Day 96 of our Green Year: Reducing Possessions

It is a well-known fact that as a species, we love possessions. We love to horde them, we love to hang onto them and we love to show others that we have them. However, our consumerism culture has actually created the environmental problems that we now face.

Our desire to own two or three cars, a large McMansion and more electronics than someone would ever need have raised the energy demands of the world, and pumped untold amounts of chemicals and pollution into our world. Our consumerism, could very well be our undoing.

As a result, Layla and I have decided that we will be reducing what we buy and only buying what we need will help reduce our carbon footprint. Do we need an iPod? No not really, we can just as easily listen to music on our computers. Do we need a new car? No not really, we can just as easily use our old one, or walk.

Before we make any purchase, we are going to ask "Is this good for us and the environment?"
This will help us keep our possessions low, because while we put a hold on what we buy, we will also be reducing what we have. Layla and I will be donating much of what we own to reduce our possessions, while also listing many products on FreeCycle.
We are hoping to do what many people around North America are doing, and that is living with 100 or fewer items (10 forks count as 10 items by the way). This will help make moving easier of course, but it will help us live a bit better with Mother Nature.