In a follow up to yesterdays post about Shop Less, Live More, I discovered this gem of a video over at TED talks which wraps it all up quite well. Essentially it further refines the theme down to a process called Life Editing, which is basically declutting on a lifestyle scale. Graham Hill lets us know his thoughts on Less = More.
Anyway on with the show.
I was nodding my head at the end, thinking this is partly what I was banging on about yesterday, however there is still a twinkle of the consumer culture in his eyes. I could just make it out!
Gav
I find I am less of a consumer if I stay away from the shops and buy in bulk. We are saving alot of money as a result.
I do find now when we go out even the children dont’ ‘want stuff’ anymore now .
There is definitely a change occuring in this regard and I think it is a good one!
kim http://thelittleblackcowblog.blogspot.com
agreed on both counts, Gavin.
Hi Gavin,
I watched that TED talk with interest yesterday as well, but I’m not sure I really got much from it. Although Hill talks a lot about really thinking about whether we need to buy stuff, he doesn’t offer any advice on how to hack our brains to reduce our desire to shop, nor does he talk much about other paths to happyness instead of consuming. Instead, he talks primarily about his small living space project, which seems to have entirely consisted on building a community based around helping him decide what to buy for it.
I’m all for small efficient living spaces, although I’d recommend people look up the existing authors in that field, like Sarah Suzanka, but I wonder if Mr Hill is mostly passionate about his small house because he still has the warm glow from all the shiny new consumer gadgetry that he bought in order to make in happen. In addition, I question the green benefits of his highly custom, modern materials, not recycled or recycleable interior design style.
The image he portrays in no way looks like the sort of voluntary simplicity that is more relevant to the green movement. I looks a bit more like a type of green consumerism, where we want to take action, but the only action we can think of is going shopping for something that will change our life.
I’m not necessarily doing any better myself, so I’m not meaning to throw stones at Mr Hill’s efforts, but I think real change this this area needs to first come from genuinely wanting less, and being happy with activities other than shopping (like your cheesemaking, etc). Achieving this is a non-trivial problem.
Anyway, I saw you noticed that twinkle in his eyes too. It’s in my eyes as well, and I’m sure you struggle with it too, despite all the good works. Hacking our brains in this area is a tough call.