Sustainable Living by Shawn Dell Joyce

Most of us are surveying the damages right now. All the packages are unwrapped and scattered under the tree; the credit cards are maxed out; we're exhausted. Now we have to decide where to put all the new stuff, especially those new gadgets for which we waited in line during the wee hours after Thanksgiving because we just had to have them.

"Less than 1 percent of all the consumer goods bought and sold during the holiday season will be in use six months from now," says Annie Leonard in "The Story of Stuff," a short film produced by Free Range Studios and available for free at http://www.StoryOfStuff.com.

"The Story of Stuff" chronicles the life of consumer goods from the "cradle to the grave" and offers an alternative vision to our consumerist culture. Leonard points out that we have lost our identities as mothers, farmers, firemen, teachers, etc.; we have become consumers.

Indeed, we are defined by what we consume and are targeted demographically by stuff peddlers from infancy to old age. In our culture, we feel awkward if we don't have "the right stuff" — fashionable clothes, flashy "bling" and the newest techno-gadgets. What we often don't see are the consequences of our national addiction to stuff.

Many of us see more advertisements in one year than our grandparents did in their whole lifetimes. We consume twice as much as they did as a result. Our houses are twice as big; our waistlines are bigger; and our savings accounts are considerably smaller. The U.S. has 5 percent of the world's population but consumes 30 percent of the world's resources and creates 30 percent of the world's waste, according to "The Story of Stuff." We already have used one-third of the world's natural resources and quickly are chewing our way through the rest.

Melissa Everett, executive director of Sustainable Hudson Valley, defines "sustainable living" as "not filling a spiritual need with a material thing." People buy stuff for many reasons, but for a substantial segment of our population, shopping is an addiction.

"Compulsive shopping or spending can be a seasonal balm for the depression, anxiety and loneliness during the December holiday season," says professor Ruth Engs of Indiana University.

If living more simply is one of your New Year's resolutions, here are a few suggestions:

—Author and therapist April Lane Benson, who wrote "I Shop, Therefore I Am," recommends that before you make an impulse purchase, ask yourself: Why am I here? How do I feel? Do I need this? What if I wait? How will I pay for it? Where will I put it?

—Buy used or borrow things from friends and neighbors before buying new things.

—Repair and mend rather than replace; upgrade computers instead of buying new ones.

—Develop habits of zero waste.

Use both sides of paper; carry your own mugs and shopping bags; get printer cartridges refilled instead of replaced; compost food scraps; avoid bottled water and other over-packaged products.

—"The average person in the U.S. watches TV for more than four hours a day," notes "The Story of Stuff." "Four hours each day are filled with messages about stuff we should buy. Those are four hours that could be spent with family, friends and in our community."

Shawn Dell Joyce is an award-winning columnist and founder of the Wallkill River School in Orange County, N.Y. You can contact her at Shawn@ShawnDellJoyce.com. To find out more about Shawn Dell Joyce and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS.COM