The Conscious Consumer
With holiday shopping in full spree, it can be tempting (and easy) to purchase accessible, quick-to-ship products online that our friends and family want. It’s also during the holiday season that discussions about consumerism come to life, and for good reason. In 2019, Americans spent a whopping $3.76 trillion on e-commerce products, a 3.8% increase from the prior year. However, in recent years, conscious and ethical consumerism is how many people have decided to tackle their shopping habits, particularly during the holiday season.
Impact of Retail Consumerism
With so much money piling into retail, and specifically digital shopping, it’s important to take time to reflect on where and how we spend our money. For retail specifically, an increasing number of people are taking note of how their spending habits impact the environment, with 67% of consumers “considering the use of sustainable materials to be an important purchasing factor.” However, sustainability can come in many forms, and online shopping continues to be a major contributor to the environmental impact of consumerism. For the largest online retailers in the world, delivery and order fulfillment creates environmental damage that exceeds traditional brick-and-mortar store shopping, with the “last-mile” delivery process and excessive packaging producing more emissions per item purchased.
Being a Conscious and Informed Consumer
So, what does it mean to be a conscious, more ethical shopper? Ultimately, ethical consumption will vary and change depending on the individuals. Different shoppers value different things – you may value environmental sustainability, while your aunt or cousin are passionate about cruelty-free or organic items. Yet, the beautiful thing about shopping in the digital age is the wealth of information and options for nearly any product, and the availability of these options is growing each year. Knowing what to buy is important, but knowing what to avoid is also imperative to being a conscious consumer. Conducting due diligence, researching environmentally-harmful companies, and engaging in conversations about your shopping habits can dramatically reduce the amount of impact you’re bringing to the planet, all through a computer screen.
A Guide on Conscious Shopping
We know that conscious shopping can be hard, but there are also various resources to help make your search for the perfect present easier. Shopping guides that follow careful protocols, such as the Good Shopping Guide, can be a reliable reference for your ethical shopping needs. Even brands like ThredUp have their own resources to help you calculate the environmental impact of your shopping habits, all for the sake of thoughtful, careful consumerism. Ultimately, conscious shopping is what you make of it. Like recycling, energy usage, or how you commute to work, you decide how your behaviors impact the environment. This holiday season, bring sustainability to your gift-giving and shop thoughtfully for your friends, family, and our planet.
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About RyeStrategy
Based in Seattle, RyeStrategy is a CDP-accredited, mission-oriented company specialized in carbon accounting, mitigation coaching, and climate disclosure solutions for organizations at any point in their sustainability journey. Learn how RyeStrategy helped Salesforce, Ideascale, and Wazoku achieve their sustainability goals.
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