By Eleanor Blessing
When trying to face the daunting task of solving the Climate Crisis, one might instinctively want to attack the most well-known or mainstream causes. A few big words probably come to mind: “Fossil Fuels!” “Carbon Emissions!” “Deforestation!”—but these issues often feel out of reach on a personal level. What brings down the large institutions that support this destruction are, more often than not, other large institutions. Many of us aren’t part of those powerful bodies, yet we still want to fight for the preservation of our home. And there is a solution…
Two years ago, Time Magazine author Justin Worland wrote: “But there remains a significant elephant in the room in the climate blame game: runaway consumption. Household consumption is responsible for more than 60% of global emissions.” He brings to light a major contributor to environmental destruction: runaway consumption. This refers to the continuous and rapid increase in the production and consumption of goods and services—often far exceeding what is necessary or sustainable.
You and your household have an effect on this. Your consumer habits have an effect on this.
Rubicon Recovery Center ran a study on the amount of unnecessary purchases Americans make. Here’s what they found: the average American makes three impulse purchases each week, totaling about 156 per year. Statista uncovered that 16% of purchases in America are made online. That would mean there are approximately 8,511,360,000 impulsive online purchases in the U.S. per year (16% of 156 purchases x 341 million people). Every one of those purchases needs to be shipped and packaged, which means more greenhouse gases from delivery trucks and more plastic waste—much of which ends up in the ocean.
The effect you can have on this is immense. If you begin to limit the number of impulsive purchases you make, you can lessen your carbon footprint. And isn’t that the overall goal?