Frugalism
About half of all energy usage is affected by what people buy, and how much of it. Pie chart will be added here soon. Mining + manufacturing + transportation of goods... adds up to half of the pie. See also: Why energy usage serves as a good general estimate of carbon emissions.
In this sense, we can save the planet by being cheap.
We can still have nice things, just replace them less often.
Note: This is mostly relevant to people who live in developed countries, especially middle-class and richer. If you take a walk in a middle-class neighborhood on garbage day, you'll see the type of stuff people throw out.
Examples
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Analysis needed for this section: Consider various types of consumer goods, such as clothing, electronics, kitchenware, furniture etc. For each good, consider how long it could last. Then compare with the status quo of how often people actually replace it. Using the ratio between the two stats, we can calculate what percent of environmental impacts could be avoided if people chose to replace stuff less often.
Tips
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