Frugalism

This page tells people to **consume less stuff**. Note that this is directed at people in **"developed"** countries, especially people who are middle-class or richer (i.e. the 20% of the world that uses 80% of resources). We are **not** telling poor people to consume less.

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.

If you take a walk in a middle-class neighborhood on garbage day, you'll see the type of perfectly-good stuff people throw out.

Examples

This section has not been filled in yet.

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.

More talking points that need to fit somewhere...

Mention appliances - does replacing them really save energy when you consider the energy it takes to manufacture/deliver/install the new appliance? Rule of thumb: if it saves money (without gov't subsidizing the replacement) then yes. (also note that "big oil companies are subsidized too" is true but not a counterargument. manufacturing the appliance relies just as much on subsidized oil (maybe moreso) as the energy in your home).
Talk about thrift stores (make new page?) and how they get overloaded (too many donations, not enough buyers, stuff still ends up in the landfill) and the solution is for people to not buy so much NEW stuff in the first place. Culturally we need to make it our default that when we need some item we first check our own homes, then ask friends/neighbors if they have one they aren't using, then look for it in thrift stores or used online, and then only as a last resort buy it new. I can uncomment this talk when I phrase it better and after I filled out the 'examples' section above so people can first see why this matters.
Bring up excessive renovation in the context of both homes and commercial space. Some of this is done by ordinary individuals; some of this is done by landlords and business owners.
When small business consume goods excessively, this is still usually funded by middle-class customers. Say for example if a restaurant keeps replacing its decorations & dishes just to maintain an upscale vibe: This makes the place more expensive, but middle-class people are still choosing to eat there. So in a way it's still a function of middle-class choices. Unless maybe a lot of restaurant owners could reach a whole new demographic by being more frugal and lowering prices, but they just haven't realized it yet?
When large corporations consume goods excessively (i.e. office parties for upper management), maybe rich shareholders are to blame, and the middle class has zero market influence over this? In which case, that section of consumption^{[QUANTIFICATION needed]} could only be dealt with through anti-capitalism.

Tips

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