Very good.
Only problem is what happens to all those folks that produce the stuff they are shunning? Are they just out of luck?
What if the business strategist's clients decided to all stop employing her based on the same concerns? And isn't it sort of ironic to be a business strategist and shun business? One would think a good business strategist is in the business of propping up the global commerce chain.
But I'm all for it: the earth is in free fall in terms of climate and environmental degradation. It clearly cannot - and will not - sustain it. Only saying it's not so simple to extricate us from the chains of dependencies. We will have to figure out what to do with billions of people that will no longer be able to make things because the earth won't support it. That will be "interesting".
Meanwhile The TeeVee is once again busy pushing massive SUVs as the perfect christmas gift!
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Our family embraced the second-hand consignment model two years ago. Never going back...
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Christmas is just another commercial excess like Halloween or Valentine's Day or the famous Black Friday after Thanksgiving. That's the cleverest deal of all.
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How can we change our expectations and habits that support consumerism and our unsustainable lifestyle? We need more articles like this and role models (maybe celebrities?) to lead the way....
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Buying used stuff may not always reflect environmental values. We can't get really good stuff anymore at decent prices. My husband wanted a heavy wool winter coat like his father's in the 1950's-1960's. We went to the department stores and the men's shops but couldn't find any. Macy's, Burlington Coat Factory, and other stores sell wool-blend cheapies for big bucks (over $300). So we went to Housing Works and bought a wonderful heavy 100%wool coat for $40. It was new in the 1950's-1960's but still very good.
He can't get good shirts any more for less than about $60-70. Less expensive shirts have lots of synthetics in them, are thin and don't last.
We're all being cheated by the Great American Commercial World. A huge percent of the products being shoved at us is sheer sleaze at high prices and, probably, made by underpaid overworked labor in unsafe and unhealthy conditions. Both consumers and workers are being cheated.
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There are people for whom second hand and thrift stores are the only places they can afford to go.
When I, who can afford to buy clothes and other items in standard retail stores, go into one of these places, I'm purchasing what could be something badly needed by someone with far lesser means than I have.
I don't need 'an experience' if it means taking away things from people who can afford nothing better. Gosh folks, find somewhere else to buy your gifts. And by the way, when you get things you don't want, by all means donate it to people of lesser means who would be delighted to have them.
Best yet, give to places who give clothes free to the poor, and then allow yourself a bit of pleasure in knowing that coat you gave might be helping keep a homeless person warm tonight.
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@John Everyone who can afford to shop elsewhere, should absolutely continue shopping at thrift stores and secondhand shops. Currently, in the US, thrift shops and secondhand stores can only sell about 20% of the clothing donated to them. The secondhand market is swamped with clothing, so much so, that 80% of donated clothes are shipped overseas, recycled or sent to landfill each year in the US. No one is taking from anyone else when supporting non-profits institutions by thrifting and shopping secondhand.
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@John Many of the non-profits that run thrift shops depend on the cash from sales, regardless of who is doing the purchasing. That sale of something secondhand goes to helping children's educations, shelter pets, etc.
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@John Really? There are plenty more secondhand items where those came from. Keep shopping secondhand or at least stop making the specious excuse that you continue buying new items out of concern for the poor.
If you truly wish to help those less fortunate than yourself, buy used items *and* contribute the estimated cash difference between new and used for your local food bank or homeless shelter.
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This year I'm re-cycling a bit - giving a book or two from my own library, and a couple of vintage items I've had for years. Why not?
People buy Vintage stuff on eBay and Etsy and think it's premium.
At 86 I'm pretty Vintage myself, so have lots of good Vintage stuff to give away.
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A millennial thing is bad? Millennials show where we are going, not where we have been.
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Five years ago, when my grandchildren were 5 and 2, the 5 year old commented they had received too many toys! At that moment, i asked him what he thought of getting experiences instead of gifts for Xmas and their birthdays. He thought it was great. So for the past 4 years they’ve gotten small outings to museums, the circus, Disney on Ice, Cirque de Soleil, etc etc. One good year they got a Disney Cruise and another year a trip to London, and a surprise weekend trip to Legoland. This year they are going to NY right after Xmas so we got them tickets to Aladdin, they will be thrilled. They still get other gifts from their other relatives but they love the experiences. Every time we do something special with them, they ask “is this an experience?” I don’t think we will ever go back to actual gifts.
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With regard to the carbon foot print of travel; I saved and paid for two college tuitions and now I am going to travel occasionally. That's what savings are for. And I am going to do it before I am too old. A once a year trip is not going to end the planet. Let's consider the biggest sources of carbon emissions and try to control those.
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@Meighan Corbett "A once a year trip is not going to end the planet." Said 7 billion people
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This is encouraging! Our extended family is doing a reuse, regift, white elephant gift exchange of something of value but not new for the adults. It's fun what people come up with. Last year kids were given a gift card to visit a Children's Museum. Our Christmas decorations have been less too and more natural. I go outside and get things from nature like pine branches, pine cones, ect for decor. Minimal calming. Let's leave the world a better place for our Grandchildren.
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@Desiree Your comment, too, is encouraging. It brings to mind the 1988 movie Running on Empty, when River Phoenix's character picks up a pretty stone on the beach and explains to his new girlfriend why it will be a perfect birthday present for his mom. The family has a rule that they may only give gifts that they have made or found.
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Worried about climate change and organizing a motorcycle trip to Marrakech? Wrong! Buying secondhand Fendi bags just means that one is consuming stuff from someone else who is consuming stuff at probably very high rates. Still over the top consumerism. How about planting a tree or making a donation to a local animal shelter or a homeless shelter in someone’s name?
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@Chjonte If no one buys that used Fendi bag it still ends up in a landfill. How to prevent the original owner fro buying a dozen more? Solve that that problem and you solve the consumption crisis (and maybe make a fortune).
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I gave Christmas gift giving and receiving the heave-ho at least 40 years back and spend the money on other things like travel or even saving up for tax time. My spouse doesn't expect anything at these contrived occasions that were devised in the 1840s in Germany to enable merchants, both Gentile and Jewish, to unload a whole lot of end-of-year inventory. When one is at least in middle class comfort who needs all that shtuff someone wishes them to have anyway?
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Didn't someone on a sitcom say it's not the money, it's the thought that counts - and really, what the heck were you thinking?
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After years of cajoling I've gotten my parents to get on the gift-free train. We're going on a small trip instead and (shh!) I'm treating each of my parents to an "experience" (football tickets and a spa getaway).
If going gift-free is hard for some people, they might consider donating to a charity of their loved ones' choice. I ask people to donate to my school's fund for our homeless families in my honor.
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many "experiences" have little to no connection to waste, at least not on the scale of travel. A trip to the zoo, local spas (couples massage, our favorite anniversary celebration), bird watching, museums, lots of thing can constitute a great experience, support for local organizations, and renewed appreciation for how lovely the planet is
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