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I will speak first for myself. As I look away from the carefully coordinated Zoom backdrop of my home workspace, I see piles of stuff.
Books. Children’s toys that belonged to people who are no longer children. A dusty exercise bike purchased two decades ago as part of a failed effort to prevent my current physique.
American society also has too much stuff. It’s not only packed into our homes but cast into landfills and recycling centers in unsustainable amounts.
The world produced a projected 500 million tons of plastic in 2024, according to the United Nations, most of which became waste. That amount of plastic outweighs almost twice all the humans on the planet, though to be fair we must account for the microplastics currently lodged in our fatty tissues. Those are pulling double duty.
I grew up on a literal junkyard, a place where people rolled up in old pickups to buy salvaged auto parts from my family. So, I understand the delicate balance at play. Stuff has value. We either need it or like it, so we work and spend to get more. Once we’re done, we sell, give, or throw the stuff away. We hope our kids will one day appreciate all the stuff we left behind.