So I read this book for one of my sociology classes today. It's a very short book, I read it in about 2 hours.
Stuff
The Secret Lives of Everyday Things
I enjoyed it so much that I by the end of the book I was giving it five stars in my head and imagining reading it with my children! It's the story of where the stuff that we consume comes from. Of course, it isn't able to cover everything. It highlights the "stories" of the following:
And "unfortunately, our high-consumption way of life is now the international vision of progress. The world longs to live the American dream, with steaks on the grill and two cars in the garage. Yet consumption on the North American scale - our own body weight per day - cannot last, and expanding it to all the world's people is only a fantasy." (p.68)
To "achieve sustainability" the authors argue that "slowing population growth is essential," which I do NOT agree with. I DO agree with their other two points that it is also essential to speed the "spread of resource-efficient technologies" and to reduce our individual consumption "through less materialistic lifestyles as well as improvements in efficiency." (p.69)
The changes that I'm willing to make in my own individual consumption habits after reading this book?
Well, for sure I will start turning off my computer at night.
I will start recycling instead of throwing everything in my garbage can.
I kept thinking it would be really interesting to take myself on two field trips: one to the local recycling company to see how and what they do, and the other to the local landfill. It's been easy to toss something away when I don't ever have to see it again, so I think that visual image of the landfill would be a nice reality picture for me.
I will start looking for paper that is totally chlorine free, like the Europeans do. And I'll add this lovely little gadget to my wish list so when I get it, I will start consuming my books electronically.
I did feel really good about my clothing consumption choices because I buy 90% of it second-hand already!
And I felt good about my nice front load washer, although I'm not quite ready to use only cold water, or hang dry my clothes. :S baby steps to change, right?
As far as shoes go, I felt really good about that too because I only have less that 10 pairs of shoes, where, according the book, the average American woman owns 25 pairs. Plus, they are all second hand, expect for one pair.
And then there's the biggie: the car. Well, while I was reading I visualized myself biking with my family, carting kids in a trailer as we fly down the hill to do a little grocery shopping. It was fine until I got to that hill, then I decided I would go the alternate route, once the road is finished.
So yeah, I can visualize it, but not for very long before my fear takes over. It's gotten to the point now where I am just plain afraid of getting on a bicycle. So in the meantime, I felt good about my consumption habits in regards to the car we use because it does get good gas mileage and 6 times out of the 10 that I use it, I am driving a lot farther than just five miles from my home. That's more than half... better than less than half!!! :)
My very favorite part of this book was the last paragraph which says, "one of the best ways to reduce material consumption is to focus on the non-material things often lacking in our lives. We sometimes consume for lack of something better to do. Feeling lonely or dissatisfied, we shop. Lacking community, we travel. Concentrating on friendship and community may make us happier while, almost without our noticing, it trims our consumption. Is it only a coincidence that "conversation" and "conservation" are spelled with the same letters?" (p. 71)
And I promise, one day I WILL overcome my fear of bicycling and we'll be a bicycling family!
Read an excerpt from Stuff.
- Car
- Bicycle
- Cheeseburger & Fries
- Newsprint
- This book
- Coffee
- Aluminum
- Computer chip
- Cotton
- What the average American consumes daily
And "unfortunately, our high-consumption way of life is now the international vision of progress. The world longs to live the American dream, with steaks on the grill and two cars in the garage. Yet consumption on the North American scale - our own body weight per day - cannot last, and expanding it to all the world's people is only a fantasy." (p.68)
To "achieve sustainability" the authors argue that "slowing population growth is essential," which I do NOT agree with. I DO agree with their other two points that it is also essential to speed the "spread of resource-efficient technologies" and to reduce our individual consumption "through less materialistic lifestyles as well as improvements in efficiency." (p.69)
The changes that I'm willing to make in my own individual consumption habits after reading this book?
Well, for sure I will start turning off my computer at night.
I will start recycling instead of throwing everything in my garbage can.
I will start looking for paper that is totally chlorine free, like the Europeans do. And I'll add this lovely little gadget to my wish list so when I get it, I will start consuming my books electronically.
(The thought of having a huge library that can fit in my purse is quite nice. It's always been a little bit crazy dragging my collection of books with us when we move and finding a home for them. And I've still got plenty of life left, I'm SURE I'll be collecting LOTS more books for a long time to come!)
I did feel really good about my clothing consumption choices because I buy 90% of it second-hand already!
And I felt good about my nice front load washer, although I'm not quite ready to use only cold water, or hang dry my clothes. :S baby steps to change, right?
As far as shoes go, I felt really good about that too because I only have less that 10 pairs of shoes, where, according the book, the average American woman owns 25 pairs. Plus, they are all second hand, expect for one pair.
And then there's the biggie: the car. Well, while I was reading I visualized myself biking with my family, carting kids in a trailer as we fly down the hill to do a little grocery shopping. It was fine until I got to that hill, then I decided I would go the alternate route, once the road is finished.
My very favorite part of this book was the last paragraph which says, "one of the best ways to reduce material consumption is to focus on the non-material things often lacking in our lives. We sometimes consume for lack of something better to do. Feeling lonely or dissatisfied, we shop. Lacking community, we travel. Concentrating on friendship and community may make us happier while, almost without our noticing, it trims our consumption. Is it only a coincidence that "conversation" and "conservation" are spelled with the same letters?" (p. 71)
And I promise, one day I WILL overcome my fear of bicycling and we'll be a bicycling family!
Read an excerpt from Stuff.
4 wonderful people have this to say:
I guess me being so poor is healing the world.
I never buy stuff.
The Kindle is stuff. will eventually become obsolete and go in a landfill -- alternative -- Public Library.
yay! your kids deserve a clean and sustainable world Linds. And the trailer actually stabalizes the bike more making it sort of a three wheeler.....it's alot easier than ya think. i think we need to share the new clothes Saydi just got. we don't need that many and it will keep others from buying more. they are hand me downs to Saydi and there is more than enough to share!! going barefoot will save on shoes and foot and back problems (medical bills) so go for it as often as possible. Walk to church barefoot and take your shoes with you. Will save on wear on your shoes too. love ya. grow whatever garden you can. Ask around for land and water. you will find it if you look for it. maybe the golf course would parcel out a piece to you.
Very cool. I love recycling & spreading the word. Another thing I like that is a small thing, but could add up, is using reusable cloth bags for groceries instead of plastic. We do have a long way to go, but I love that it's the in thing to do now. :) The part you said about the US being the standard for the rest of the world reminded me about a book I read about diapers & how people in 3rd world countries just naturally potty train their children from birth because they can't afford diapers. Then it talked about how China is becoming more "civilized" and putting their kids in disposable diapers. How terrible, I thought, to think that going from potty trained at a few months old to wearing diapers that will fill landfills is a step forward. I can't say as though I've done much about it, though, as my son wears pampers. I would like to try the potty training with the next, though.
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