8 Comments

A sobering read! I loved the stat about the 'Earth overshoot day'. One rather hard-hitting way to bring about change would be to educate parents of this generation on over-consumption and how they may actually leave their off-springs poorer in every sense of the word...

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The Earth overshoot day stat is very stark. Agree with the approach of talking to parents about the impact on kids - it generally makes people pause and think :)

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I have been trying to read up more about where materials come from and the processes involved in making them - but the topic is so vast and complicated that I feel overwhelmed and stupid for not understanding.

It would be great if you could list reading materials or break it down for the lay reader aka me to understand it better.

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This is truly enlightening. It makes one question everything that we assume we know/ have taken for granted. It's time we taught this as a part of school-college education before its too late.

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this topic is so close to my heart - the hedonism - over consumption - fast fashion - how do we address it? the sustainable/organic campaign is going in 1 direction - where the price tag ought to be higher to make it premium - and you have fast fashion on the other end where you said 53 items an year in US - I suspect its a lot more in India amongst the youth and those who want a new outfit for every outing. What should we do?

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Absolutely. India (at least part of it) is definitely following the American trend. I think this is going to need a combination of policy (e.g. taxes and incentives) and a citizen movement (where we are able to make reuse and repair cool again)

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An eye opener!

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I recently read the word q-commerce and was thrown. Then I read up about it and it made sense how our idea of convenience has added to our over consumption. We no longer have to rethink a buying decision because we have to get dressed, get out and head to a shop. It's unfortunate that the next generation is living a life where this is the norm. And it will take so much work to make them rethink their normal. I like the idea of Material Literacy. I hope we can figure out ways to reach this learning to young people and schoolchildren, along with changing how adults consume.

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