Sustainability #1
Recently, I conducted a sharing on sustainability for design students and realized that most of the publicity is at the political and economic level. What does it mean for us as individuals?
Sustainability means
“meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In addition to natural resources, we also need social and economic resources.”
It is a game of balancing needs; ours versus theirs. It involves the natural environment, our society and the economy.
I always start with the “man in the mirror”. We should examine our consumption habits rather than depending on a shift to the green economy. One such way is using the Japanese Kakeibo method.
Before any purchase, ask the following questions:
Can I live without it?
Can I afford it? (pay for it in full with my current financial circumstances?)
Will I actually use it?
Do I have the space for it?
How did I first come across it? (am I a victim of marketing?)
What is my emotional state today? (calm, stressed, angry, celebratory, needy?)
How would I feel about buying it? (how long will it last?)
Walk away and record the answers in a journal (a small pocket book worked well for me).
If you are satisfied with the answers after 24 hours, get it!
After practicing it, I realized that life is actually much simpler than we are led to think. Hopefully, it works for you too :)
Reference: Kakeibo: The Japanese Art of Budgeting & Saving Money