In 2008, humans used up the equivalent of 1.5 planets to support their daily activities and consumption. Qatar, Kuwait and the United States have the biggest ecological footprints, ranging from well over eight times the earth’s resources to more than ten times. The World Wildlife Fund calculated this in its 2012 Living Planet report.
The ecological footprint indicates the area that people use in order to sustain their lifestyle. Clothing takes up a relatively small part. According to a Dutch study, 8% of greenhouse emissions are related to clothing, which is significantly less than those associated with food (30%) or tourism and leisure time (22%).
All this does not necessarily mean that our consumption of clothing is marginal. Textile waste takes up 5% of the global landfill space. According to a study by journalist Elizabeth Cline, the average American buys a new item of clothing every week. In 2012, a UK study found that in the average British household 30% of clothing has not been worn for a year. This equals a staggering 1.7 billion unused items taking up closet space in the UK alone.
It’s easy to blame our overconsumption on advertisements and the media. As Annie Leonard showed in the unequalled anti-consumerist video Story of Stuff, the average Western consumer is confronted with 2000 to 5000 advertisements every day. Each of these ads tells us that our hair isn’t good enough, our faces aren’t pretty enough, our clothes aren’t trendy enough, our cars aren’t big enough, etc. – and they promise that all will turn out OK if we just buy that new must-have.
Writers such as Lucy Siegle and Neil Boorman have suggested another explanation for our consumption patterns: lifestyle behaviors that come frighteningly close to addictions. We have become used to the fast, cheap fashion that is available in every shopping street. And we are rewarded with an adrenaline boost every time we manage to purchase this week’s must-have for a bargain.
So how do we get rid of this unhealthy (and, frankly, sad) consumption behavior? Economist Cecilia Solér from Gothenburg University suggests we need to come to understand why we shop the way we do. Then it becomes possible to find other, more sustainable ways to spend our free time and express our identities. This may not be as easy as it may sound. Psychological studies have shown that it takes an average of 66 days to change a habit.
As Ellen Ruppel Shell, author of the revealing book ‘Cheap’, writes: “We can choose to buy or not, choose to bargain or not, and choose to follow our hearts or not, unencumbered by the anxiety that someone somewhere is getting a “better deal”. No longer slaves to the low-price imperative, we are free to make our own choices.” Doesn’t that sound like a wonderful prospect?