a more minimalist lifestyle and consumed only what we need?

We can (re)focus our energy on what truly matters to us

Imagine you removed all the stuff from your house that is not adding value to your life. And I don’t mean put it into storage. I mean, get rid of it – by giving it to someone who needs and uses it. Your home would be tidier and visually calmer. Keeping your home clean would be much easier and faster, too.

Now imagine your clothes are of good quality, and fit your body shape and each other, because you’ve created a capsule wardrobe that lets you dress up or down as needed. Getting dressed for work or leisure and packing for a holiday would be much easier (and faster).

If you didn’t spend your precious time shopping, cleaning, searching, (re) organising, worrying, etc, what would you do? Have more quality time with your loved ones? Read the books you’ve always wanted to read? Reskill and change your career? Start your own business? Volunteer? Travel more? The choice is yours.

Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favour of focusing on what’s important – so you can find happiness, fulfilment and freedom – The Minimalists

We are financially better off

Imagine you didn’t own a (second) car and didn’t have to pay for registration, warrants of fitness, insurance, or fuel – let alone its depreciation. Or imagine you lived in a home that’s just the right size for you and that, instead of rooms you never use, has good insulation. Keeping you cosy in winter and cool in summer would cost at a fraction, and your mortgage payment would likely be smaller, too.

If you didn’t spend your hard-earned funds on stuff you don’t truly need/regularly use, what would you do with all those extra $$$? Buy healthier food for your family? Save it for a deposit for your (child’s) first home or your (grand)child’s education? Invest it? Work less because you no longer need to? Travel the world? Again, the choice is yours.

Consuming less and more mindfully is not the end of consumption. It’s a means to shift to a more sustainable way of consuming, a more sustainable way of living.

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