001 - Why buying expensive saves the planet.

We all ought to consume less. And smarter. But without compromising in life quality - how do we do it? First we need to wake up.

Most of the things that we buy on a daily basis doesn't truly improve our lives or others. Really not. Think about it – When was the last time you bought something that made your life better? Some things we need. Food. Clothes and technology that makes it possible to share our thoughts and ideas. But so many things even within these categories is consumed rather than used, that it is practically insanely wasteful. I give you some examples:

• All humans need water, so we ought to carry a metallic 0,5L container at all times. Instead, we harvest oil from a deep sea platform, transport it to the other side of the world, derive chemicals out of it, build a water bottle in a factory, send the bottle to another factory where it is filled with water. Then you go and buy it. Then you throw it. Now we have waste and have to burn the bottle. Then repeat (even though the bottle is perfectly reusable 100 times). The entire process created because we are lazy or ignorant or both. All we had to do was to buy a metallic bottle, carry it with us, fill it anywhere for a small fee or even better - free. Why don't we do it?
• How about that new T-shirt? Are you naked? We have stopped buying clothes out of necessity but "out of fashion" (pun not intended). But you are out of fashion. Fashion is just in your head. Buy a T-shirt because the old one is broken. Don't fix unless broken. Don't buy unless you need it.
• A car is used 3% of its total lifetime on average. Why don't we share cars? Some do, but most don't. Because a car is a proof of success and success is the measure of happiness. Or so we want to believe .Buy a new car. More happiness. Buy a new house - hopefully larger - and we feel a sense of pride and even more happiness. But if we see behind the veil, we realize that this is simply not true. We get happy of things that are mostly free. These are life long. Friendship. Love. Family. A smell of a flower. The sound of a bird. See the sun rise and set. Hear the water flow in motions towards the shore. These things are forever and forever free.
• We buy things that are cheap. DON'T. Buy the most durable and long lasting thing of that "thing". You need a vacuum cleaner. Buy a filterless, and bagless Dyson. You need a bicycle – Buy a top brand within your needs. You need a new pair of headphones – Buy Bang & Olufsen. You need a computer – Buy a Thinkpad. If you need it – buy things that are built to last forever. NEVER BUY things that is built to last its warranty period or manufactured in a way that it is hard or impossible to service yourself. There is simply no sustainable thinking that can be defended by buying things that doesn't last or can't be easily serviced by your neighbor wiz.
• If you need something, buy second hand if you can. Reuse things that already exist
• Never ever buy a single use battery ever again - Buy a battery that can be recharged over and over again. It might cost more, but we have no right to rape the planet for our egoistic cheap-thinking.

Things we buy and consume in vain, by fashion or pride is long and arduous to go through. It's a life lesson to learn but one we need to grasp sooner than later. We need to understand that our symbiotic relationship with our planet is going towards an edge of darkness and we are more raping and hurting than caring and sharing.

We can take, but we should also give back. Recycle and reuse for as much as we can. And take what we need out of necessity rather than harm.

Take. Give back - Out of happiness and for love. That's how it is ought to be.