I Grew Up Buying Stuff



I remember when I got my first job and used it to fund clothes, jewellery, bags, stationery and other stuff. I didn’t think a lot about the effects of what I was doing – on myself as well as on others and the planet. I didn’t question the ideologies that got me so invested in this earning-buying-cycle.

And then, when I learnt about the environmental and social damage being done through my shopping habits, they didn’t just disappear. Because a knowledge of the consequences isn’t necessarily enough when a pattern has been with you for your whole life and you aren’t aware of how it works.

There is no denying that Australians love to shop, but our obsession with consumption is disastrous for the planet and it is adding little to our wellbeing. We are purchasing things, not to fulfil our basic needs, but to make social statements about ourselves.

When I became a parent I adopted a new way of thinking… where are the things coming from that I am using, and who am I buying them from? Where is it going to go when I’m done with it? How can I use things that already exist, instead of asking the planet to continually contribute more resources?

I dream of living closer to nature, having space to grow food, having a small ecological footprint, and being part of a sustainable community and dismantling the guilt, shoulds and self-judgment. Feeling good plus doing good....