Once one thing breaks, everything breaks. At least it feels like that. Something like that happened to me. Some major and some minor things stopped working. Also, I need to buy some things, because I will be on rehab this summer and I need underwear and other essentials for my stay.
In this post I write about, how difficult it is to buy sustainable and fair in our system and how to make it better in our good system. I think there are 3 ways to shop sustainable, or more like steps.
3 ways to shop sustainable today
If something breaks, the first thing to try is to repair it. That’s the most sustainable way, because you don’t need new resources and the people in the repair shop should get paid fairly. Why else should be the prices so high?
But some things are beyond repair, or it is too expensive. For the price you pay, you must always consider the costs for environment and people. But how as a single person should you do that and even if you do, repairs are often too pricey.
Buy used
The next step would be to buy second hand or refurbished. That is often a good choice. Specially for electronics. It is a little bit risky, if you buy it on Craigslist or whatever this kind of platform is called in your country. You must have a little bit of knowledge of the gear you want to buy, so you don’t buy crap for too much money.
You can also use a shop specialized for second hand and refurbished things. This will be a little bit more expensive, but you are safer that the gear works, and often you get even warranty. But you have to be careful because sometimes the used stuff is nearly the same price or even higher than new things on discount.
Of course, the new gear is not as sustainable as the used one, and you should always consider that. But it is one of the problems of our existing system.
Clothes, dishes, toys, etc. are also very good to buy second hand. Look for the nearest flea market and you will most certainly find something. Except if you need something specific or your size is not that common. Then you may search for a long time.
Buy new but sustainable
If you still haven’t found something adequate, you need step three. Buy something new, but as sustainable and fair as possible. And if you thought step one and two were difficult, then welcome to hellhole.
It is nearly impossible to find something really sustainable and fair for a prize you can afford.
Yes, every company now says, that it is so climate friendly and cares about the planet. Most of the time it is green washed bullshit. The one thing these companies care about is their profit and the dividends of their shareholders.
If you found one company or small manufacturer who really cares, it is often too little and too much. Too little sustainable and too much money.
For example, most clothes that call themselves sustainable are made from organic cotton. It is more sustainable than cotton, but by far not the most sustainable material we have. It is like you change your fossil fuels car to a grey hydrogen car.
Tencel, merino, bamboo, hemp can all be much more sustainable and a better material to wear. But it depends on how they are grown, processed and manufactured. It is nearly impossible to check it for yourself. And if you can, because you are a magician, you buy more than €100 for one basic t-shirt. But I guess if you can do magic, you could make the t-shirt yourself for free.
A small digression. Don’t buy recycled materials for clothes and shoes. They are of lower quality and will get destroyed soon. Especially, don’t buy recycled plastics. They will produce much more and much faster microplastics, which could do much harm to people, animals and the environment.
How to fix this mess.
3 ways to shop sustainable made easier
On the short term, we need to make repairs affordable. Repair bonuses are one way to do it, but often the workshops raise the prizes, so you have to pay the same as before, but they get the extra bonus from the government. Also, companies should have to repair their products for a longer period. And they need to make it so, that they are easy to repair. Also planned obsolescence must be forbidden.
The EU wants to enforce many of these laws, but is blocked by right wing politicians. That’s because in our capitalist system, all these things would mean less profit. And like the companies don’t care about their customers, these politicians don’t care about their voters. Only about the votes. But that’s a topic for another post.
To buy second hand or refurbished works pretty good, I think. There are shops and platforms that can be trusted. The problem that you find something specific can’t be solved by the system.
The one thing that can be improved, is to make it easier to sell things. For example, digital goods can’t be sold. If you bought and own it, you should be able to do so. Otherwise, you never have bought it.
If you have to buy new, it should be easy to know how sustainable and fair the products are. That can be achieved by transparency and governmental controls. Like nutriscore for sustainable products you can choose the most sustainable one.
How would it look like in our good system
3 ways to shop sustainable in a good system
Of course, things wouldn’t break as often because companies are forced to make better quality products. There is no planned obsolescence. We have glasses that don’t break, lights that work forever and even printers would be functional devices.
If something breaks, it is easy to repair for yourself, or you find a cheap workshop nearby.
Second hand and refurbished shops and flea markets would still exist and if you buy there it is cheaper than new.
Because there will be only sustainable and fair produced goods. You don’t have to look at any labels, you know what you buy is as sustainable and fair as it gets. There is no greenwashing. Companies have to be completely transparent in their manufacturing process and on their wages.
It will be more expensive than nowadays, but not as extreme as some labels are now. You may buy less, what is even more sustainable. Because you only buy things you need and not just to buy something.
Maybe even you don’t buy anything anymore. Maybe you only use things and then pass it on or give items back or recycle it. What if we own nothing? Wouldn‘t that even better?
Let me know what you think about the 3 ways to shop sustainable, and tell me how you buy things right now.
Further Information
You haven’t had enough yet? Well, ok. In this section, I give links to additional resources. I will update, when I find something interesting. Get informed about updates in my newsletter. The link to subscribe is at the bottom of this post.
Climate Town once again posted a video shortly after I finished writing this post. It’s about how unsustainable the fashion industry is, and that’s part of our topic. So watch the video here or on Nebula.
My name is Ian DeBay.
I am the founder of iandebay.com. I am a content creator, blogger, podcast, YouTuber. This is my blog where I talk about system change, sustainability and other fun stuff.
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