To be bothered by how much we consume as a society...

[Cakelesswonder]

Don't get me wrong I love a retail therapy session but today just felt utterly gluttonous in the amount of ads for Black Friday, the 'deals, I couldn't move for emails offering me 20% off lots of things I don't need. I'm not suggesting everyone knits their own yogurt and lives like Mormons but I really feel we don't have the resources on Earth to keep consuming, throwing and consuming like we do. Everything is disposable, straws, clothes, we buy water in bottles then throw them away polluting the oceans and planet for ourselves and future generations. I have no idea what the overall solution is but it really got to me today .

what can we encourage Mumsnet to campaign on?

How about a "one Christmas present per child" campaign, and any other money that would have been spent (from family, friends, etc) to go to an environmental charity?

BTW anyone that wouldn't agree with this doesn't really care about saving the planet.

I Fully agree with you. I think it was watching Wall-E a few years back which did it for me. Seeing the earth as a giant rubbish dump with no sign of life. I just felt it was a vision of our future if we carry on like this.

Totally agree. What I've been doing recently is commenting at the till every time I shop (usually Lidl or Aldi) about the excess packaging. I do it in a friendly way but at least making my point.
I then take all excess packaging off my shopping at the packing shelf and leave it. I'd been watching other shoppers do it for a while.

It's not a huge thing but at least I feel I'm making my feelings apparent in a small way.

YANBU!!! I felt the exact same way today. There’s some countries struggling to feed their population and here we all are, fighting over tellys. It’s really pointless. Part of my module (studying psychology hons) is about planned obsolescence. It’s a fascinating subject. In a nutshell companies purposefully make their product to NOT last, so you come back for more. Started in the 50’s with lightbulbs. So bow we but more and more crap because stuff doesnt last to increase profit margins and we are conditioned as a society to think this is retail therapy. :(

Actually, Chrys, while I appreciate the sentiment, a campaign focussing on our children's stuff seems wrong, like asking our children to make the changes to put right their parents' excesses (possibly a parallel with all the baby boomers bashing you read?). It should be a campaign based around adult consumption, not sure what, buying fewer clothes? Teaching people some of the simple mending skills we seem to have lost?

Ive got one of these sets of bags
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B00DRAS75U/ref=dp_olp_0?condition=all&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8

Comes with net bags for fruit and veg although not much is loose nowadays!

I'm a Mormon and don't 'live like' anything. for trying.

P.S you mean Amish.

Ah, planned obsolescence gives me the rage as well

The coffee thing - I don't get it, there are obviously lots of people who were adults in the days they just had coffee at work or home, so why do people feel the need to buy a takeaway coffee? Is it just that the option is there?

The obsession with takeaway food and drink is a big part of the problem. There's so much profit in it now but that amount of plastic is a big deal. I still pack lunches for work and some of my friends find that astonishing, but I'm astonished that people happily hand over a fiver for a noodle salad. A pp mentions the economic benefits - yes, that's a huge deal to us and I know it appears tight sometimes but a whole working life of packing lunch saves a fortune.

I know there was a big thing about shops dumping unsold clothes in the street but I don't know if they still do it.

@Swirlingasong But any successful campaign for radical social change (and becoming a less consumerist society would be radical) must start with the children. If we can teach them that Christmas/life isn't all about "stuff" then perhaps our planet will have a chance.

You're saying they shouldn't pay the price... but the point is that we don't need and shouldn't want so much STUFF... and if we don't teach them to want it, they won't miss it.

Apologies if I offended you idfwu it wasn't intentional.

Chrys, I didn't see you post that way at all

I just thought you meant, children get one present ad adults, just stop exchanging tat full stop. I totally understand because many people will use children as the excuse for buying mountains of tat, it's all "oh it's for the children" but the children don't care, it's the adults who want to amuse themselves buying crap.

@Nyx1 I agree with what you said.
A newborn or one or two-year old doesn't care how many presents they get. The fun in the gifts is for the parents.
By the time they're five or so they've been well-conditioned that presents!=fun!=good times!=everybody's happy! and they're whining about how much stuff they want.

Standing in the shops today I noticed all the Christmas tat and it's frankly shocking. I used to see it and be excited about Christmas coming and how festive it is but today all I could see is that its all garbage. I turned to my husband and said look at all this tat. Humans have so much stuff. One big garbage pile. Sigh. Its very disturbing.

One small thing I've started doing is keeping in my bag my own knife and fork, cloth napkin and reusable straw. When I go to cafes and coffee shops I use these rather than the disposable stuff provided.

I did a beach clear up yesterday - it was a real eye opener. At first glance it looked pretty clean but there were small lumps of polystyrene everywhere, probably just one fish box but so hard to clear up and because it had broken down into tiny pieces it was spread far and wide and so dangerous for wildlife. I found it profoundly shocking how much damage could be caused by just one item.

As a society we have to change the way we think dramatically.

For example the way that shopping is presented as a leisure activity rather than a necessity.

I can understand why government supports the retail industry.
If we move away from being a consumer based society what impact would that have on jobs/the economy?

Would people diversify into new jobs?

It's terribly worrying.

I expect life will be much different in ten years time.

As a society we have to change the way we think dramatically.

I think it's down to governments forcing every producer of anything, anywhere into a zero-footprint position. Watch the cost of McDonalds happy meal shite sky rocket.

Humans are self-interested idiots and we can't rely upon goodwill.

How about a "one Christmas present per child" campaign, and any other money that would have been spent (from family, friends, etc) to go to an environmental charity?

And, NO MORE PARTY FAVOUR BAGS

I feel so disgusted when I see all this stuff "on sale" etc although I know it's hypocritical because I'm far from perfect (eat take away, have bought fast fashion at times). Like PP I carry a cutlery set for eating out.

I just feel despair though at what I see. At my work they have a stack of polystyrene cups instead of using mugs for tea and coffee. People even use the cups to take literally one sip of water then throw the cup. An hour later they grab a new cup, and have another sip.

I have seen my DP pick up two apples at the supermarket and put it in a plastic bag. Two apples! Then at the til he put that plastic bag in a plastic carrier bag. Which he then put straight in his back pack! He wasn't a very "d" p to me on that day.

I feel so disgusted when I see all this stuff "on sale" etc although I know it's hypocritical because I'm far from perfect (eat take away, have bought fast fashion at times). Like PP I carry a cutlery set for eating out.

I just feel despair though at what I see. At my work they have a stack of polystyrene cups instead of using mugs for tea and coffee. People even use the cups to take literally one sip of water then throw the cup. An hour later they grab a new cup, and have another sip.

I have seen my DP pick up two apples at the supermarket and put it in a plastic bag. Two apples! Then at the til he put that plastic bag in a plastic carrier bag. Which he then put straight in his back pack! He wasn't a very "d" p to me on that day.

I am totally with you. I rarely go shopping these days (2small DC), but often when I am in a shop I am just overwhelmed by the stuff. Some nice stuff, and lots of tat.......95% of I will never need. And if I don’t need it, the likelyhood is that others don’t need it either. I’m talking about properly need.
2.5BILLION coffee cups a year....that’s how many we chuck away. Ban them, like the plastic bags. I carry round my own brilliant (doesn’t leak and stays hot) mug. The biggest problem....most retailers won’t fill it (health and safety)......so they fill a cup and hand it to me to pour into my cup. So now I fill it up before I leave home.
My go to for pretty much everything I buy these days is eBay. Sometimes the postage seems expensive, but it’s still cheaper than the cost of me driving and paying to park for whatever it is I need. Almost all my kids clothes, armbands for swimming, goggles, furniture.
If you want a more depressing day out than standing feeling overwhelmed in the poundshop/John Lewis take a trip to your local tip. I reckon at least 50% of the stuff being chucked is still perfectly useable.
Our children won’t have a planet left for their children 😔

eBay and Facebook ads are great, I buy most things second hand these days

Consumption is the only thing driving economies like ours

It is a difficult position we have put ourselves into.

Automobile ownership/lack of decent public transport/suburbanisation as well.

Cheap protein.

We are running out of time.

Yanbu.

I do try and use the library and charity shops but plastic packaging on food seems to be unavoidable. Although in the summer when my allotment is doing well I do have far less rubbish.

Urgh, just saw the bulking out thread - so depressing! It's so nice to read this thread and realise that there are like-minded people who do think about how all this stuff is going to impact the planet. The default mindset these day doesn't seem to consider it at all.

Do you think we could ask for a Zero Waste board where we could all gather together, swap resources and figure out how to change the world?