Sustainability is a buzzword that EMU uses broadly, as do many other universities and corporations, but I believe that few people actually care about it to a significant degree. Many of those people who care about it care a great deal but aren’t often listened to. It seems most others think that “sustainability” requires radical minimalism and/or large, difficult changes to their lifestyle. These things are important, and sustainability must be taken very seriously, but doing something about it is still better than doing nothing — as those who care about sustainability repeatedly note.
I value greatly the tenets of minimalism, but I also want to emphasize that there is strong value in reaffirming the “reuse and recycle” part of “reduce, reuse, recycle.” Minimalism can be difficult and this seems to deter people from doing much of anything in terms of intentional sustainability. I believe there are multiple approaches to changing our way of life in simple, low-effort ways. While minimalism and anti-consumerism are valuable, many people have trouble with the concepts without having been brought up with them.
Reuse/repurposing allows us to reduce so we can also recycle less; using less to begin with is critical. This also helps address some of the spaces that are left less-occupied in the current system we have. Thrift/secondhand stores are part of this space, DIYers are sometimes part of this space, upcycling is part of this space — it is unlikely everyone would want to buy used items, and there will likely always be enough consumers to create more than enough supply of used items. In fact, if instead of disposing items when they are no longer wanted, we simply donated things to thrift stores, sold them at yard/garage/stuff sales or on sites like Craigslist or eBay, I think the supply of used items in these places would easily increase by a multiple of 10 or more.
Reduction at the front end helps us need to use the other “R”s less, while still working toward making a strong personal impact.
Huge reduction is not for everyone. Maybe you don’t want to live in a “tiny home” or a van. That isn’t all that reducing your consumption is about. It’s also worth noting that nearly all of us could do with some reduction.
Many people are uncomfortable with reduction, as reeling one’s consumption back in can be much more difficult than letting it remain how it is. It does not always have to be hard, and — more importantly — anything more you are doing is better than nothing!
Small reduction can be simple little things anyone can do that add up, with little to no actual inconvenience. With eating, these include not getting a drinking straw and plastic lid on a drink you’re drinking at a table, using containers and metal silverware for packed lunches instead of baggies or plasticware, buying in bulk sizes so there is less packaging, and not using those godforsaken Keurig cups (they make reusable ones, if you have to go there). With electronics, this means maybe cutting down the number of screens you have (do you really need a tablet if you have a smartphone and a laptop?), or not replacing your phone immediately when the 2-year mark rolls around (if you replace the battery, it lasts even longer).
There are different values to each strategy and different benefits of each approach to sustainability. For example, the benefits of thrift stores are not simply in the items not being trashed, but also providing a place for those with lower incomes be able to afford nicer things than they otherwise would. This includes dress/business/work clothing that may be necessary for acquiring or working at a job. $20 “name brand” boots from a thrift store are likely to last longer than $20 boots from Walmart, as well as provide more cushion so that the construction worker using them has less joint and back pain. The nurse/CNA who could only afford one set of scrubs now does not have to work a long shift wearing the same clothes they have sweated in for twenty-four accumulated hours already. Any items put back into circulation — instead of being disposed of — also reduces the demand for that type of object: items bought in thrift stores potentially mean those items aren’t being bought new, which means less is produced.
In the coming weeks, I will be exploring a few more of these easy, valuable approaches to everyday sustainability that I do not often hear talked about.
