negative presents

One important thing you can do "to save the planet" is to stop throwing away stuff that can be reused. If you try this at home you will soon be overwhelmed with items and no place to store them. The reason for it is quite simple: you buy too much stuff. Too much stuff that you really don't need and have no use for. The remedy is very simple: buy less stuff.

It has been said that Americans throw away 90% of what they buy within six months after purchase. If true, this is clearly an unsustainable situation. No economy can survive for an extended period of time like that. 

One thing is for sure, nearly half of what we buy is packaging and wrapping material. Not only do most items come wrapped or packaged, everyone seems to feel a need to add more material or bags. I frankly do not understand why people buy bread that is shrink-wrapped, stuffed in a plastic bag, and then feel the need to request another bag to carry it to their cars. Wait a minute! They don't carry it to their car. They simply roll the cart with all the triple and quadruple-wrapped items to their car.

One important area of unwanted goods are all the do-dads designed to "solve" infrequent and unimportant problems. Many of these can be found in the kitchen. Garlic presses, stirring tools, hard boiled egg slicers, yolk separators, juicing machines, blenders, stirrers, and what have you. The type of things that look good at first but soon become a hassle to use and wash and keep track of. 

These are also the type of items that become impulse buys. They look useful, are easy to pick up and don't cost all that much money. They are stored near the cash register or in other places where you linger and may as well pick something up that you don't need. They are also sold in fancy-looking stores filled with ingenious and unneeded gadgets or via TV shows and infomercials. The best way to avoid "collecting" such items is to not go shopping idly or to turn off your TV unless you are really watching it.

Other things we OD on are toys for our kids. Most children have so many toys they don't know what to do with them. Their rooms are filled to the brim with toys that are never looked at. These toys are there to signal how much we love our kids. But what they signal most clearly is how disposable our "love" really is. Because what we need to do, instead of working so hard to "get ahead" is spend more time with our kids.

The reality is that we are too busy to do that. So we feel guilty and buy toys instead. So here is an idea for your child's next birthday party: "give negative presents," i.e. take away presents instead of adding more. Yes you heard that right. Take away some junk and give it to charity instead of adding yet another boring item to the every growing pile of trash that is your kid's playroom. Another fancy item that your kids will spend three days looking at before adding it to the rest of the pile. Been there, done that.

less trash

The LA times reports that the current economic crisis is leading to less trash at landfills. It reads:"For a commentary on California's economic health, visit its landfills, where disposal rates are hitting record lows." Apparently, Puente Hills Landfill, "among the nations largest," noted a 30% decrease in tonnage recently.

First, it proves what I have been reporting all along, that we are a throw-away economy. According to some reports, 90% of what we buy ends up in the trash within six months. If you want to call that economic health -as the Times seems to think- welcome to idiocracy. Have some more kool-aid.

Second, it proves that the economic slowdown is good for the environment. Better than the "green economy" or any investment in "alternative fuel." Environmentalism is about slowing down and consuming less. Our current approach to the environment is like that of an obese person who is looking for alternative therapies instead of eating less and moving around more.

Third, it also shows that our current economy is unsustainable. It is based on churning through resources at ever faster rates. No matter how you slice it, something like that is not sustainable in the long run. And if churning hits high values, the "long" in long run becomes very short indeed. We have become like locusts, and locusts do not survive for very long.

I do not advocate recession, or depression -because that is what we are seeing now, but it appears to be the only way to get us to change our behavior. Much like out-of-control gas consumption was unstoppable until prices rose, it looks like we will need a long and deep depression to kick our bad consumerism habits. 

Common sense has failed, and to get it back we will have to experience some serious, lasting pain. But don't worry. It is coming your way. Don't be fooled by the temporary upswing -the Obama effect- because it is temporary. I have said it many times before and I will keep on repeating it, the worse is yet to come. The Dow will go down to 6,000. It may even go lower. And buying gold -the metal, not mining stocks, but actual bullion- is a smart thing to do.

While I hope we can avoid it, it may get so bad that paper money becomes real paper again.

Meanwhile, keep up the good work, and reduce trash.