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The New Anti-Consumerism Many Americans have heard of David Horowitz, the consumer advocate. My name is Bob Horowitz, and I am the anti-consumer advocate. I'm asking all wealthy people of the world, especially Americans, to stop consuming so much.  I would not ask you to do anything I do not do myself. By learning to be happy with less, you just may find that so many possessions were merely complicating your life.  You may find that few—but more special or unique—things trump multitudes of mediocre or common things.  True, some material objects do make our lives easier, but they cannot bring us happiness, which must be found within. "We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society.  When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, militarism and economic exploitation are incapable of being conquered.  A nation can flounder as readily in the face of moral and spiritual bankruptcy as it can through financial bankruptcy." Dr. Martin Luther King, April, 1967 As Dr. King keenly observed more than 30 years ago, society should encourage its members to look to their relationships with others for fulfillment, but instead, it promises that if we buy the latest gizmo or the snazziest new fashion, then we will be happy and popular.  Of course, that is a lie, and the prized possession is soon forgotten, replaced by something better, faster, cooler, newer, which is soon forgotten itself.  The cycle never ends, which is why I have launched my anti-consumer philosophy. The goals of this philosophy are modest: 1.  To save the planet and all of its life forms from a global environmental collapse fueled by spreading hyper-consumption. 2.  To increase the overall happiness and fulfillment of the human race by encouraging simplicity, and by doing so, reduce war, cruelty and suffering worldwide. 3.  To preserve the planet's spiritual and cultural traditions from annihilation in the face of the global consumer religion promoted by multinational corporations and their lackeys in national and supra-national governments. Please share your thoughts about the anti-consumer message. Two members of our Sustainable Enterprises community recently wrote us on this subject.  Their words speak millions. Hear from a person being crushed by debt. Happiness is the biggest selling point of the simplicity movement. Read more responses to this message. Specifically, I am asking all of the "haves" of the planet could just reduce our consumption by a modest amount, say 10 percent.  Turn the heater down, take the bus, ride your bike,  don't buy those $100 tennis shoes or that new DVD.  Buy a small, fuel efficient gas-electric hybrid car instead of a gas-guzzling SUV.  Buy into your local co-housing project instead of that spanking new cookie-cutter tract home with the 2000-square-foot garage. People say if we stop buying so many things, the economy will collapse.  I say, we are buying the wrong things.  If we buy high-quality, sustainably made goods—even if we buy many fewer of them—the economy will be stronger and more stable than ever.  Let's face the facts, an economy based on the increasing consumption of resources is only temporary, because the amount of resources on the planet, without a doubt, is finite.  Once the Earth is all used up, we don't simply move to the next valley. Our desire to buy things which aren't absolutely necessary ensures future generations of humans will not attain a standard of living anywhere near what we enjoy today.   That is greedy, and rude. What will they think of us?  How would you explain it to them?  From a economic standpoint, unbridled consumerism will lead to disaster.  America is already the world's largest debtor nation. Trade imbalances are growing with nearly all of our major partners.  We cannot continue to buy more than we sell forever. Please share your thoughts about the anti-consumer message. Our desires are polluting the entire world, not just our own country.  American companies extract resources and dump toxins everywhere, just so we can be clean and comfortable.   If the developing world mimics our consumption patterns, the planet will be completely fouled and resource bankrupt soon enough.  Furthermore, we have no credibility to ask developing nations to forego luxuries until we show restraint ourselves.  Then, and only then, can rich nations educate developing nations to build sustainable societies and bypass our wasteful extravagances.  Specific types of goods for  which we must immediately reduce demand: all mined or extracted products, especially petroleum and heavy metals disposable products chlorine chemicals chemical fertilizers and pesticides internal combustion engines virgin wood products  meat, dairy and highly processed foods cheap, mass-produced non-durables anything made with exploited labor products which cause disproportionately large or toxic pollution clean water I will happily appear on any television or radio program to debate the merits of decreasing consumption.  Mail me for that. The "Voluntary Simplicity" movement is gaining steam around the world.  One way to build sustainability into your community is to start a "simplicity circle."  Or, check this list of voluntary simplicity sites. One smart  way to encourage less consumption is to change our taxation system from one which taxes work to one which taxes consumption.  Think about it, work hard and be productive, and get taxed less.  Contribute to the foreign trade deficit and be taxed more! Please share your thoughts about the anti-consumer message. Read responses to this message. While cutting thoughtless consumption, we must increase thoughtful investment in sustainable businesses and infrastructure. This will keep everyone employed and fed as we transition from an unsustainable to a sustainable world. Thoughtful investments for society include: better schools and community infrastructure energy- efficient smart buildings solar, wind and other alternative energy sources urban and intercity mass transit, high-speed rail and cycling programs basic research to turn waste products into valuable commodities production equipment to manufacture 100% recycled products community-based organic agriculture brownfields, reforestation, river cleanups and land reclamation preventative health care Thoughtful investments for the individual include: very high quality, long-lifetime goods locally made goods locally available or recycled building materials low toxicity goods and furnishings locally grown, organic food self-sufficient lifestyle products low-emissions or no emissions vehicles co-housing and innovative housing ideas Please share your thoughts about the anti-consumer message. Include your e-mail if you would like a personal response

Responses to this page from the Sustainable Enterprises community:

• I agree with you whole heartedly. I am a single female living in one of the richest counties in the U.S., not because of choice, but because my job is here and I pay 700. in rent. Even though I pay so little for rent I still struggle. I do not buy expensive clothes. My jeep still runs after 6 years, I bought it new. But even if I wanted to engage in extra consumerism I couldn't because I do not make enough money. I work with Special Ed students and I get paid peanuts. I love my work, but I am hardly surviving. Anyway, the point of my story is that I wish people would wake up and realize the seriousness of our situation, as a country, a society, and individually. Material goods are not the way to happiness. Love for one another, respect, compassion. To help another human being. This is what life is truly about. But till the day that we see the light we will be an unbalanced society. And that is a sad fact for a country that is considered a "Super Power".
• Anti consumerism is anti American. The basis of our entire way of life and economy is the fact that we all work to get paid to buy stuff that other people make so that they can in turn have work so that they can buy stuff and ect. It's a never ending cycle. If you are so anticonsumerism yourself, then where did you steal the computer that you used to make this web site? How do you get your electricity for free? Do you walk around naked? Were you home schooled? How about instead of saying anticonsumerism, we just just use the phrase responsible consumerism, then no one has to be a hipocrate.
• I read your site and am really touched by what I am reading. I agree so much and am glad many people are seeing this and realizing this. I would like to quote something that The Holy Father the Late John Paul II once said, that America's poor compared to the rest of the world lives very rich. Truly spoken from a Great Man. It seems to just keep spiraling and getting more and more. I also truly believe the old cliche Less is more. God Bless you for informing people and to become aware of this and to teach this to our children and grandchildren.
• I have been, in principle, an anti-consumerist for 33 years. I say 'in principle' because I'm no longer as pure about it as I once was. But the conviction still stands strong in my belief system. It was validated during the fourteen years that I lived deliberately with no formal income, and discovered thereby that the term Providence, which we all consider to be a somewhat theoretical condition of grace, is much more than that: it is an actual force, or energy, that works to provide us with what we need. I can be no more definitive about the source of this energy than anyone else, for we are not given the privilege of knowing. But as to its existence, I have been the beneficiary in so many ways as to be uncountable. And it is the surety of the existence of Providence that allows me to say, with absolute conviction, that I have all that I need; I have ENOUGH. And its corrolary: if I do not have it, I don't need it.
• One of the main reasons that people have such a high desire to accumulate "stuff" is that we all are being constantly bombarded with "buy" messages from all kinds of sources, such as billboards, flyers, emails, phone calls, TV ads, inserts, faxes, circulars, popups, and more. If we want to be conscious consumers we need to fight back. I encourage you to sign a petition a being sent to the FTC and the Council of Better Business Bureaus to fight back against "STUFFOCATION."
• I seriously think that this should be taught in schools, along with financial management, and an understanding of psychology so that people can identify when they are being brainwashed. I live in a nice, large house and my family all have lots of clothes. The result? I HATE the amount of time it takes me to clean and wash! I recognize that I am an extremely lucky and happy person, but I can honestly say that I am no happier than I was when I had one pair of workman boots and one pair of jeans and one skirt (for many years before I met my husband). Material things do NOT make you happy, although the lack of money to buy the necessary material things (healthcare, food, shelter, clothes) DOES cause unhappiness. I am trying to encourage my husband who is quite materialistic to question his own values, and ask himself some searching questions about why he feels he MUST work 60 hours a week and study part time to get the next promotion to get the bigger house in the 'right' suburb! Deep down I know he would be much happier with a physical job, more free time and time with us. It's crazy!
• I do not agree with anything said on this website! I am a high school student, and I don't see why you are trying to change how my generation was created to be! We were born in a world that wants bigger and better things. Stop trying to change it! Why should we suffer because certain people are against the way the world is? Go with the flow. Your life will be easier. I guarantee it. The list of things you say we need to "reduce" is absolutely preposterous! We need to reduce demand for clean water? What's that about??? Sure, the world could be anti consumerism, but we'd all be miserable...co housing? I don't know about you, but I'd prefer to be in my own house, with my own clean water. If you're really against consumerism, then you might as well live under a rock.
• I'm starting to think anti-consumerism is the solution to general malaise in our society. I know I tend to go shopping for books, cosmetics, Cds, etc...when I'm bored or depressed. I feel better for 5 minutes, tops. Then I'm depressed again, with tons of crap everywhere I don't have space for. Books I never read, CDs I listen to once...Its a tough cycle to break out of, though.
• I stumbled on this website after reading a book (The Gospel according to Larry) which is on the same subject. As a 14 year old girl, I never knew there were so many people on the same path as I was. I am a vegan and try to cut down on anything harming the environment. Sometimes it is very hard to not by different things but I also believe it is good to cut down on different thing. I guess one half of my family thinks so as well. My brother buys only brand name clothes and my cousin loves video games, but I can't blame them. Are there any other things we can do to cut down consumerism?
• I have been an anti-consumerist for a few months now. my coworkers think that i am nuts. however, what i find unbelievable is the amount of stuff that they own. one guy had to rent a storage building to store his excess stuff. a lady frequently remarks about the piles of boxes in her garage. she can't even remember what's in them!! if you don't remember what you have, or you have to waste money to pay to store stuff you never use, what's the point of having it?
• I totally reject the current philosophy of our current consumer society. It is one that feeds of peoples insecurities, the system can only sustain itself as long as people are discontent with their own well-being. As many anti-consumerists know, consumerism is the new religion of the Western world. It has subordinated all other values, and has de-humanized the human subject. Only by removing oneself from the consumerist culture can one start to understand true individuality. The insidious brainwashing that advertising does becomes all too clear when one understands how this pathetic machine works.
• I believe in anti-consumerism, myself. I am a senior in high school, and I see so many of my peers blindly buying whatever is 'fashionable' with no thought as to the usefulness of said product. This blind consumption sickens me. I try to live a life as fruitful as I can when I give and reuse more than I take. But in today's consumer based society it is getting harder. Many of the second hand stores I once shopped at are disappearing, and i am finding harder and harder to shop for the most environmentally sound products, simply because of lack of production of said items.
• Greetings, this is a fellow supporter of the Simplistic lifestyle. Its not just an idea, but a fact! The less we have the easier it is to live, to concentrate on what is important. Life is about relationships, not materials...so lets strive towards Simplicity.
• If you stop watching television you will notice that you don't "need" most of the things you are buying. The television is in your home for one purpose only--to make you want things you don't need. I haven't had a television in my residence for over 6 years and I've never been more content.
• I agree, but it's not easy. The government could help, even just by making the bus tickets tax deductible. Here in Perth, Australia, if your workplace supplies you with a parking spot, it is cheaper to drive than to take the bus, which is extremely depressing.
• STOP is an anti-consumerism group in Canada. Our website is: http://www.geocities.com/stopinternational/index.html . Please distribute... Thank You.
• We live in the Argentine Patagonia, heading towards off the grid self sufficiency. We have a simple, fun loving, Plan to decimate Earth killing consumerism. It is detailed in www.jaguargirl.com. Please check it out and then help us to promote the site and get this going. Could be immense.
• The society that we live in now is so geared to spending and mass consumerism it is very difficult, even for me, who realised the negative effects of consumerism at a young age, to reject. We are bombarded with hundreds of advertisements a day all telling us we will be better off if we buy their products. It has gone way past the stage of just informing consumers of a product and it's merits and suggesting that we purchase it and is now at the highly advanced stage I call 'manipulative marketing'. This is where the marketer is not necessarily selling you the product itself but is showing you what will happen to you if the product is purchased. Often the product is not even mentioned till the last few seconds and bears only the most miniscule relation to the product's attributes. Will you really become a world famous rock star by drinking Pepsi? Will you really attract that blond model with your aftershave? So unlikely that most people would say that these ads are harmless and that the average person has the sense to discern fantasy from reality. If this is the case then why are the majority of major corporations using this type of marketing time after time. It is because if you bombard people with the same message again and again, day after day, month after month, their resistance will start to fall. This is the same reason that propaganda has been so important in all major conflicts of the last century.
• It is only recently that I have realized that my husband and I submit to the anti-consumerism philosophy. We have chosen to live on only one income so that I can be home to raise our children. Living a simpler life, without the need to buy the things that are supposed to make us happy is a life that I would never abandon. We have no fancy toys or brand name clothing, but in the same breath we have no debt and next to no stress in our lives. Our family life is full of love and is in no way wanting for anything else.  Many of our family members mistake our way of life for one that we have to live because the money isn't there, instead of a way of life that is based on necessity instead of environmental butchery based on over consumption.  I feel sorry for them for I see the stress in their eyes and hear the panic in their voices when the next bill comes in.  How long will it take for people to realize the things that will make them happy cannot be bought?
• I was born into a "well-to-do" family, but all my parents ever did was work. My father was an architect and worked twelve hours a day because there were just so many things we HAD to have. The trips, the house, the new Sports Utility/Cadillac (yes we had to have both), the computers and laptop (we had three computers in our house), the custom made furniture, the constant eating of dinner anywhere but at home, the private schools, the Armani/Versaci clothing, the Omega wrist watch that I really didn't need...I could go on. There was an image that had to be up-held and there was an expectation that we (the children) would continue in this weary cycle by building on what our parents accumulated! As it turns out, we didn't become the next politically prevalent affluently puissant family clan, say, that the Bush family became (after daddy sold drugs taken from the confiscated lot of the C.I.A). Nearing the last few payments on the house mortgage, my father had a mental breakdown. That took away ALL of our material possessions because as everyone knows, having a mental breakdown can be very expensive in America. On the bright side, we are now closer than we had ever been, I only wish I knew the world outside of money and it's downfalls earlier in life.
• I agree with all of what's being said here. I've even tried to convince other people of the accumulating rate of consumption in our society today. They just don't listen because they can't directly see the effects of our way of life on the Earth. It pains me to know people just don't care or know enough about the situation to care. I have just recently found out the truth about globalization, and I don't claim to meet all these guidelines, but I'm doing all I can to change the way I live.
• It has only been recently since I have started to realise there is far more to life than material items. I used to be as bad as the next person, wanting to wear the right clothes to look cool etc.. But now I see life in a different light and it is so encouraging to hear other people's opinions which are similar to mine. There may be some light at the end of the tunnel after all. Everyone has just got to realise that they are worth more than any amount of money, or any brand name which we are made to believe we need in order to be happy!
• It's true that the capitalists are squeezing the world's resources thus damaging the environment and the people of the Third World. Materialism therefore sucks, to be frank. ONCE WE HAVE NOTHING, WE ARE FREE TO DO ANYTHING.  You should check out FIGHT CLUB, it's a brilliant film; one of its main themes is anti-consumerism.
• I live in a part of the world racing to catch up with the West, racing to consume just as much as you guys do, racing to be 'developed', to have the latest gadgets, an SUV, a stock portfolio and all the rest of it. Our efforts have resulted in one of the world's mega-cities - Bangkok. It's filthy, polluted, congested with traffic you will never believe until you experience it, with 10 million souls casting about to make a living here.
      Thanks to cutting down trees, we now have mudslides which kill hundreds at a pop. Excessive fishing has destroyed coastal forests and mangrove forests and led to depleted fish stocks. Hotel collapses from shoddy building practices are common. Exploitation - of any resource, person or thing - is the norm. Dams have destroyed villages and communities to make sure we in Bangkok have enough water for our pools. The level of industrial pollution is shocking, as is our inability to deal with it (Why, just yesterday a truck overturned right in the heart of Bangkok spilling tonnes of dangerous chemicals which the authorities decided to flush down into the sewers rather than clean up properly -- traffic was backed up for five hours).
      But those at the top live very well indeed, thank you, having benefited enormously from their factories and their deals with Western companies who have set up shop here looking to cash in on cheap labour and loose regulations.
      I agree with one of your insights, that you in the West need to STOP CONSUMING and stop preaching the religion of consumerism because I can assure you that when the whole world has the ability to consume as you do, there won't be any world left worth living in.
• Largest religion of the most consumerist nation on earth (USA) holds as a major tenet and common belief that the world as we know it is finite, since there must come (soon?) a "Judgment Day" when we will all perish anyway. With this mindset in place, it's not that great a stretch to see that it'll be a self-fulfilling prophesy.
• Stop breeding more little consumers!
• Hello and greetings from Finland! I think that the anti-consumer message is great. Basically too much money is spent on not needed products every day and there should be some kind of change. Especially youngsters have learned to live in a consumer world, not that many are really paying any attention to environmental and social issues. People do not need really not that much. It is sad, if people only want to get pleasure from buying things. Anyway, I hope this message reaches many people around the globe. The world belongs to all, also for the next generations, so it is about the time to do something, isn't it folks?
• It's our responsibility to do what we can for the poor, and to be good stewards of our resources. God Bless this site!
• I was very glad to stumble upon your site. I personally have difficulty expressing my concerns about the ability of our culture to boil even the most complicated of issues down to a dollar sign. I become confused when mainstream media downplays alternative views and no longer cares about presenting a balanced picture of ALL the points of view regarding an issue. Increasingly we are asked NOT to think, question, or challange. We're encouraged to be spontaneous buyers, but not spontaneous thinkers. We are in a position more often than not as individuals of reacting instead of acting. Why? We're asked to work salaried positions that demand 80hrs weeks, or work minimum wage jobs that necessitate 2-3 jobs just to make ends meet. When we have the time off? We run errands, do the laundry, tend to the kids...How often do we indulge ourselves in reading a good book, listening to an inspiring piece of music, take a nap in the park...The little things are what matter. Many people I think believe that is true in only certain contexts...consider romantic relationships. But what if its true of all things? What if we stopped raising cattle instead grew wheat? What if those millionaire CEO's gave up portions of their salaries to save some jobs? What if we as individuals intelligently informed ourselves of threats to our liberty? What if we had the time to do those things...Thanks for listening...Steve
• Using "sneakers" as an example of overt consumerism is not a good one. We need something on our feet - who cares what someone pays? Shoes are a necessity.  Also - the idea of "gas guzzlers." If other opportunities existed, other than tiny, 3-cylinder unproven vehicles, the people would choose them! But the technology has been blocked from the marketplace. We need to drive to work and better alternatives. A "just say no" policy is not practical or pragmatic for most people.
• Under the present system of liberal capitalism, consumerist tendencies are inevitable. What is needed is a gradual change in the political construct. I myself am disillusioned by the whole ethos of consumerist culture, as it encourages selfishness and stupidity. It needs to be brought down.
• We live in a polluted culture. We have a polluted environment, we have polluted bodies, and we lead polluted lives. We are such a materially rich culture, but we are not any happier then people with less material wealth. Marketers spend billions of dollars trying to make people buy buy buy! We are constantly bombarded with the message that bigger is better, and the more material things you have, the happier and more fulfilling your life will be. This has taken a serious toll on the environment, and our culture. STOP CONSUMING!
• Our society is a need driven one (capitalistic) so that it can evolve, but with too few counterbalances (government/private consumer information providers) keeping our support based on educated decisions. Although I hope I am wrong, I perceive that we will not strive for educated consumerism until our needs are affected. Our needs will not be affected until we have already done significant damage to our environment and natural resources. Perhaps research into this area would improve the circumstances you bring to light.
• I would like to relate a brief and personal story that may seem trivial at first...but ultimately epitomizes many of the messages you have included on your web page. Eight years ago, I bought a mug, handmade from leather, at the Renaissance Festival in Minnesota. Within that time, I have also owned several sets of plastic and/or glass drinking vessels purchased from Wal-Mart or one of it's sadly few competitors. Over time, the cheaply manufactured, sweatshop produced goods predictably became broken, cracked, and useless, and I was forced to discard them. That leather mug however, has endured countless uses, the rude and abrupt force of gravity on numerous occasions, and also many other abuses, some too graphic to mention. Nevertheless, it remains intact, useful, and actually more aesthetically pleasing than when I purchased it-its many scars bequeath a story to be told, I suppose. It may seem silly, but it was this mug that made me ask myself, "Why don't we make everything like this?". It's a product involving some sacrifice to the animal from whose flesh it came do doubt, but a quality product that will last a lifetime has to be far more valuable than the endless supply of junk one can buy at Wal-Mart. Furthermore, although the leather mug seemed expensive at the time (about $60.00), it has saved me countless dollars on "expendable" products, and was made from the skin of an animal that we were going to eat anyway. Now, I use that mug almost exclusively. I have provided a simple example of a cup, but analogous situations exist in our economic system which are too numerous to name. It's time to ask ourselves, "Why do we mine iron, to make tools, to mine more iron?". To be honest, I am frustrated to brink of explosion. I try to do my own part, and feel I do a fair job of it-but I feel powerless to truly influence the thought and behavior of others towards a greater good. It is obvious to me that capitalism as we know it is a self-nullifying and ultimately species-destructive behavior. 
• There are many people (esp. post 9/11) that have discovered the joys in life don't come from the mall. But we still have a long way to go. In my environmental education business, I often remind everyone in the room that they have never been IN a traffic jam, they ARE the traffic jam. When that hits home, they'll start thinking of their own consumptive ways. Once I had a woman complain to me about all the truck traffic on her road. After pointing out some alternative solutions to her "problem", I reminded her those trucks were delivering "stuff" to the shopping mall she shops at. If you wouldn't buy it they won't make it! To be sure, I'm not an environmental "saint" by most definitions of the word, but everything I own fits in my car. And I own a '92 Honda civic hatchback not a 19 foot land yacht. I believe when most people start to focus on something larger than themselves, they will stop consuming so much stuff. A consumerist society has an addiction. An addiction supplied by multi-national corporations to be sure. Most people I know of are buying because they are trying to fill a void in themselves. Buying something makes them feel good (as opposed to true happiness) and like a warm bath the feeling soon fades prompting more consumption. So remember, if you're on a diet and you find yourself going to McDonald's because it's easy, they wouldn't be there if you didn't go there!
• After 9/11 President Bush's response was to go out and buy stuff. Is that really the solution to our problems, go out and buy more? It is a sick world if people actually think that consuming more will help them.
• Greetings, this is a fellow supporter of the Simplistic lifestyle. Its not just an idea, but a fact! The less we have the easier it is to live, to concentrate on what is important. Life is about relationships, not materials...so lets strive towards Simplicity.
• We all need to stop and think why it is we are alive. No, its not about materials, its not about status, its not about busyness. Why are we so selfish? Do something about it, "you must be the change you want to see in the world."

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