By Eva Hu
“More was never the answer. The answer, it turned out, was always less.” - Cait Flanders.
Statistics show that on average, at least 33% of Americans shop online once a week, and at least 69% -- over ⅔ -- shop online monthly (Mintil). Out of these shoppers, 59% purchase clothing online, amounting to a total of $150 per month, only to throw away an average of 65 pounds of clothes by the end of the year (Vega).
In the fast-pace and modern world that we live in, where technology is so ingrained in our lives, it is easy for us to access the web to buy and buy and buy, only to toss it in the trash when we realize we don’t need it, or forget about it all together and leave it lying at the back of a cabinet to collect dust. I have to admit that even though I’m usually cautious when shopping, I’m still guilty of being an impulsive shopper when it comes to kitchen appliances or baking ingredients (shamelessly going to admit buying a 50lb bag of cake flour from Amazon and barely making a dent in it after several weeks). This then brings up the question: why do people buy things they don’t necessarily need?
Well, it turns out, there are two possible explanations.
It alleviates their pain or suffering (perhaps from a traumatic event or breakup)
It gives them pleasure (buying it boosts your confidence or “significantly” improves your lifestyle).
And what do these explanations have in common? They both implicitly conclude that shopping helps distract us and give us momentary happiness (emphasis on the word momentary). That’s right. Think back to the times when you’ve gone out with your friends or stayed home to look at the online shopping catalog. Have you truly felt happy after buying the items in the store? I certainly did not after buying that 50lb bag of cake flour and honestly, worrying about using it all before it expires gives me even more stress than studying for the SATs. Okay, some of you may think that it's absurd I had even thought about buying that much flour in the first place. Yeah, I realized it was dumb too after I had bought it. I’m sure most of you can relate to experiencing a tinge of euphoria when you spot something you’re interested in. That desire to have the item only continues to grow as you continue to scroll through the catalog, and before long, you’ve already placed it in your shopping cart. What’s more, is that this cycle of buying something unnecessary and feeling terrible about it later only continues to repeat when I search up recipes and realize that I lacked other ingredients.
Even though the majority of us know that our long-lasting happiness comes from spending time with people we care about, we still make irrational decisions to create more unneeded stress in our lives, such as buying things we think need. Ironically, the more things we buy, the fewer opportunities we’ll have to actually use it and so we’ll end up having to discard it. I mean, what a waste of resources.
This isn’t just something trivial that we should dismiss quickly either. While large industrial food productions are environmentally harmful, being responsible for up to 25% of the greenhouse gas emissions, the global clothing industry is just as terrible, accounting for up to 10% (Stiff). Take cotton as an example. Cotton is the most common type of fabric used for clothing, and it needs a lot of water to grow healthily. To produce one shirt, a total of 2,700 liters of water is needed. That’s about the amount of water a person drinks in 2 and ½ years. Other materials such as polyester have an even greater carbon footprint than cotton, and the production of this material amounted to approximately 706 billion kg of greenhouse gases in 2015 (Drew). Furthermore, fabric dye that is not often discarded properly causes more pollution. Now that is definitely something to consider.
When we think about decreasing our carbon footprint, we tend to think of ways such as driving less or growing our own gardens, but we fail to recognize one of the easiest methods to do so: buying less. The act of buying less is so simple, yet most of us still spend our money hastily on things we don’t need. It’s time that we change our shopping habits, both for ourselves and the environment. Albeit, it may take more time for some than others, eventually, we can all learn to appreciate and treasure the things we have and live a more happy and environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Citations
Drew, Deborah, and Genevieve Yehounme. “The Apparel Industry's Environmental Impact in 6 Graphics.” World Resources Institute, 16 Jan. 2020, www.wri.org/blog/2017/07/apparel-industrys-environmental-impact-6-graphics.
Kara Stiff. “How We Reduced the Environmental Impact of (Almost) Everything We Buy.” Resilience, 22 Jan. 2020, www.resilience.org/stories/2020-01-22/how-we-reduced-the-environmental-impact-of-almost-everything-we-buy/.
News, Mintil. “Nearly 70% of Americans Shop Online Regularly with Close to 50% Taking Advantage of Free Shipping.” Mintel, Mintel, 13 July 2015, www.mintel.com/press-centre/technology-press-centre/nearly-70-of-americans-shop-online-regularly-with-close-to-50-taking-advantage-of-free-shipping.
Vega, Malvina. “17 Retail Statistics 2020 and The Future of Shopping.” Review42, 8 June 2020, review42.com/retail-statistics/.
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