Pros And Disadvantages Of Minimalism

Does having twice as much or bigger and better devices make us any happier? Many people see buying things such as dishwashers and cars as a necessary purchase. Although many may argue that these purchase help the quality of life, but in reality these type of purchases are unnecessary. We start to become shopaholics. Buying anything and everything to fill that hole inside us. Unfortunately that satisfaction goes away quickly. Buying our way to happiness doesn’t work. According to Tori DeAngelis and Juliet Schor, this is not abnormal. In Schor’s essay she stated, “The percentage of the population who reported being “very happy” peaked in 1957… By the last years the polls were taken (1970 and 1978), the national level of “very happy” had not recovered, in spite of the rapid growth in consumption during the 1960’s and 1970’s” (qtd. In Schor 612). This goes to show what consumerism does to us. It takes away our happiness. Many factors of consumption can cause this, but the main factor is competition. These materialistic goods have made us all competitive as if we were animals trying to survive. But what we’re competing for isn’t natural. Trying to meet others standards of life isn’t healthy. Consumerism isn’t the solution although some may say it

The average U.S. citizen emits about four pounds of municipal solid waste each day. While this number may seem insignificant, think about approximately four pounds multiplied by our current population of about 318.9 million, or the population of Earth, 7.125 billion. With this in mind, think about all of the other detrimental effects we are causing to our planet. Most humans are not concerned for our planet, nor do we care about other species inhabiting Earth, which may lead us to consider other ways of living, such as Nash’s idea of an island civilization.

Graham Hill gave a speech “Less stuff, more happiness” in October of 2011. He was trying to prove a point that the less stuff people own, the happier they are. They will also get to save money. He was speaking at TED, convincing people to own less stuff. He was speaking to people who are more successful, smart, own more stuff than they really need. Hill states “less is more” by using facts and statistics with his strengths in his word structure.

I always knew people liked to consume more than what they need, but never really considered how it affects our environment. Until I read an article by Graham Hill called “Living with Less. A lot Less.” In this article, Hill argues that individuals obtain products one doesn’t need. Secondly, he mentions how purchasing these products won’t make you happy, but can do the exact opposite. Lastly, Hill argues how living with less merchandise can make us feel and live happier. As a result, I compared my life to his and realized he’s right having less might give us the opportunity to explore further.

In today's society, having the biggest and best products is valued above everything else. From new technology, to homes, and even automobiles -nothing is off limits to our ever-growing expectations. This growing trend of owning bigger and better things without being satisfied is more apparent in today’s society than ever before, and it doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon. The need to have the newest products is“stuffing us up” and creates a problem for future generations. The article “Swollen Expectations”, written by John De Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor, provides some interesting insight into the standard of living in past generations. I also conducted an interview with my father, asking him a series of questions about life when he was younger, material possessions, and how he has seen it all evolve throughout the years.

Today, Americans live in a world where we are constantly encouraged “to keep up with the Joneses” whether it be from advertisment, longer shopping hours, or multiple other factors. A surprising statistic you can find in the book, Affluenza: How overconsumption is killing us--and how to fight back, where it states that “70 percent of us visit malls each week, more than attended houses of worship” (15). Shopping has become so convenient in recent years due to online stores, as well as the growing number of shopping centers, that it’s become a problem. Kalle Lasn, co-founder of the magazine Adbusters and starter of the Occupy Movement, believes that, “Overconsumption is the mother of all of our environment problems” (197). Consumers have come to see shopping as a fun activity while spending time with friends or family. When really over consumption of material goods ultimately leads us to unhappiness, the unsatisfied desire to want more, and possibly put you into debt.

As a nation we all participate in daily consumption of food, clothing, shelter and some sort of transportation. to survive. We are destroying our environment with waist. On average Americans disposed over 200,000 tons of edible food daily. Pollute our air and water, destroy our forest, just so we can drive the newest car or have the latest crafted oak furniture We use top soil to build malls, so people can consume even more. In "The shadows of Consumption, Peter Dauvergne explain the coast of consumption by globalized corporations, trade, and finance." (Dauvergne, Peter. The Shadows of Consumption: Consequences for the Global Environment. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008. ).

Efficiency is not always the answer. David Owen explains that society is headed in the wrong direction, believing that to be greener we need to make our everyday lives more efficient when in reality we need to change our behavior. We as consumers want to be sustainable and take care of the Earth we live on while ironically expanding our collection of trinkets. Everything we believe in being efficient and green is misrepresented and to save the Earth the truth needs to be heard.

People are constantly looking for something better in order to feel as if they have the best they can get. Such people can be categorized as Costco shoppers, which often are the people who want to save money by buying items of extravagant sizes for less, in result thinking they are doing something beneficial. The prevalence of these super-sized items glaringly reflects the American culture, as well as the American Dream, and how it plays a role in the lives of many American citizens.

Minimalism. It is a term that has become much more popular in recent years with

I attended the “Hardcoar about Social Justice Documentary Series” about minimalism on November 14, 2017 in the HCC Digital Auditorium. The event involved a documentary movie about minimalism followed up by a small panel of people who live a minimalist life style who answered questions. The movie presented an alternative to our modern consumer culture and the idea that money and material goods are the source of our happiness. The movie mainly used a variety of anecdotal stories from minimalists who changed their life styles, as well as scientists and economists who explained the benefit of minimalism. The panel didn’t last long, and just answered two questions. They talked a bit about how living with zero waste can tie in with minimalism.

For generations, Americans has been brainwashed by the media to believe that what is displayed on television is the ideal perception of what real beauty have manipulated American citizens of what style looks like. Furthermore, with their many brainwashing strategies, that means more and more consumers spending beyond their budget. Our perspectives have been heavily influenced by what they believe is nice, but can we afford it all? With unrealistic combination of goods in store, plazas, and mall, consuming has become a bad behavior of some. In support of my argument of the “Overspending”, author Gladwell’s article “The Science of Shopping” also argues that stores adjust to fit the needs and wants of the shopper are evidently presented. With that being said, we have no idea when we are being manipulated into unrealistic shopping behavior that is influenced by the way the advertisement is presented in visual sight. Author Gladwell gets a “retail anthropologist” and “urban geographer” named Paco Underhill to give breakdown points of how he helps brand name stores influence consumers into persuasion of buying more. However, most of us fall short of that discipline, while being persuaded to overspend during our store visits.

The average human being, multiplied by the Earth’s population, would need to have about four Earths just to supply enough resources (Footprint Calculator). Thinking of people around the world, the people of the United States seem to take a lot of their life for granted. Many people when they hear of the polar ice caps melting wave it off and either don’t believe in it or believe it is not their problem. Well it is their problem and if we don’t jump on the issue soon we will not be giving our future generations much of a life. This brings me to the idea of sustainability. A simple description of the word means that what we have today we will also have tomorrow, next week, next year, or even the next lifetime. Although that is the modest version sustainability is much, much more than just that. Sustainability is derived from three main parts of the human life: environmental, social, and economic. Each being just as important as the other. Environmental is the most well-known aspect of sustainability in human life, but both social and economic take their place in keeping this Earth sustainable.

According to the calculator, if everyone lived like me, we would need 5.1 Planet Earths to provide enough resources to sustain us all. More specifically, I produce 23.4 tons of carbon dioxide per year and my lifestyle requires 22.7 global acres of the earth's productive area. My footprint breaks down as follows: services that I consume account for 39%, food accounts for 27%, goods for 17%, shelter for 11%, and mobility for 6%.

Whoever said money can’t buy happiness? Today, the argument can be made that happiness and consumerism are directly linked. It is fair to say that happiness is a relative term for different people. However, the obtaining of new and shiny things has become such a part of everyday life, that it provides happiness when people are purchasing something new, and causes sadness when no buying is taking place. For many, it seems to be a protective coating against the harsh realities of everyday stresses from a job, or family life.