The Real Story of Stuff and 5 Ways We Can Be Better Consumers

Hi all,

The current pandemic and decluttering phases I have been going through are just reminding me more and more of The Story of Stuff documentary that I have studied in every single environmental class that I have taken. And as an Environmental minor, that is a lot.

Photo by Jess Bailey Designs on Pexels.com

Moments before I sat down to write this post, my headphones, (which I was in the middle of using to listen to NPR) crapped out on me. Now only the right ear piece works. And these are not super fancy headphones, but they are the Samsung ones that came with my last phone from about four years ago. They are certainly well loved headphones.

An hour ago my cousin texted me that her well loved sunglasses broke, just like mine did a few weeks ago. And we vented together about how we need to find yet another pair of mirrored sunglasses to become our new favorites.

This week, my grandpa’s phone started freaking out because there is not enough storage, and now he can’t even use the basic functions on his phone anymore, so he is going to need to get a new one sometime very soon. Apple is notorious with this problem. They even have a lawsuit going against them, because of it.

Our well loved things breaking on us, and the fact that it is more costly to repair them instead of buying new ones are major environmental problems. They create trash that will have to go in our overflowing landfills. And building new ones means that even more resources will be taken from the limited supply that we have on Earth. Never mind the amount of greenhouse gasses that need to be burned to create our new products.

Our culture of throwing out our old and broken stuff is not only a result of our own needs, but also because of big corporations, marketing campaigns, and the planned and perceived instances of obsolescence that comes with them.

Please watch this documentary. I really think that it is so valuable for all of us consumers to be consciously aware of. And it is only 20 minutes long. Promise!

The Story of Stuff

These sort of situations of planned obsolescence, where companies literally plan to create their products that break down after a certain period of time is all a big game. Companies obviously want to keep making more money, so they want their stuff to break, but they need to make sure that consumers, who will soon need to get another new product, will be happy with the company and will continue to shop from them the next time their appliance, or sunglasses, or headphones break. But it is such a fine line––if the item breaks too soon, the consumers will not be happy with the company and will go elsewhere. If it takes too long, the company will not have loyal customers who will constantly need to buy new things.

When older generations exclaim how things don’t work the way they used to, they are right. It is so true.

That brings in the whole other problem of perceived obsolescence. This is when us consumers do not need new things, we actually just want new things. 

This is most obvious with fast fashion. Clothes literally goes out of style between every changing season. Like the documentary discusses, high heels literally change between fat heels or skinny heels being in style, which forces consumers to constantly have to go shopping to barely be able to keep up with the latest styles.

And honestly, I, personally, feel that the public shamings have stopped since graduating high school, so the whole fashion thing isn’t as in the forefront of my mind as it used to be. And also, lately, trends have been promoting thrift clothes and thrift shops, which is having some positive impact on the environment.

But is this enough? I fear that thrift shops are going to go out of style again really soon.

So What Can We Do?

In so many of my classes we used to discuss that consumers really do have the power. We dictate to companies what they should make more of with what we buy. Supply and Demand.

In the grocery store, you may find fruit out on a table, wrapped solely in it’s own skin, and then you could find the same orange besides it covered by a plastic packaging. Sometimes that orange may even be removed from the peel to make it easier and quicker to eat. There are plenty of memes about this situation, where they all basically sarcastically ask if only there were some type of protective skin on the orange so it didn’t need to be sold in a plastic container.

If only nature would find a way to cover these oranges so we didn’t need to waste so much plastic on them. pic.twitter.com/00YECaHB4D

— Nathalie Gordon (@awlilnatty) March 3, 2016

But anyway, when you see these two orange options you can choose which one to buy. And your money that comes from that choice sends a message to the company about which one they should sell more of.

Individually, our buying habits do not have much of an impact on a company. But together, if we all chose to buy the orange that is only covered by it’s skin, then we have some real power.

Making decisions about food on such a small scale is one thing, but how can we fix all of these planned and perceived obsolescence situations?

It isn’t easy. And I don’t have a good answer.

1. Using things until they break and are completely unusable is a start.
2. Trying to repair things, if it is possible, is another option. Even if this is the more expensive option, it will (theoretically) create demand, which will lower the price of repairs.
3. Do a junk drawer/ closet clean out, searching for extras. And then use those (probably less loved) items until they break, too.
4. Buying second hand is excellent for the environment! When you need something replaced, there are plenty of people who may be trying to get rid of something extra. There are plenty of apps and Facebook pages for trading and selling unwanted or extra things that are actually super convenient & easy to use.
5. And just remember that everything we throw out, even the broken items, all has to end up somewhere. We all need to be more informed and considerate consumers.

My current goal is to live a completely zero waste lifestyle. The first step for this is to make smart shopping choices. And it turns out that I am just buying less. And it is making a difference.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Then I began decluttering the KonMari method, thanks to the Marie Kondo special on Netflix, trying to only keep the things that I love. And trying to sell the things that I don’t on some second-hand shops including:

LetGo

The RealReal

Poshmark (If you want to sign up, use my code SAMJEANMARY, so we can both get $10)

Bunz

Facebook Marketplace

Ebay

But there are plenty more out there, too!

I’m not perfect, but I work to improve myself and my impact on the environment every single day. One small change at a time. To make sure we can preserve this beautiful nature.

TBT to When I Could Hike in the Scottish Highlands Every Weekend

What do you guys think? Have any advice? What are your go-to tips?

Regrowing Avocados

I am keeping up with my writing flow and so happy to be updating again so soon! So yay!

As some of you may know, I aim to one day have a garden where I can grow all of my own produce. And some really good advice that I was given is to start small. One fruit or vegetable at a time. It is really great advice because it gives you the time to learn about one specific plant and become familiar with the intricacies of it’s growing habits before adding in a second.

(I am sorry if I am getting too philosophical with you, just bare with me).

Another aspect that I love about gardening is that you eat can be grown from the leftover seeds and scraps, found in your own kitchen, thus the beginnings of your garden can come from a place of sustainability. Instead of throwing these seeds out, I like to think what else can I do with them?

Many fruits and vegetables can be regrown from a cup of water and a sunny windowsill, allowing us a simple way to start the process.

And with all that being said, I have started with my favorite food to eat…

Avocado!!!

Avocados, a very popular fruit in modern times, originated in Mexico.

If you would like to read their detailed history, Brian Handwerk at the Smithsonian Magazine wrote a great article on it.

If not, here are some snippets:

Rudolph Haas, a California postman, grew the first Haas Avocado tree, on accident, because the seeds he planted did not take well to the grafts of an existing avocado variety.

Currently, because of widespread popularity and hungry humans, there are major environmental concerns about the loss of biodiversity and extreme deforestation in Mexico as people seem to prefer Haas avocados over any of the wild ones.

However, these avocados are able to provide a year round supply thanks to the long harvesting season and countries across the globe that have the right tropical climates for these fruit.

Interesting.

Now that we have all learned some of the history of the avocados, myself included, I want to show you how easy they are to grow on your own.

Growing an avocado from a pit

First, save the pit from the avocado and wash it off, making sure to remove any of the remaining fruit pieces from around the avocado. I like to use just a drop of dish soap to clean it off.

Then you are going to add toothpicks around the middle/top of the avocado pit that will allow you to suspend it about water at the top of the cup/ whatever container you will use.

Avocado pit with toothpicks

Next fill the cup up with water, making sure that the water line hits at about the halfway mark of the pit.

 

Then the waiting game begins. 

Eventually the pit will crack in half and the root will begin to grow out of the pit and into the water (This is what we want to happen…learn from my mistakes).

Pit beginning to crack

Weeks later, the stem will begin to grow out of the top with leaves. Yay!

Voila!

You have successfully grown your own plant at this point and started producing oxygen. It is always very exciting for me.

And now you can either keep the plant in your window and see how much it can grow in a cup of water, transfer it to a bigger container of water to watch it grow more (which I am currently doing), or plant it in a pot of soil (this is one of the options that I have not yet had success with).

Gardening is all about the trial and error, apparently.

Has this worked for anyone else? I would love to hear your avocado successes and failures, too!