Buying Eco-Friendly Is Not Always Sustainable

If you’re looking for a sign to purchase those items in your shopping cart, chances are, you don’t even need them. And by need, I mean, it is neither a necessity nor something you really really, really want.

Each passing day, a new product, an innovation, no matter how trivial, is out in the market and aims to provide relief to humans’ unending thirst for convenience and satisfaction. The capitalist industry feeds on this human instinct of purchasing what we feel is needed. And factors more than the environment suffer the consequences of the now reversed ideology of “necessity is the mother of invention” — necessity has become the child.

Despite the growing measures to combat the effects of our likewise increasing consumption, we may be — in fact, we already are, doing the opposite.

The Perfect Marketing Recipe…You Shouldn’t Fall For

Consider trends in buying sustainable products.

Most of the time, these are marketed to the public, guilting people into buying the products, facing them with how their previous practices hurt the environment. Add to this, the consumer’s urge to fit in with trends, and a business has got the perfect recipe to increase their sales.

However, as a responsible buyer, you should be reviewing and assessing how purchases could affect not only you but all other factors of the world you live in, such as the environment and society.

If you think buying that bamboo utensil set is a step towards sustainability, think again.

So, Should I Hop on the Minimalist Lifestyle Trend?

The true essence of sustainability is somehow synonymous with minimalism. Only get what you need. And get what would last you for as long as you need it.

Buying those wooden utensils is not a step towards an eco-friendlier life, especially if you already have utensils at home that you can pack for outside-home errands — and I highly doubt it if you claim not to have spoons and forks at home. Buying the set defeats its purpose of being sustainable because you never needed them in the first place.

If you weigh the benefits of consumerism against its many cons, well, you don’t even have to because the cons would easily outweigh the pros.

Consumerism does big things for a region’s economic growth — there’s no doubt in that. And what keeps the market growing is the innovative and creative minds of entrepreneurship. However, as individuals, being consumed by consumerism brings more damage to the singular than what it does good to the collective.

The Pursuit of Conscious Consumerism

This generation has been treading towards conscious consumerism, one step at a time. However, society and the market should respectively understand and inform how conscious consumerism is not synonymous with purchasing “environmental” products.

Instead, it should be focused on how both the consumers and the market can bring change to their previous and rather destructive practices by giving more attention to the impacts of buying and the behind-the-scenes in manufacturing consumer products.

Being a member of both ends of consumerism, I believe I have a big responsibility and power to give light to more sustainable practices that should be well-disseminated to the bigger public.

How to be a Smart and Sustainable Consumer

As a consumer, you should be knowledgeable enough about how certain products came to be and what these have in store for you as a shopper.

In choosing from a wide array of selections, you should analyze first if the products can be used for long — and if it is even going to be used — before questioning yourself of its quality, cost, ingredients, and convenience. After all, what would examining these factors do if you will not even be maximizing the product’s purpose?

To specify this, take that pending “sustainable” utensil set purchase into account again. From what I can observe and conclude, buying such would be impractical now that we’re in the middle of a pandemic. Why? Well, for one, you will not be using it since we are mostly in a work-from-home situation.

Secondly, do you seriously not have utensils at home? You can just pack what you already have — make it portable for whenever you are prompted to leave the house.

Or lastly, but most probably, were you just enticed by how the packaging and marketing were presented? The same can be said when purchasing other merchandise. And since we’re on the topic anyway, I strongly urge you to start thrifting. If you want unique, thrift and vintage stores are a haven for the one-of-a-kind.

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So, to sum it up, buy only what you need. And I cannot emphasize this enough, but I’m almost a hundred percent sure there are only so few under that category.

If you know what you need, buy the most sustainable option. This covers a reasonable price for the best quality, but it is important to note that great quality is not synonymous with high-end branded labels — do not pay for the name. Sustainability also means it should be safe and should not have compromised the environment — and its components (animals!!) — in any way, and will not be harming you or the environment as you reap its utility.

And ultimately, bigger is not better, and better is not always better for you.

The problem with consumerism really lies in the fact that people fail to realize, or even when already realized, neglect that there is a problem.

If you want to achieve true sustainability, reflect on how you’ve been living your life right now. And for a start, ask yourself these questions:

Do I turn the faucet off when I brush my teeth?

Do I use all the pieces inside my closet?

Did I buy something because I need it or because it was on sale, had cute packaging, was bought by my friend, was owned by my idol, TikTok said so,…?

Do not succumb to the popular notion that there is no way around materialistic consumerism, claiming that “it’s just how it is.” The power is within us to change how society has been modeled into what it is now. Acknowledging the repercussions behind every single purchase we make is one thing. But acting according to these realizations is the bigger, more important aspect of becoming a more practical and conscious consumer.

I trust you’ll make the right decision with your shopping cart. Do you need that item?