As easy (and understandable) as it is to complain about paper straws and the like, the truth is that it’s overall a new positive to not create trash that will outlive multiple generations of humans. However, the bad news is that we all have a long way to go.
The “Anticonsumption” online group shows the environmental effects of producing, moving, and buying too much stuff through memes and insightful posts. Hopefully, these images might be some good food for thought, so get comfortable, be sure to upvote the posts that caught your eye and comment your thoughts below.
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My Haven
Came Across This On Facebook
Exactly
Looking at all the examples here might lead someone to despair, so it’s worth also highlighting that it’s not all doom and gloom. For example, just this week (November of 2024) Australian scientists have developed a method to recycle old textiles into concrete. The fashion industry and fast fashion in particular create mountains of waste, so this is a great step forward.
Remember, many of us purchase cheap clothing that tends to not even last a year, creating monumental water waste for products that end up in landfills at the end of the day. This is a good and sustainable way to turn that junk into a considerably more valuable commodity, construction materials.
"The Heroes We Deserve"
True True True
Local Funeral Home Offers This $85 Cardboard Casket. What A Great Way To Not Waste Money And Resources
Speaking of emissions, researchers from the University of Massachusetts are working on “agrivoltaics,” a method to help farmers utilize even more of their farmland. The crop? Energy, gathered from solar panels placed across the land. Farming does come with its own emissions, but let's face it, we need food, so might as well make it more efficient.
Because Of The Anticonsumption Mindset, I Have So Much More Respect For Someone Driving A Normal-Sized Old Truck Than A Brand New Gigantic One
Blue Shell The 1%
Made A New Cat Scratch Pad From Trash
You may have noticed that behind most of these developments are researchers and scientists. It’s easy to get lost in the promises of green entrepreneurs, but at the end of the day, it’s research, both privately funded and publicly funded that is going to end up helping our environment.
My Mother's Blender, Still Choochin Just Fine After 4 Decades Of Use, With All The Original Parts
It’s All Of Our Responsibility, As Inhabitants Of Earth, To Reduce The Impact We Make Upon It! If You Love This Earth, And Want To Make It A Better Place, The First Place To Start Is Living And Shopping More Sustainably! Creating Less Waste Is The First Step In Making Our Earth Healthy Again
Your Life Has Already Been Designed
Yikes
Vaping is stupid and this is super stupid. This must be a bad joke or a nightmare.
A Book From The 70s Based On A Computer Model Based On Just A Few Inputs Roughly Predicted The Next 50 Years, We're At The Brink Of Ecological Breakdown, Billions Live In Dire Poverty And The Rich Own More Than Half Of The World's Wealth. If That's Not An Alarming Bell, I Don't Know What Is
There will come a point where the impoverished will no longer have money to buy from the rich, and the whole thing will just collapse. I'd hope that the issues will get solved before it comes to that, but looking at the world's current state...
Should This Be Implemented Throughout The World?
"Should This Be Implemented Throughout The World?" You mean offering paying jobs to homeless people to help them get back on their feet? I realize picking up garbage isn't a dream job for most, but it's a start to get them food, a place to stay and be able to look at other jobs that won't see them as "homeless" but as actual "potential employees"
This Mother’s Day Ad I Received In The Mail Made Me Sad
The Recycling Shop Near Me Has Free Used Paints And Chemicals!😊
As Seen Elsewhere
Which Would You Rather: Cheap Clothes, Or A Habitable Planet?
We had a couple of decades to fix the crisis in the 70's. (Thanks Reagan /s) A decade or so to mitigate the crisis in the 90's or not hit any tipping points. Now we have a 'decade' to keep the crisis from becoming 'too bad'
We Can Do It Again!
♻️a Drain In Karachi, Pakistan. Hard Work Can Go A Long Way In Cleaning This Earth! Use Less Waste And Work On Picking Up Litter During Your Day! Live And Shop Sustainably ♻️
Pretty Much Sums It Up
Sushi Place Put My California Rolls In A Tupperware Container I Brought Them!
My Wife With A $4 Toy Basket
This Is A Great Incentive To Get More People Recycling And Cleaning Our Earth! However, We Must Keep Working To Limit Our Plastic Production And Live Sustainably!
Pulled From A Local Pet Stores Dumpster
The Irony Of These Items Is Too Much
This Sculpture Represents The Amount Of Plastic Found On Only 2 Miles Of Coastline In The UK. We Can Do Better! Live And Shop Sustainably
Now There Are "Disposable" Vapes You Can Play Games On
Aside from being even more wasteful than the already egregious disposable vape, this thing is clearly aimed at children (and others whose brain hasn't developed past a certain point) and is designed to try to make vaping even more addictive. Vaping products should be legally required to be boring and uncool. They're already d***s. We don't need to make them more exciting.
"Work, Consume, Die!"
Courtesy Of A Canadian Grocery Chain
Shows How Outrageous Pricing Has Gotten, But At Least This Is A Small Step Towards Sustainable Consumerism
Prime Day Be Like
Surely They Would
"And what good does it do you to own the stars?" "It does me the good of making me rich." "And what good does it do you to be rich?" "It makes it possible for me to buy more stars, if any are discovered." - Antoine de Saint Éxupery, The little prince
From My Days Working In A College Dining Hall
This Smoothie Place I Went To Gives You Mason Jars To-Go, And Fills It Each Time You Bring It Back
The Weight Of Different Breeds Of Chicken Over Their Lifespan
The natural lifespan of chickens is about 7 years, but some chickens have been known to live up to 15 years. On production farms, chickens are killed when their productivity declines, i.e. at about 1.5 years of age.
But I’m A Creep 🎶
I Wouldn’t Care If People Vaped If They Weren’t Generating So Much Plastic Waste
We're Doomed
The post is satire, it’s on a subreddit called “technically the truth” which is for ostensibly wrong opinions that are, by technicality, correct
Load More Replies...Processed or overprocessed? Technically most foods need to be processed, but, for example, a sourdough bread made with just flour, water, salt, and starter (which is just flour, water, and microorgansms) is very different from a bread made with refined bleached white flour, water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, glucose syrup, and vegetable oil. (The three types of sugar is a real thing they sometimes do to push the sugars to the bottom of the ingredient list.)
Dont forget mold inhibiters. Missed a loaf of bread that dropped onto the back seat floor and went under seat. Found a month later and it was still"fresh". Shudder.
Load More Replies...The "organic" food thing outside of farmer's markets or backyard gardens IS an industry. Much is marketing more than anything.
Organic food is one of those greenwash ideas that fool people into thinking they're doing a good thing whilst emptying their wallets. The truth is that organic food requires a lot more land than conventional farming, and has limited environmental benefits. On the other hand, huge strides are being made into regenerative farming methods, which in many cases increase yields, decrease costs and chemical usage, and support and sustain healthy soils and wildlife.
Load More Replies...Modern ultra-processed food is designed to ensure you eat as much as possible. It's known as hyperpalatability. Once you open a can of Pringles you just can't stop? Of course not, it took a lot of r 'n' d to get to that point. If people believe they prefer UPF it's because the food industry has been training them for years.
Soy is heavily processed. Soybeans in their native form are inedible. Cheese is very much processed, not to mention greek yoghurt. Fermented foodstuff from fish sauce to bread-pickled cucumbers are processed. Lard, however, can be completely fresh out of a pig, organic, just lightly cooked and enjoy! "Processed" in the everyday speech means something completely different as processed in the very real sense of the foodmaking process.
Most stores today use "organic" as an excuse to charge more. Head of lettuce: 79 cents. Organic head of lettuce: $2.99. The difference? One has a sticker that says "organic"
No Words
In some cases wouldn't that trap the ethylene making it go bad faster.
Five Below Propoganda
What Was The Point Of The Plastic Bag Ban If They're Simply Going To Rebrand Them?
The good plastic bags are still better than the single use (and the not even an entire single use, break immediately, completely useless) bags that can't be reused. Even if it's technically identical to the disposable bag, if people are actually using it multiple times, it makes a difference.
A Whopping 58% Of Food Is Wasted Or Lost In Canada Every Year. The Pandemic Has Put Extra Strain On An Already Inefficient Food System As We Saw Farmers Forced To Dump Milk And Abandon Crops Due To Plummeting Demand
On To The Next Fad
I would be embarrassed to own one of these now. After watching those videos of people jumping over the counter at Starbucks to steal one and pushing people over to grab one on sale. No thanks. I feel like your life lacks meaning if you need to do this. And for what ? How low is your self esteem that you need to show some random product as a win.
2 Billion Dollar Home In Mumbai Built On Orphanage Land Worth 10 M, Sold For 2.5m, Overlooking Slums
That's the building of those a******s who recently had the wedding for several hundred million.
Making It Look Like A Bigger Amount Is More Important Than Using Less Plastic
I hate companies that do this. You open it up and it is just dead air under the photo.
Neighbors Threw Out Their $5400 Play Set Because It Was “Rotten”. Just Needed Some Paint, Good As New
Found At The Park And Grabbed Before My Daughter Could. Turns Out It's Disposable. What A Waste Of Material For One Use And Screw People Who Leave These At Parks 🙄
This Just Completes It
What we all need to understand is that we DON'T have to buy what they advertise (looking at you, BP). Nobody holds a gun to our heads and forces us to buy all the junk that's pushed on us. Don't buy anything in an ad. Make them spend the money for nothing. Actually, by putting out more and more ads, they're achieving exactly the opposite of what they want - we're learning to totally ignore what's being shoved into our faces morning, noon, and night. Ask yourself this: when was the last time you actually looked at BP's big pop-up ad before Xing it out? I've deleted two of them by now and I couldn't even tell you what they were. And that's the way it should be. If you get in my face, make it an annoyance to be on your site, then don't blame me if I'm going to ignore those annoyances. If you make the ads more annoying and less avoidable, then don't be surprised if I leave your site entirely.
Apple Store Vandalized In Berlin
But The Shareholder Value
Nice One Channing Lad 👍
Some Billboards In The Netherlands Have Been Taking Commercial Breaks A Few Seconds Every Minute
This Is It. This Is Peak Consumerism
This Is A Disposable Video Display Used As An Advertisement
Nothing Better Than A Car Dependent, Environmentally Unsustainable Lifestyle
I Got A Wet Stone And Am Sharpening Everything
I Can't Afford/ Don't Want To Buy New Jeans So Patched It Instead. This Is My 1st Time Patching Clothes So I Hope It Holds
great idea but I think I would have used a different colored patch in that specific area of the pants...
All This Plastic For 6 Chocolates
“But You Absolutely Need Our New And Latest Phone For $1,000!”
Get In Losers, Disposable Tables Just Dropped
The Most Unnecessary Product I Have Ever Seen
These may seem dumb, but they are actual tools used in the insulation industry. Pool noodles are commonly used for insulation of piping for solar panels or outdoor hot water tubes. This is not strictly necessary, but for someone who does insulation, at just about 1$, it is a good, lightweight, safer alternative to having a serrated knife loose in the bag.
Does This Count As "Repaired"? Fabric Shaver At Work
I have that exact model!! But again, how is this "what's wrong with the world"?
Unfixable Laptops
Forcing You To Tip
Very Confused By This Advertisement
I believe this is the infamous Shein scam, where they've prepared a landing page where people have to complete "offers" to "unlock" a Shein gift code. I haven't seen this variation but this level of brainrot as the bait is deliberate; scammers try to attract the sorts of people who are... susceptible.
That's Too Damn Bad Bloomberg
The world starts to make sense if you replace all uses of "economy" with "rich people yacht money". Example: "How is renewable energy going to impact rich people yacht money?"
Anyone Else Really Annoyed By The Jeep Ducks And Other Copy Cats?
For Something Never Worn Again
Advertise For Them, For The Low Price Of $5 Each
Mercedes Locks Faster Acceleration Behind A $1,200 Annual Paywall
This Kind Of Stuff Makes Me Irrationally Angry
Ironic
Handy use for that pool noodle knife above. Someone asked who would buy this and now we know!
This Is So Dystopian, Company Makes A Bench Turn Your Bare Legs Into Ads
I can't imagine seeing that on my chubby pasty white legs will help their sales any. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Who Tf Needs All Of This For Just A Cup You Drink Water From?
But You Already Have A Less Cute Version Of All Of This Stuff
I make my own zero-waste kits by using second-hand fabrics that I collect from family. It's not that difficult to make and costs nearly nothing.
Plastic-Free Wipes…in Plastic Packaging
I mean, if they are wet wipes, how else are you gonna pack them to avoid them drying out?
I Assumed This Was R/Anticonsumption
I Always Disliked Spotify But Now I Actually Hate It
wow, that´s bullsh*t. You have an account but can only listen within a certain region? Just region locking DVDs or something.
A Rare W For Apple Consumers
I’ve Seen It All Folks
This 280000$ Crystal Disney Castle
Amazon Prime Day Is Such A Scam
From the original post from Routine-Soil7: "I bought this purple shirt a few weeks ago for $14.99 (first pic) and now, for Prime Day a few days ago, Amazon is blatantly misrepresenting the original price as $23.99 (second pic) in order to portray a more significant discount than they are actually offering. Some items on Amazon definitely HAVE been reduced significantly but the vast majority of items I've come across follow this same pattern and it is ridiculous."
Using Temu? Stop Bro
Nike Tops Their Own High Tops With This Dumb Idea
So Proud Of This Joke In My Hinge Profile
Boston Throw Away Your Mattress Day Was Today
These are organized to prevent people from throwing them in vacant lots and on the curb. And, at least where I live, they are recycled after that Considering they often last 20+ years I don't see a problem
Yeah, What's Wrong With The Internet?
I’ve Used The Same 50 Cent Razor For Over 1.5 Years And It Still Works Totally Fine
Found This On R/Shittytattoos. Humanity Has Fallen 🤦
I Just Went To Milan And It Is A Huge Consumer Market. Ads Are Everywhere, They Even Put A LED Panel On Their Cathedral
That is not a permanent ad on the building, there's renovation going on and the ad is on the cover.
Back in my day, growing up Catholic meant growing up anti-consumption. Comedians make fun of Catholic parents for teaching guilt, but yeah, don't put it on your plate if you aren't going to eat it; question if you really need it before you buy it; and the fashion of jeans hasn't changed that much since your older sibling got them.
And fashion comes back around. Really wish I still had some of my outfits from the 90s.
Load More Replies...I remember when the local government brought in the recycling bins. First they said it was to reduce the cost of the 'Council tax'. A few years later it was then 'Better for the environment'..so people put the rubbish in the appropriate bin. The council then comes around, collects the bins for recycling and they all go in to the same vehicle. Companies, governments and organisations will say anything to make them seem better than they REALLY are.
Your local government? Well that socks. As a resident though you have so much power in creating awareness and change. Working locally is rewarding, the results are right there to experience.
Load More Replies...How is not being materialistic somehow equate to communism or socialism? I think it’s called being an adult. Deferred gratification. Living within your means. And all the other, boring, hated, moderation ideas of generations past.
Capitalism requires constant growth to perpetuate itself, minus the baked-in economic collapse every decade or so. It needs people to buy random things, otherwise line not go up ):
Load More Replies...Back in my day, growing up Catholic meant growing up anti-consumption. Comedians make fun of Catholic parents for teaching guilt, but yeah, don't put it on your plate if you aren't going to eat it; question if you really need it before you buy it; and the fashion of jeans hasn't changed that much since your older sibling got them.
And fashion comes back around. Really wish I still had some of my outfits from the 90s.
Load More Replies...I remember when the local government brought in the recycling bins. First they said it was to reduce the cost of the 'Council tax'. A few years later it was then 'Better for the environment'..so people put the rubbish in the appropriate bin. The council then comes around, collects the bins for recycling and they all go in to the same vehicle. Companies, governments and organisations will say anything to make them seem better than they REALLY are.
Your local government? Well that socks. As a resident though you have so much power in creating awareness and change. Working locally is rewarding, the results are right there to experience.
Load More Replies...How is not being materialistic somehow equate to communism or socialism? I think it’s called being an adult. Deferred gratification. Living within your means. And all the other, boring, hated, moderation ideas of generations past.
Capitalism requires constant growth to perpetuate itself, minus the baked-in economic collapse every decade or so. It needs people to buy random things, otherwise line not go up ):
Load More Replies...