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

For many, COVID-19 is now a thing of the past, but its effects and high cost of living are stopping us from returning to the old normal. We hope the pandemic has been enough of a wake-up call to ensure that whatever we do next doesn’t look like what we left behind. It wasn’t healthy, and it sure wasn’t sustainable – not for us or our planet.

Suppose you don’t know what I’m talking about (or are just intrigued by the topic). In that case, our article today will examine how our collective human activity—notably our overconsumption—has contributed to the problems our planet and we as individuals are facing. We’ll also consider what might happen if we all adopted a more minimalist lifestyle and consumed only what we needed.

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 half-trillion USD 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: when we order the goods and 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 (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 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 – 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 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.

Shopping makes the world go around

To top it all off, 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 51% in Australia, 56% in New Zealand, 59% in Canada and 67% in the US in June 2020):

• 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 last 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 previous 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! Isn’t that remarkable? 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 of the Global South, caused by the top 10%, is felt.

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 most recent study conducted in 2013, 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 money? Well, let’s do just that:

• At the top, we have Jeff Bezos, the founder of the online shopping giant Amazon.
• Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, the world’s largest luxury goods company, takes up spot number three
• In the eleventh position, we find Armancio Ortega, the co-founder of Inditex (which owns clothing brands Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear and many others), followed by Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the granddaughter of the founder of L’Oreal in spot twelve.
• And finally (in the top twenty), we have Alice, Jim and Rob Walton, the children of Walmart and Sam’s Club founder Sam Walton.

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% more prosperous, it has also led us (mere mortals) into debt. Lots of debt:

• In 2019, US consumer debt hit $14trillion (that’s $14,000,000,000,000) or almost $43,000 for each American, surpassing the debt levels experienced at the outset of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008. While primarily driven by mortgages (remember the house size increase mentioned earlier?), it’s still a scary number. In 2017, American households spent 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 2016, Kiwis used their credit cards to buy $36 billion worth of stuff. With over 63% of credit card spending incurring interest and an average interest rate of just over 19%, Kiwis paid $4.4 billion (or just under $940 per person) in interest alone that year.

We’ve become slaves

Instead of spending more time with our loved ones, on our health or 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 proofing it can be done. I’d even say that we ARE (part of) the problem, and therefore, 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 not 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 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
• 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 can do their bit, too, by 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.

Finally, advertising and product labelling need to change by including the actual 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 our products.

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

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 well – to your body shape and each other – because you’ve created a capsule wardrobe that allows you to 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)organizing, worrying, etc, what would you do? Have quality time with your partner, ageing parents or children. Read the books you’ve always wanted to read. Upskill? Start your own business. Volunteer. 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 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. 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 just a means to shift to a more sustainable way of consuming, a more sustainable way of living – albeit very powerful. Don’t you think?

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