Member-only story

Everything You Buy Is Garbage

Christyl Rivers, Phd.
4 min readFeb 13, 2023

--

Did it come from Earth in an extraction process? Where will it go?

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

Roaring Rivers

Torrents, currents, and ripples by Christyl Rivers

That time eight billion people wanted stuff…

Not everything you buy is garbage.

You CAN buy a National Park Pass, for example. Or, you can buy support for an endangered species, (called a donation) That would be an investment for anyone who wants to improve their self-image and self-esteem.

You can buy stuff that sells you the idea you are buying ‘eco-friendly.’

But, you can’t buy fast food, fast fashion, fast high tech green-washed trash and expect it will make you feel better for long. Not only will it eventually make you sick mentally, and spiritually, but it will also make you sick physically: with all the microplastic, toxins, greenhouse gas emissions, and so on, to get it from Earth into you, or your trash

No. For most durable and meaningful items, you can’t buy. You must DO.

This is because our programming to solve sadness with stuff is pervasive, self-inflicted, deeply ingrained, and oddly, hidden from our perspective. That is, we willingly hide our consumption and trash problems…

--

--

Christyl Rivers, Phd.
Christyl Rivers, Phd.

Written by Christyl Rivers, Phd.

Ecopsychologist, Writer, Farmer, Defender of reality, and Cat Castle Custodian.

Responses (4)