Mountains of Things

[Phoebe]

I'm curious what people think about this, since I know some of you have worked on it or addressed it in your lives: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ ... nk/567985/
Nutshell version: Americans are buying way more Stuff than they need, generally a lot of disposable stuff that has human and environmental costs to make, and they're disposing of things at a high rate that compounds the environmental cost.

One thing that annoys me about this article: it shouldn't talk about "hoarding" because that's a very specific thing that is sometimes treated with cruelty and ignorance in our popular culture. This article isn't in fact about American hoarders; it's about everyone else who buys way more stuff than is needed for actual use.

However, this overall argument about Excess stuff has many sub-themes. One is about buying more stuff than one needs - what causes it, what effects does it have, is it a problem? What is the role of online shopping, emphasized in this particular essay, in accumulation of things?
(For instance, the author claims that it gives a greater neurological thrill because you both purchase and then, sometime later, receive a box. But for me at least, that isn't the experience - hunting things down like that one decently usable shirt in a store, like ancestors might have hunted a deer in the forest, is more satisfying when successful, and online shopping often gets done for drudgery items, things one needs like appliance filters, and other non-thrilling occasions. Nevertheless, it makes the buying easier.)

Another pertains to how we should discard things - regardless of how much we are taking on - given that most discarded objects aren't reused, or we may donate thinking it hits a target with need, but even then perhaps the stuff remains useless. I wonder about this, given that I donate used stuff to a place that sells them for super cheap, compared to horrid places like "Goodwill", and keeps things until they are given away for free, if necessary. Are such places really all that rare, or is it simply that people aren't using them as they could be? I.e. the problem is an inefficient redistribution of surplus.
(Interesting side note: I have a friend who became very wealthy by starting a company that resells the castoffs from places like Goodwill or local thrift stores, sent in bulk containers to Africa and S America).

What do we do about the environmental costs of all this surplus stuff? All the plastic? All the fossil-fueled making of New Things?

Another issue pertains to the twin obsessions in our culture of buying stuff all the time, but also organizing and Kondo-ing and Swedish-death-cleaning everything, well, to death. Maybe the ever-present urge to do the latter comes from too much of the former. However, there's a widespread sense that, to have a socially-approved and Good household, you have to master your clutter. Being a Clean and Virtuous person means not having crap lying about, and we hear that it chips away at our psychological well-being. Even when you stash stuff, the goal is to have it in an array of carefully labelled tubs. There is a major feminist issue here too. I smell a gigantic rat, but will spare everyone the associated rant.

(Tangential musings: unnamed people in my family are very upset with my bad parenting because my kids have too much stuff, and therefore never experience the burning need and learning process of wanting stuff they don't have, saving money for it, and then buying the stuff. I have deliberately chosen a totally different way of training them about stuff, though, and the fact that people are mad is kind of proving that it worked. They don't value Stuff as much as they should, in the sense that they don't care for all of their stuff as well as they should and think of it as more disposable than they should, but I think this is a common problem in ALL kids who are living beyond concerns like hunger and not even having things like clean, functional clothing. I feel like that will change gradually as we transition to them purchasing their own stuff with the money they earned. Meanwhile, they take care of Big Stuff very well, Big and Cherished stuff like art or musical instruments or books or computers, and they don't value other Stuff hardly at all. Right? They don't value stuff. Where is the problem? Objects are not a big part of their thoughts or day. To me that's the victory. They hate shopping. They don't burn with the slightest desire for Stuff, except for those stupid effing Squishies that are probably, like climate change, a Chinese plot to destroy America. I can't even interest these kids in buying a needed school garment, whereas I, constantly dressed in ludicrous polyester monstrosities as a child, burned like crazy for better garments and probably still deal with the remnants of that training.)

I'm fascinated by all this, really - many things intersecting in our culture here.

[bralbovsky]

Love the Tracy Chapman allusion.