People be like "be sustainable", and sometimes you just wana scream "but it's so hard to do!!"
I hear ya. Here's a distinction that's helped me figure things out. Yes, we need clothes, we need to get around, we need stuff (even if we don't 'need' an iPhone we still 'need' one to function in society), and we need to have fun, too.
All of those needs can be met through consumerism. That's commodification, where things are made into products or services and we buy them and they create waste and around and around it goes. But there's another option. For our transport, food, clothing, childcare and even our financial needs, we can go the path of 'commonification'. It's a cool concept. For each thing we could purchase, there exists an entire ecosystem of alternative ways to meet that need. Need to get the kids to school? Well there's the car, with all the costs and emissions that come with that. Or there's the bike, the bus, the train, and if we dig deeper there might be other options, too. Are there families in the same street who can help out walking with the kids one day while you do the next? Maybe a friend walks their dog that time of morning anyway, and would be more than happy to take the kids to school at the same time? Maybe the kids are getting older and can walk, bike or scate themselves? And on that walk, will they pat a dog? Will they see a magnolia bloom? Will they stop by the street library, or the 'free lemons' stand?
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