{"id":1139,"date":"2013-08-15T12:04:54","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T17:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecooptimism.com\/?p=1139"},"modified":"2013-08-15T12:04:54","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T17:04:54","slug":"almost-good-advice-on-consumption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecooptimism.com\/?p=1139","title":{"rendered":"Almost Good Advice on Consumption"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Credit:<\/a>

Credit: Patrick Hoesly via Flickr<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

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This CNN article<\/a>, headlined \u201cParents, you don’t need to buy more stuff,\u201d seemed promising. Though it\u2019s pretty basic and obvious to EcoOptimism readers, my first reaction was that it\u2019s great to see this type of post-consumer attitude in the \u201clamestream\u201d media. However, it didn\u2019t end as smartly as I\u2019d expected.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m contentedly \u201cchildfree<\/a>,\u201d so the examples mentioned in the article aren\u2019t all that applicable to my relatively small ecofootprint urban lifestyle, but still the advice in the closing paragraph caught my eye: \u201cFocus on buying better time instead of buying better stuff.\u201d \u00a0That sounded right for a second until I realized they were a bit off the mark in advising against buying better stuff. What we\u2019re really talking about is buying less<\/i> stuff. Despite the expensive and less functional high chair example they dwell on, a general rule should be buy less stuff, but when you do buy, aim for durable, high quality (as well as ecologically and socially responsible) stuff.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m all for the advice to \u201caccept every hand-me-down you can find and let your toddler put a vegetable colander on his head rather than hitting the store for the latest Hot Wheels Monster Truck\u201d — even though my favorite toys were my Matchbox (non-monster sized) trucks. But if that colander is getting handed down because the cheap material has broken, don\u2019t replace it with another cheap one that will just break again.<\/p>\n

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