“The 21st century has brought a critical dilemma into sharp relief: we must stop shopping, and yet we can’t stop shopping.” - J.B MacKinnon
Have you noticed that stopping shopping is trending? It used to be a very unusual challenge to take on, but fashion detoxes are going mainstream as more of us begin to question hyper-consumerism and look for ways to resist it.
But what would happen if we all turned off the fashion tap tomorrow? And not just fashion - consumer goods in general. If everybody stopped shopping? The wheels of the economy-as-we-know-it would grind to a halt. There’d be mass unemployment, and potentially chaos, the most marginalised people would be worst affected. And what about all those small business, including the ethical and sustainable ones. What about your job?
Could we find a balance between curbing our excesses while keeping afloat?
EPISODE 144 FEATURES CANADIAN AUTHOR J.B. MACKINNON
“I love the idea of the thought experiment as a way to explore hidden truths,” he says. “I was running up against this idea that drives [this new] book, whereby the planet seems to really need us to stop consuming so much, while the economy seems to require us to keep doing it.”
J.B. is the author of The Once and Future World, which won the US Green Prize for Sustainable Literature. He co-wrote The 100-Mile Diet with Alisa Smith - helping to catalyse the local foods movement.
He was also the writer for Bear 71, an internationally acclaimed digital interactive that explores the intersection of the wired and wild worlds through the true story of a mother grizzly bear.
Buy the book.
NOTES
CANADA’S SUMMER OF 2021 HEATWAVE Heat over western parts of Canada and the US in June 2021 was caused by a dome of static high-pressure hot air stretching from California to the Arctic territories. Via BBC more here.
A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT is a hypothetical situation in which a hypothesis, theory or principle is laid out for the purpose of thinking through its consequences. In MacKinnon’s case: What if we woke up tomorrow and no longer had the desire to shop? What if we reduced our consumer spending across goods, services, products by 25% across the board?
COVID Actually, the world did stop shopping. “As we walk past so many stores with “for lease” signs in our neighborhoods, it’s tough to be optimistic about the future of retail. The slow, but inevitable erosion of traditional shopping experiences, aka the “retail apocalypse,” was long catalyzed by digital Darwinism. The consumerization of technology and its effects on consumer behaviors, preferences, and loyalty has been disrupting retailers going back to the 90s and the launch of Amazon.com. With every new digital trend, retailers and all players in the retail industry were forced to adapt or die. Unfortunately, many moved too slow or in unproductive directions, hastening demise rather than adaptation. Then came Covid-19…” Read the rest on Forbes.
WILLIAM MORRIS the great Arts & Crafts-era polymath, he of the famous wallpaper and champion of the handmade, conducted his own thought experiment in the form of the 1890 book, News from Nowhere. Says the V&A: “Infused with his socialist ideas and romantic utopianism, this book offers Morris's vision of a simple world in which art or 'work-pleasure' is demanded of and enjoyed by all.”
What’s in a phrase? DOING THE SHOPPING suggests buying the necessities. GOING SHOPPING tends to be more about . However, as J.B says, it is difficult to generalise because “consumption is highly personalised in our society.”
WE DON’T SHOP EQUALLY, SO WE WON’T STOP EQUALLY
“We would need 5 planets to sustain us if we all consumed like the average American. Two planets if we all lived like the average Chinese, roughly 2.5 if we were all Spanish, British or New Zealander; three if we lived on Planet Italy, Planet Germany or Planet Netherlands; 3.5 to live like they do in Russia, Finland or Norway; and four or more to enjoy the way of life in Sweden, South Korea, Australia or Canada. And if we lived on Planet Ecuador, we would need just one Earth—the one that actually exists.”
Humans use as much ecological resources as if we lived on 1.6 Earths. The Ecological Footprint is the only metric that compares the resource demand of individuals, governments, and businesses against Earth's capacity for biological regeneration.
Find the GLOBAL FOOTPRINT NETWORK here.
JEFF BEZOS AND THE RICE ANALOGY - enjoy (or enjoy getting cross).
LEVI’S Here’s the podcast with Paul Dillinger from Levis. Listen.
“NOBODY EXPECTS THEIR FAVOURITE FAMILY RESTAURANT TO ENDLESSLY ENLARGE...IT SEEMS CLEARLY POSSIBLE THAT THIS A CHOICE YOU CAN MAKE…IT CAN BE DONE! WE CAN SLOW GROWTH AND AVOID COLLAPSE.” - J.B. MACKINNON
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Love, Clare & the team.