--- title: "Buy Only the Essentials for Living" url: "https://books.mutin.life/7/choose-life-habits-that-feel-good-and-do-good/81/buy-only-the-essentials-for-living" --- # Buy Only the Essentials for Living *"When we have enough to feed and shelter ourselves, why chase money and power?"* Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari Every product we buy, whatever it may be, required oil, gas or coal to be created — if only to create the machines needed for its creation, => and thus consumed part of the dwindling stocks of these energies, => consumed part of the stocks of the mines, which are also emptying little by little, => generated greenhouse gases, which in turn generate droughts and storms that devastate the world's harvests The transformation of resources, renewable and non-renewable, to manufacture products generates pollution. This pollution degrades the very resources we use: - Climate disruption - Erosion of biodiversity - Overfishing - Pesticides - Pollutants in the groundwater - ... Every purchase contributes to this disaster. Cars, especially big SUV-sized ones. Smartphones, computers, appliances, clothes, furniture, kibble for dogs and cats... Everything. Behind every product we buy, there are people endangering their health in the mines; rivers and groundwater are polluted by mining residues; greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere during the production and transport of this object. So the very least we can do is to ask ourselves whether this object is really essential in our life. Before any purchase, it is important to ask ourselves whether it is really worth it. Whether it is worth that much damage. Admittedly, the product is already built and has already done its damage. But the more we buy, the more the producers of these products build more of them, endlessly, since it earns them money. The only way to put an end to it is to stop consuming so much. By prioritising our purchases, focusing solely on those essential for survival. By buying only the essentials for living, we do good to the Earth's resources, but also to our wallets. That is so much money saved, which we can devote to healthier food and essential products made as close to home as possible. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ## The real social status of success The one and only "symbol of success" of a person is the fact of being happy, of feeling an inner coherence, because they live responsibly with regard to their own health and that of the planet without which they cannot survive. The only valid symbol of social status is living in a measured way. A life is successful when we feel happiness. To feel happiness requires the absence of inner conflicts. If we obtain heaps of objects and services at the expense of others and of the Earth's resources necessary to our own survival, we feel inner conflicts. We cannot be happy if what we have chosen to buy has generated the misfortune of other people. We cannot be serene if what we have chosen to buy has contributed to destroying the resources essential to our future. Buying a multitude of objects produced on the other side of the world by exploited human beings who destroy their health in the mines; whose mining pollutes the groundwater without which we could not drink clean water; whose manufacture emits so much CO2 into the atmosphere, increasing the number of storms and droughts, and releases so many toxic particles that slowly destroy our lungs and our health — this cannot generate in us the feeling of having succeeded in life. Showing off possession of so many not-really-essential objects, solely in the hope of impressing others and displaying a so-called "social status" of someone who has succeeded because they could buy all these things, is deluding oneself. Indeed, more and more of us are no longer taken in by this kind of grotesque and excessive display, which now inspires in us nothing but pity and disgust. To the point that when we pass an SUV, for example, or when a driver tailgates us dangerously close while we are driving at the maximum authorised speed, and we notice that it is often, as if by chance, a big flashy SUV — we feel nothing but disgust for these people who have not yet opened their eyes and who moreover allow themselves to endanger the lives of others by not respecting safety distances. A driver of a noisy Porsche, or of a backfiring motorbike that keeps everyone from sleeping at night or from simply enjoying the calm of a day, generates no less contempt and pity. These people unfortunately feel so bad about their lives that they believe buying useless and overpriced objects will erase this malaise, and they keep buying ever more despite the observation that each newly acquired object still does not make them happy. Let us not enter this vicious circle, identical to that of any other drug that never satisfies us and only makes us feel the lack a little more each time. The more things we own, the more grumbling and dissatisfied we are. Indeed — proof by observation — SUV drivers are often irritated, grumpy complainers never happy, so ill at ease are they with themselves. The more things we own, the less time we have for the human. For we spend more time repairing and managing these material goods than enjoying our loved ones. The more houses, objects, cars, appliances we have... the more upkeep there is to do; there are constantly objects breaking down, administrative formalities to handle... That is so much less time to spend valuable moments with our loved ones. Yet that is precisely what has the most value in life: spending moments with our loved ones, being truly present with them. The only way to be happy is to live in a measured way, feeling every day the happiness and the good fortune of being able to eat healthily, of having a roof for shelter, and of being surrounded by our loved ones. Let us consume less. Let us above all do without the objects we do not really need. Let us buy less. Fewer smartphones, fewer computers, fewer screens, less digital stuff of every kind. Fewer clothes. Less furniture. Fewer appliances. Fewer toys. ... Less of everything. Let us buy only products truly essential for living. If we buy, let us choose a product made as close to home as possible => less CO2 released by the oil used for transport => less oil squandered while the stocks run out Let us stop buying toxic and carcinogenic products: all the perfumes, hairsprays, deodorants, almost all cosmetic products including make-up, nail polish, shower gels... even some toothpastes contain microbeads that poison us slowly. Paints, cleaning products of every kind, aerosols... are no better. Let us stop the tobacco that is killing us. Let us stop buying useless gadget products: fireworks, toys galore, shoes that light up... Let us buy fewer noisy motorbikes and mopeds, even noisier lawnmowers; let us banish the leaf blowers that wreck our ears. Let us invest in quality, rather than having to endlessly buy again a heap of objects that break down too quickly or whose lifespan is pitiful. How many objects do we throw away very shortly after buying them because they are of poor quality? Appliances, clothes, toys... Let us keep our smartphone and our computer as long as possible. For that, let us choose models whose parts can be replaced in order to make them last. Like the Fairphones for smartphones, and the Framework laptops for computers. Let us choose quality clothes that last, made from healthy materials: wool, linen, hemp. Let us stop buying clothes made of polyester or "poly-something", derived from oil, which do not last and which contribute to the planet's microplastic pollution. If we really must buy a car, let us choose a small car, electric if possible. And above all not an SUV — even an electric one — which weighs tonnes and is therefore an ecological disaster even worse than a small combustion car. Let us also not give in to overmedication. Medicine consumption is excessive; we blindly place too much trust in doctors' prescriptions, when a good number of medicines do more damage in our bodies than good, through side effects that are sometimes genuinely dangerous. Doctors are human beings. Like any human being, they can make mistakes, get things wrong. Especially when they have no time to keep up to date, and let the big pharmaceutical laboratories — eager to pump the social security chasm ever harder — dictate their conduct. Let us remain vigilant. Instead of believing that there will always be a medicine for whatever illness befalls us, let us take charge of our health upstream, by choosing a healthy diet, engaging in regular physical activity, and sleeping enough. It is time to make this turn and adopt a more measured way of life. It is not the fleet of big cars, nor the kilos of clothes in which we cannot practise any manual trade, that will allow us to feed ourselves in the future. Nor the overpopulation of dogs and cats, most of which are human creations by genetic selection that no longer know how to feed themselves in the wild. On the contrary, all these excesses, non-essential to survival, keep releasing ever more greenhouse gases, generating ever more droughts, floods, fires and storms, which further reduce agricultural yields already affected today. We will look clever when, in a few decades, we are starving, with our cars left abandoned on the roadside because not a drop of oil is imported into Europe anymore, with all these futile, useless clothes lying at the bottom of wardrobes, with all these objects that will no longer work and can no longer be repaired... We currently continue to consume, in a frenzy, down to the last drop, all the resources essential to our survival, without ensuring their renewal. If we continue like this, once the stocks are depleted and gone, all that will remain for us is to die of famine, unbearable temperatures, diseases, droughts, floods... What a picture — this scene we are running straight towards — illustrating the so-called superiority of human intelligence over animals, which do not know how to anticipate the consequences of an immoderate consumption of the resources vital to the survival of the species. _"We are living through the sixth mass extinction, caused essentially by ourselves…"_ Yann Arthus-Bertrand - Nature Everything human beings have always believed to be the image of high social status is in reality only the image of the decadence and irresponsible stupidity of those who destroy their own survival resources. When we pass owners of big flashy cars, wearing eccentric clothes and accessories, intoxicating others with suffocating and carcinogenic perfumes, we can feel only pity for these people so lacking in self-esteem, who have found nothing else to make themselves feel they exist. In any case, we have no desire to associate with these people whose behaviour is excessive and irresponsible for the future of the human species. Conversely, when we pass people who visibly have a measured way of life — through the sober, practical clothes they wear, through the fact that they get around by bicycle or in a small car, and even more through their behaviour and attitude, which show that they have heart and that they live happily in coherence with their environment — we admire them, we want to be like them, to follow their example; we want to meet them and to know them. The majority of the human population has become pitiful through its daily behaviour, especially in Western countries. Let us adopt a measured way of life. Let us become people proud of ourselves. Let us display ourselves with the only social status that is truly a symbol of success: a measured life. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ## Let us value, promote and practise the trades essential to life Let us value and give priority to the trades that allow us to live, without which the human species does not survive. That is, all the trades that allow us to feed and house ourselves. Farmers, market gardeners, carpenters, roofers... all those who produce our food and renovate our homes. Let us value these trades in our speech, when we talk about them. Let us value these trades by also agreeing to pay them what they are truly worth. Let us practise these trades. Let us choose to work in one of these vital fields: - Healthy food - Building renovation and insulation - The least polluting means of transport possible: bicycles and small electric vehicles Daily effort in an activity that is meaningful in our eyes makes us happy. Let us choose a daily activity that has meaning for us. In any case, in the future, these will be the only trades that survive. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ## Living locally Let us use the car as little as possible. Let us use it only when we really need it to live: to do our shopping when we live in the countryside, for example. Let us stop flying, for good. Let us live locally the majority of the time. Since childhood, we have spent most of our lives shut away from morning to evening in classrooms, then in offices for most of us. These totally unbalanced days, forcing us into a sedentary life disastrous for our health, imposed over several decades of our short lives, should be reason enough for us to savour the slightest walk outside and to feel genuine inner happiness at finally being able to use our legs and our whole body, which is not made to remain seated and shut in 8 hours a day. Let us stop taking the car to go far away on holiday, for our leisure, for sporting or cultural events. Let us choose to travel only for local sporting competitions and local cultural events, close to home. If we really wish to travel far, let us take the train. In any case, one life is not enough to discover every corner of the planet. Often one life is not even enough to discover every corner of the country we live in. So if we really wish to discover new lands, let us start there. By taking the train. With the train, we can discover regions of our country that we do not yet know and that can surprise us — far more, in any case, than all those big cities, almost all identical whatever their location on the globe, so much has globalisation standardised our ways of living. Let us keep in mind that even the train represents an enormous energy expenditure. A TGV crossing France, for example, is roughly equivalent to a family's electricity consumption for housing and heating for a year. There remains the question of seeing our loved ones, today scattered to the four corners of a country or of the world. Today it is often a person's job that determines where they live, which can be very far from the people who matter to them. Why, when oil is supposed to make our life easier, have we given priority to work, which often separates us from those we love? When there is no more oil, we will in any case no longer be able to travel so far. We will then have to choose in time the place where we wish to remain. Ideally choosing a place shared with as many of our loved ones as possible, so as to be able to keep seeing them by bicycle or on foot. Finding and seeing our loved ones more often — those who matter to us — makes us happy, restores confidence, restores courage. We rediscover our spirit of cohesion and mutual aid. We live happier when we create real, solid relationships with people who live near us, practising local activities, moving around locally over short distances. Let us stay and live mostly around our homes. The island where men forget to die (in French) The island where people forget to die ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ## Bicycles and public transport in the city Let us use our cars as little as possible, especially in the city. At least in the city, everything can be done by bicycle, or by public transport. Moreover, a cyclist falls ill less often and works better. Because exercise generates better health than sitting in a car. In the city, let us get around by bicycle or public transport. For our shopping, let us add a basket or a trailer to the back of our bikes. In the countryside, on the other hand, as long as there is no network of cycle paths, as long as cars skim past cyclists at 80 km/h, it is too dangerous. Cyclists risk their skin too much. And as long as agriculture has not become mostly local again, with numerous points of sale in the countryside so that we can get there by bicycle with a basket or a trailer on the back to load up provisions, we have no choice for now but to take the car to do our shopping. On the other hand, the day there is no more oil, we will be able to pedal on the country roads, outnumbering the rare electric vehicles still driving, and... we will no longer breathe exhaust fumes so harmful to our health. There will also be another marvellous beneficial effect: we will rediscover calm. Today, it has become almost impossible to find a quiet place on this planet where we do not hear the racket generated by cars, planes, trucks, motorbikes. We have turned the world into a noisy hell — one that is, moreover, harmful to our health and contributes to stress. The end of oil will at least have this positive effect: rediscovering calm, and purer air to breathe.