Useless: Are We Consumers or People?
Are you sick of being labeled a ‘consumer’, with all that it implies? We still have to buy stuff, but perhaps if we thought of ourselves as people instead of consumers, we’d start behaving like conscious individuals instead of a mindless mob.
A company called USELESS – that is, use less – is dedicated to reducing the impacts of irresponsible consumerism and helping those in the developing world who lack the basic necessities to lead healthy lives. Wait a minute – a for-profit company that sells products, telling people to use less? Does that even make sense?
Max Gladwell got some details in an interview with USELESS co-founder Mark Simmons:
Two years ago I was working with Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection trying to work out what to say about climate change that would get people from all walks of life involved to help solve the crisis. I saw that, while many people thought of climate change as a left wing conspiracy, they all felt, regardless of their political views, that we Americans use too much stuff. The thought of “use less” lodged in my mind and a year later when I was trying to develop a brand around reducing use of disposable water bottles and bags it struck me that “useless” would be a perfect name because on the face of it, while it is quite negative, if you scratch just below the surface you see it’s not negative at all, it’s a positive way to message about the desire to use less. And if on the one hand we in the developed world are using too much stuff and that’s contributing to climate change, on the other hand there are people in the developing world who are going without the very basics of life such as clean water and sanitation. In fact, 2.6 billion lack proper sanitation and resulting diseases is the biggest killer of children under five. So there is a natural counter-point to use less, which is to give more. The pieces then all fit into place for me. The brand would be called USELESS and its mission would be to help people USE LESS and GIVE MORE in a cool, thought-provoking way.
The point is, we can buy things that were made responsibly and will last a long time, thus reducing our own waste output and helping to improve the lives of other people around the world. USELESS sells t-shirts, hoodies, hats, messenger bags, reusable water bottles and other items that are made to last in the USA from organic, recycled or recyclable materials. 10% of the profits from USELESS sales go to water and sanitation projects.
Learn more about USELESS at Max Gladwell and check out the selection at USELESS.org.
Link Max Gladwell + USELESS
Related posts:
- Water Wars Already Starting in India
- Climate Bill Will Cost Consumers Way Less than Republicans Claim
- Run, Kids, the Carbon Monster is Coming!
- Green, Eco Links of the Week
- Scientists: Treat Dolphins Like People
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 10:30 am and is filed under Consciousness, Green Living, Health, Science, Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
