Sunday, February 22, 2015

The Minimal Consumer

I have been conducting some research about living a minimalist lifestyle. The gist of the research (readings and blog spots like these) make you think about the things in your life that are essential to you. Only the things you need. Freeing yourself up from these "extras" will allow you to free up some time. The minimalist practice is certainly a way to realize spending practices. The time that you now have will enable you to focus on the things that are more meaningful and important to you, rather than the purchased items you may not even need.

To me, these ideolgies go hand in hand with the reasonings behind implementing sustianable solutions. A minimilist will analyze their current situation/ surrounding and take the future in to percepective berofre making a decision. This is what it has in common with sustianablilty. Having a minimilist mind set would create a culture in society that asks themselves what they really need instead of society telling them what they need to be happy.


Although a minimalist lifestyle would in habitually support a sustainable cultural shift, how would it support the economy? If we became a less consumer culture society what would then happen to our economy? Would we face large slow down in growth? Would we (we as in a minimalist society) even realize the slow down and be content with maintenance?


Surely there is a balance in consumerism and minimalism. I think it is up to us to discover where this balance is. It will not occur over night. We may never reach a perfect balance. But we can do a lot better then this.


1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing the visual loop and the youtube video. I came across a few things within the past months that have me interested. I came across a presentation at a conference I attended where the program built modernized homes built from clay. I want to say the total monetary costs were around $1200, but the real cost came in the man hours. However, for this particular project they used volunteers. The other is an article I came across that discussed the concept of tiny homes. All of this consumerism has really took a toll on our environment and can only be corrected by our actions. I see and agree with the point of your post, but say that knowing I am far from walking the walk. I continue to learn and strive to build on every step I take, thank you for your post.

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