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‘I’m not buying new stuff any more’: the young people getting into ‘degrowth’
(www.theguardian.com)
Man, I feel this. Infinite growth is an insane concept.
this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2024
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Degrowth
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Discussions about degrowth and all sorts of related topics. This includes UBI, economic democracy, the economics of green technologies, enviromental legislation and many more intressting economic topics.
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Well made second-hand > disposable Walmart/Amazon plastic
Reduce spending. Reuse second-hand wares. Recycle what no one wants.
Infinite growth in a finite system has a name: it’s called cancer.
Just don't mention that it's what makes the stock market go round or people lose their shit when they realize you can't retire at 65 by magically making money from hoarding it through compound interest.
"the young people"
So they've stopped calling everyone under the age of 45 millennials?
Ooof, that stings. I've been thrifty and anti-consumer for years, but I'm also 50. I hate admitting I'm no longer one of "the young people."
It warms my heart to hear young folks not buy into the infinite treadmill of consumption.
it comes at a social cost though.
i have lost a lot of friends because I live below my 'means'. whereas most folks I meet are 'struggling' because they are living beyond theirs.
Especially travel and restaurants. consumption is now re-branded as 'experience'.
dude, eating good food with others and travelling really are experiences. No branding is necessary.
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I'm glad my social circle pretty much revolves around people who all hate consumerism equally. We do like to travel though.
You know what sucks about this? How prices on used items and thrift items have gone up..
Damn you Mackelmore!
Yeah for a while going to goodwill and stuff became trendy so they pumped those prices up. I see just awful stuff priced at new or near New prices which is insane
I went to find a used cassette player, just a little boom box. Found a crappy brand one beat up and with a $40 price tag. Gtfo with that. I can buy a brand new Sony for $50
Oh that's so true. I have looked through all the thrift stores in my surrounding and they all had really bad clothes for bad prices. When you can get a new top in a size that fits for 5€ at H&M it makes no sense to pay 12€ for an H&M shirt that has holes in it and doesn't fit right just because it is from a thrift store.
I don't buy clothes often, I have much more than enough from when I was a teen. But I think that when I do, in the future, I'll just go straight to a normal store. I don't see the sense in spending the time and energy if it isn't worth it at all.
There's also this thing now where "trendy" thrift stores go to regular thrift stores and pick them clean of anything worth buying, then they Jack up the price.
I look for thrift stores in or around proper rich neighborhoods. There's one I go to that routinely has stuff from last year or that no one's ever worn, tags and all.
I had to buy "business casual" clothes for a work trip and went to a thrift store. I found a pair of pants that was $15, but they didn't fit great. Since I needed at least two pairs of pants I went to Costco and they had brand new Dockers for the same price.
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I'm GenX and my body is still ready for this. Let's fucking gooooo
stop making shitty stuff that will only last a couple of years we are perfectly fucking capable of it
But muh profits!
What's are some of yall's less obvious "always buy second hand" items?
Crockery, cutlery, pressure cookers and computer peripherals are some things I think it makes no sense to buy new. 2nd hand they're usually under a tenth the price and often better quality.
I've heard some arguments that buying 2nd hand cars is usually better for the climate owing to how much of a car's lifetime carbon generation is the manufacturing.
The better quality is the key here. The shit made today are intentionally made to be replaced.
Pyrex is the best example. The old-school Pyrex logo means it's made from really tough glass whereas the newer logo means it's shit and will shatter when going from hot to cold (oven to countertop).
I wondered about this and apparently it's a bit more complicated, funnily enough since 2007 European Pyrex is the older style borosilicate glass again
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Tools! With the exception of a few big power tools like a table saw or miter saw, where the new safety features make it worthwhile, I get everything I can used. I prefer stuff passed down from family with sentimental value, but I get a lot of my tools from Everything is Free, junk stores, yard sales, estate clean outs, swap shops etc.
Older tools tend to be simpler, easier to fix, and remarkably sturdy. I've read that the metallurgy wasn't as good sixty+ years ago so they overbuilt them a bit to compensate, and then decades of use weaned out the weaker ones, so anything left still working is basically survivorship-bias guaranteed. I've got a drill press that's been in the family for four generations and will probably outlast my grandkids.
They're cheaper, sturdier, easier to fix, generally well-documented online (sometimes better than the new stuff), and they don't come with sheaves of unnecessary styrofoam and plastic packaging. And they have history and stories in them, even if I don't always know what those stories are.
Adding to this, my local library has a library of things which includes a lot of tools. From niche saws to power drills everyone could use.
Got to be careful with old cutlery and kitchenwares, and test for lead.
applied science actually has a really good video about leaded glass. And it's tendency to cause shenanigans, i don't remember much from it, so you should just go watch it.
Definitely most furniture (i.e., without cushions so you avoid bed bugs). New furniture is incredibly expensive and (seems to be) lower quality. Second hand furniture can still be expensive but it's usually heavily discounted, especially if someone is trying to get rid of it quickly.
Local thrift shops are a good option of course, but also try garage/yard sales, Craigslist, OfferUp, etc. If your area has estate sales you can find some pretty killer deals on good furniture there too.
If you actually need one (most don"t), I wouldn't buy a truck sold on the North American market since about 2005.
Even if you do need a truck, most of the models marketed here are stupidly oversized in all the areas that DON'T matter. As a builder, I don't need to be lifted into the stratosphere and have a teeny-tiny bed! I want to be able to fit an entire sheet of plywood in the bed and two people in the cab... ideally without having to hoist myself up into the seat!
Crockery and cutlery? Have you never been to an estate sale? I would never buy that stuff new.
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I feel like I could learn a lot from these people
Start at freecycle.org
There's also local Buy Nothing/Everything is Free groups which may be more active depending on where you are
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Any book recommendations for Degrowth?
Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World
So you don't have to buy a copy you can just take it out of the library here. http://libgen.is/search.php?req=less+is+more+how+degrowth&open=0&res=25&view=simple&phrase=1&column=def
Libraries are the greatest degrowth asset. We need everything libraries w/ attached repair shops.
No.
It's as simple as stop buying shit you don't need, and rather than buy new stuff, replace/fix/renew old stuff.
Like... stop buying a new car on lease every 2/3 years. buy a car and keep it for 10+ years.
Stop vacationing to foreign countries, go on a road trip. etc
Can anyone provide a resource for how to break this habit and maybe learn new methods of reducing it in my life
No just stop the habit
Wow thanks I'm cured... lol
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I build or repair for myself where I can.
Just bought a secondhand ssd for my secondhand steam deck. I am now the proud owner of a 512 gb steam deck for sub 300. I love buying the shiny things covered in dust by others
Used stuff is fine and I have a 200 bucks 3D printer for when stuff breaks.
Y'all are no longer buying new stuff to take care of the environment. I'm not buying new stuff because everything costs an arm and a leg plus taxes. We're not quite the same I guess.
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