Category — consumer society

It’s 6am; I’ve overslept! I should have been in line at the mall three hours ago!

I’m not a strict BND observer, but considering how you can’t separate the environmental damage caused by manufacturing, by mining and refining raw materials for manufacture, by transportation of goods and materials, and by disposal of packaging and worn-out junk from the purchase of new goods, BND does seem to be one of the more useful spiritual holidays around. There’s a reason that “reduce” is the first keyword in the “reduce, reuse, repair, recycle” mantra.

Many argue that stuff not bought today will be bought some other day, so it’s understood that BND is not a cure for consumerism, but rather a time to reflect on the future of a consumer society in the age of global warming and Peak Oil. We should question the underlying assumption of that argument, though, that there’s some fixed amount of stuff that we’re going to buy. Rather, we need to keep the Jevons paradox in mind, and consider whether the ease with which we can purchase something plays a role in our decision to purchase it in the first place.

If you’re going to make any observation of BND today, I’d say the first priority is to avoid products that are explicitly marketed as “green.” One of the softer, and IMHO more unreasonably optimistic environmental notions out there is that we can save the world simply buy buying the right stuff. A much larger fraction of the Green Living blog and its companion piece on Sierra Club Radio are devoted to buying less damaging products, instead of reducing, reusing or repairing. So today, instead of buying a shirt made from organic cotton, ask yourself instead whether you really need another shirt in the first place.

I did look through all the sale flyers that came with Yesterday’s Washington Post. Among the things advertised, without which I think that that, on balance, the world would be a better place: electric martini makers, “Latte” makers (ironically, from a company called “Back to Basics”), and Margarita makers. And scented candles.

Red Envelope, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, Harry and David, New Braunfels Smokehouse, Signals, Pretty Good Goods, VivaTerra, Napastyle, Levenger, Uno Alla Volta, Smith and Hawken: these are a few of the catalogs that have been arriving in my snail-mailbox recently. Plus the clothing ones, that I don’t even look through.

I think some of these catalogs employ agents to go around on trash night and look through everybody’s recycling, so they can send another catalog to those of us who tossed the last one.

I do admit that I like the stuff in some of the big-name yuppie catalogs more than I should. I’ve noticed, though, that a lot of the wine decanters and candle holders and trendy picture frames look the same from catalog to catalog: is there some sort of (meta-)catalog of items for yuppie catalog makers to select from? Or do design trends just propagate that quickly: one year in some rarefied place where the innovation happens, next year in the yuppie catalogs, next year as cheaper look-alikes at Target?

Catalogs are, of course, put together by graphic artists, who in many cases can’t seem to imagine that the readers of the catalog are anything but graphic artists. At least, that’s the way it seemed when I was in the market for office furniture. All the “to-do” lists on the designer whiteboards and such read like “show drawings to Kevin” or “meet with clients.” And many more ways to store your art supplies than the stacks of paper and books that tend to characterize my work environments.