大象传媒

My family made a pledge in January to minimise buying anything new.

If we thought we needed something 鈥� the plan was to look to see whether we already had it, to utilise something else, or to get it second hand. If, after all that, we decided we still needed it, and had to buy it new 鈥� then we would search for the most ethical, sustainable, environmentally friendly version of what we wanted.

We had three motivations:听

To a lesser extent, the decision is about financial freedom. If we buy less, then we have to earn and work less, meaning more time to do things we want to do.

But the two big motivators are Environmental and Spiritual.

I personally can鈥檛 see how it鈥檚 possible to have infinite growth on a finite planet. It doesn鈥檛 make sense to me that we keep on acquiring more and more, and expect the planet to cope. Every new product created requires new resources to be acquired and new energy to be used. We saw the impact of the halt on manufacturing in China and Italy during lockdown. Air quality improved, as nitrogen dioxide levels plummeted. If we鈥檙e to decrease emissions in normal times, then I reckon we have to decrease manufacturing, and for that to make sense, we have to decrease demand.听

Our spiritual motivation drew on the Qur鈥檃n: 鈥淩ivalry for worldly gain will distract you until you go down to your graves.鈥� And the Prophet reflected that, if a human is given a valley full of gold, they will yearn for another one.

We didn鈥檛 want to be distracted, or to suffer from the constant yearning for 鈥渕ore鈥�. On the contrary, the desire to live a spiritually reflective life, simpler life is increasing.

And so, with these motivators in place, we鈥檝e purchased very little by way of 鈥渟tuff鈥� for over six months now. In addition, we鈥檝e been getting rid of things.

Obviously, lockdown happened in the middle of this, and made the whole process strangely more normal, as no one could really buy things. Now however, we are all being encouraged to go out and shop. In some places, it is presented almost as a patriotic duty. But personally, I just don鈥檛 have the desire for shopping at all, it has been replaced by a desire for contentment.

As a household, we鈥檙e striving to support artists, crafts people, and local businesses in these difficult times, but simplifying our life, and not accumulating stuff feels wonderfully liberating.

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