As awareness increases around the environment, climate change, and sustainability, more and more people are making an effort to implement small changes in their lives in order to make a difference. Petitions are signed asking major retailers to do better. Climate Neutral shipping is offered (even Amazon has an option). Brands are coming out with sustainable lines advertising the use of recycled materials or plant based cosmetics, and keywords such as "sustainable" "eco-friendly" and "green" are bounced around and plastered on products everywhere.
Aside from where the greenwashing is an obvious marketing ploy, there are some holes in the concept of sustainable shopping. Creating a new product with new materials and incorporating some recycled content is, while a small improvement, still a new product. The production and shipping process is simply not "sustainable". Retailers such as Nobody's Child and Tradlands who endeavor to be completely open and honest regarding the production process admit that buying new clothing can never be completely sustainable, which is why they choose to design quality clothing to last a lifetime.
Online shopping has been on the rise for years, as shipping has become faster and more retailers have embraced the new way of doing things. Amazon has grown to be the largest internet company by revenue in the world. Now as the world is beginning to emerge from the lockdowns of Covid-19 where nearly all shopping was done online, online shopping sales in the USA increased 39% in the first quarter of 2021 alone. Retailers may offer carbon offset shipping, but the sheer amount of shipping occurring has seen huge increases within the last 20 years.
But perhaps you choose to shop primarily secondhand - the "most sustainable option" - while also being mindful about your purchases. Or perhaps you are in a Buy Nothing Group in your area enabling you to shop secondhand and give items a second life without frequenting a thrift shop. If this is you, that's awesome! I personally love the treasure hunt of the thrift shop and am always looking for ways to keep items out of the landfill as long as possible. However I had a realization as I was perusing the aisles.
Secondhand shopping is only an option due to the mass overconsumption taking place in our culture.
If everyone only bought what they needed, and wore their clothing until it had no life left, there would be no racks and racks of clothes.
Obviously there are exceptions and I'm not condemning secondhand shopping in the slightest so much as commenting on the culture of overconsumption in which we live. We go through weight changes. Children outgrow clothing faster than we can replace them. Sometimes we make a purchase that we later realize simply isn't going to work. Secondhand shopping is absolutely an amazing choice to make as we all work towards making small changes in our lifestyles.
But perhaps the true question to ponder instead of how to make shopping more sustainable is how to shop less? How to be content. How to repurpose what we have. How to escape the need to keep up with the Joneses. How to cope with our feelings in a healthy way rather than through retail therapy. How to admire something in the store without needing it in your home. How to evaluate mindfully what is a need and what is not. How to be the change our society needs.
Before we question ourselves about our shopping habits, we need to consider our personal values and what is important to us and what we won't compromise on. Else these are great questions to ask before we make that next purchase.