They are content with less than 2% of the possessions than the average American. Granted they are acclimated. They aren't in a 'had and pitched it' situation. They are in a 'never had it, never needed it, don't want it' situation. The difference in these two situations is our struggle. Its hard to let go.
He generously skips contrasting their lifestyle to Americans, and instead just shows data to declare how most of us live, citing mass data research done by the United Nations, and other sources of census on planetary stability. Mathematicians became involved and helped create formulas for calculating usage such as Ecological Impact of various goods, and Carbon Footprinting. I encourage you to learn more about these studies by <clicking here> and to calculate your own usage by <clicking here>
Findings have shown that the United States, my home nation, is exponentially higher than most in consumption of natural resources, and that if everyone on the planet shared our lavish lifestyle, we'd all be extinct by now. Earth's abundance is finite if not replenished at or above the rate of consumption. Some humans like Americans consume more than we are able to replenish. The only answer to this is to find ways to reduce. It is physically impossible to grow more/extract more because we'd exceed the available land space.
Why minimalism? There are many reasons. Personal freedom, expansion of choices, financial savings, and some even do it for style. I struggle to find one so noble, meaningful, or obvious as this: it is up to us to preserve our own life on our only planet. And minimalism is a great way to reduce our personal carbon footprint.
Below are a 9 fun statistics taken by other recent, and more specific, census studies.
1. The average size of the American home has nearly tripled in size over the past 50 years. -National Public Radio
2. 25% of people with two-car garages don’t have room to park cars inside them and 32% only have room for one vehicle. -U.S. Department of Energy
3. British research found that the average 10-year-old owns 238 toys but plays with just 12 daily. -The Telegraph
4. The average American owns 30 outfits, which is triple what it was in 1930. -Forbes
5. Nearly half of American households don’t grow a savings account. -Business Insider
6. Some reports indicate we consume twice as many material goods today as we did 50 years ago. -The Story of Stuff
7. Americans spend more on shoes, jewelry, and watches ($100 billion) than on higher education -Psychology Today
8. Over the course of our lifetime, we will spend a total of 3,680 hours or 153 days searching for misplaced items.The research found we lose up to nine items every day. Phones, keys, sunglasses, and paperwork top the list. -The Daily Mail
9. Americans spend $1.2 trillion annually on nonessential goods. -The Wall Street Journal
The overwhelming sentiment is that everything is more expensive while wages have flat-lined, and that the biggest baddest CEO's are all lining their pockets. And, of course, there is some undeniable truth to that.
However interest rates are still nearly as low as they have ever been. So while communications costs are up, education costs are up, and incomes feel like they suck, part of our financial challenge can be faced in the here and now of our daily choices. Because, frankly, our own restraint has been neglected for decades. For some of us things are already so tight that it feels like nothing can be cut. I encourage everyone to try, regardless of your situation. The fascinating people Jim Merkel wrote about are quite happy with even less, I promise.
By living more simply, we live more sustainable with ourselves, as well as our planet, and this earth is still our only home.
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