The Age of Cheap Crap

And the best social and ecological alternative is fewer better things

Patagonia’s latest movie Shitthropocene is the story about how our survival instincts are being intentionally hacked to sell us stuff we don’t need or use.

It begins as follows:

“Consumption is the act of consuming things. And a lot of those things are things we need to survive. But we’re entering into an era that even if our basic needs are met, we buy more and more stuff that has been designed to be used for a distressingly small length of time. Particularly our clothing which accounts for up to 10 percent of carbon emissions and is filling our landfills with regrettably poor fashion decisions.“

The title Shitthropocene is a playful usage of the word Anthropocene, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment – the so called age of cheap crap.

The solution of course is to buy less and better, simply fewer better things. And that’s exactly what this newsletter is all about, to inspire you the reader to do what consumerism doesn’t understand: live a richer life with fewer better things.