Each and every one of us has a substantial impact on the world around us. The most quantifiable portion of our impact is our consumption. We consume constantly, the most immediate positive effect we can have on the environment comes from changing how and what we consume.

All of our purchase decisions have consequences. Every product has a supply chain and different amounts of resources were used to make it. How efficient are the supply chains for our food, clothes, cleaning products, appliances, phones, computers, and cars?

Very few people think about these things. We are not yet trained to evaluate purchase decisions by how efficient the production is. The facts and figures needed to weigh such a decision are also hard to come by, if not hidden. If companies were transparent about the creation of their products, we could buy goods based on how much resources it took to create them and bring them to us.

Imagine if we could track how efficient we are living by totaling the amount of water, energy, and materials that it takes to provide our standard of living. Right now there is little to no awareness of this, and so it is difficult to see the correlation between the changes we make in consumption and the respective impact that has the world. Once we know where we are, we can track the changes and keep ourselves motivated to continue.

Humans use more resources per capita than any other species on the planet, that should not come as a surprise given the amount of technology and variety of food that we enjoy. Now that we have new advancements in science and technology, we need to use them to minimize our impact on earth and on each other. It is possible to develop recyclable and upgradable technologies instead of throwaway devices. We can build closed loop supply chains that reuse resources instead of discarding them. The capability is there, but the incentive is not.

In order to demand sustainable changes, we need to buy sustainable products so that companies see the value in changing. If a company sees a shift in sales to products that are less resource intensive and costly to the envirionment, they will shift in that direction themselves.

It is up to us as consumers to start this cycle of change, however if we maintain selfish perspectives we will never see the value in doing this. After all, “why should I give something up or change if no one else will?” It is always easier to follow a trend than to start one, why should we wait for other people to change before we give ourselves permission? If everyone lived like that where would we be?

Society celebrates those who challenge the system and are bold enough to be different, but the celebration only comes after overcoming great adversity in the beginning stages.

Don’t wait for inspiration, be the inspiration for others and commit to change today!