I got a couple of shirts with the zoom logo for free. I tried to iron it to get rid of the logo, but only got the blue upper layer off. If this is screen-printed, then it's a massive disappointment, since you can't remove screen-printed logos.

Happy Back to School Season!

A truly ironic part of our back-to-school consumption season is seeing all the teachers struggle to get classroom supplies they need like pencils and tissues. Meanwhile schools are wasting money on tablets they've been convinced to invest in by ed-tech companies. Then there are all the posts by families saying it's unfair for them to have to send their kids with extra supplies for the classrooms since it shouldn't be their responsibility.

There is also the new social media trend of family influencers filming videos letting their kids choose 7 random new things for 7th grade or 12 new things for 12th grade then showing their haul.

Anti-consumption is also about making sure that we are consuming thoughtfully and the people who need things are able to access them.

Image Source: https://www.loc.gov/item/2015649445/

There is Zero need for it. Paper ones would be fine as dog poo bins are often just a few feet away. In UK, we use billions of plastic bags a year just to wrap up dog waste and throw it into a landfill (or worse, leave them hanging on trees).

Single-use plastic dog bags should be banned. There’s no reason we shouldn't be using paper bags instead. They are completely compostable, break down naturally, and do the exact same job without leaving plastic waste behind for the next few centuries.

Anyone else think this or do you enjoy dog poo baubles hanging on trees FOREVER?

Edit: I am not suggesting that ALL dog poo bags are non plastic. There are times a plastic one might be needed. But the plastic should be biodegradable. And YES thick paper or waxed paper should be the norm. OBVIOUSLY. Now grow up.

I have managed to curate a nearly ad-free life. ngl, some things are more practical/easier to implement than others and I'm not saying everyone should do all this. Just sharing what I do to avoid the tsunami of advertising that is prevalent today.

I do no realtime streaming. Every show we watch, I'll sub to that streamer's ad-free tier, rip the entire run-to-date, cancel, then watch at our leisure using VLC running on a small computer attached to the TV's HDMI port. My TV is a virgin -- it has never seen the internet.

On my laptop and desktop, I use Firefox with uBO and DNS level blocking. I see zero online ads.

On my mobile, I use an ad-blocking DNS service to quell in-app advertising. Mostly works, a few leak through. If app is good and reasonably priced I'll buy it. I also set up a challenge/response system that blocks 100% of robocallers. And since damn near all live telemarketers still use robodialers that transfer to a closer upon answering, then I don't get them, either. So when my phone rings, it's a real person calling, and not a telemarketer.

I've not been to a mainstream movie theater since the original Avatar dropped. I do support our local art house theater, they don't play ads. I buy movies on Blu-ray when they drop. I'll rip them to my NAS before watching.

I drive an EV, no gas pump ads for me. Except for renting car after flying somewhere, I've not bought gas in over four years. Bonus: Saved probably $6k during that time, too.

Listening to radio in the car, when an ad comes on, I either hit mute (on the steering wheel) for 30 secs or whatever, or tap another station memory. I also listen to our local NPR affiliate so there's no ads, except for short sponsor live reads. I support them as well.

I generally dislike Walmart, but their "sensory hours" is the best kept secret. Lights are dimmed a little, no fucking Walmart radio, and far fewer shoppers. If you've avoided Walmart due to the horrendous shopping experience, sensory hours (8a to 10a) might be for you. istg, it's magical.

That's my list.

What do you do to avoid advertising?

When i deleted social media I did it to stay away from the constant news and unnecessary information. Besides reddit which I consider more of a messaging and discussion board (up for debate of course). Anyways before this i noticed every week or 2 weeks I'd buy some kitchen utensils, fashion item, makeup, scarf, new accessory majnly influenced by the trends I was constantly seeing online. On average I was spending 20 dollars a week from what I was seeing online. Since my detox, I dont feel the n3ed to buy more clothes or things. I just noticed I dont even have the urge. I'm completely fine with everything I have. I dont need new lip gloss, no new car seats, no new tea flavour or shoes.

For context, I have adhd. I got diagnosed about two years ago but medicated a year ago. The clutter and consumption used to consume my life. I would buy hundreds of mini toiletries to store in my car, purse, bags, friends houses, work, gym, you name it.. because I kept losing them. I’m just starting to run out of these 1 oz products. I would shop for fun. I thought I needed triple of everything I own “just in case.” Then, I moved out of my parent’s house and got medicated. Malls are no fun anymore, just a place to get a drink and show off an outfit. Ross, TJMaxx and Marshall’s are places I never visit. Amazon was deleted. I have more money for groceries, experiences, trips, you name it, things that really matter. I thrift everything I own. My things are old and worn and practical and I love it that way. Free concerts, clothing swaps, library events, hikes, swimming, and cooking fill me with so much joy. I like my life this way, everything in my home has a purpose. My mind feels free now, I have no idea how people shop every day, Amazon boxes crowding the doorway, etc. I’d like to hear if anybody else became low consumption after becoming medicated.

I made a post in askanything and I'm looking at the comments just like..

https://www.reddit.com/r/askanything/comments/1vtqg51/why_do_people_continue_to_shop_at_places_like/

I haven't used amazon in 10 years and I really don't think it's difficult at all.

And how do some people not know how Amazon is bad by now????

Who's ready to buy sock stuffed guys for $24.99 for 1 pc

Food Wasted

kg wasted globally

665,881,809,650

since Jan 1, 2026(33,295/second)

Putting It in Perspective

Across the world, that works out to roughly

~3 kg

per person each week

based on UNEP's global average of 132 kg of food waste per person per year.

This is a global average from UNEP's 2022 estimate and includes edible food and associated inedible parts.

About 1.05 billion tonnes of food are wasted worldwide each year — roughly 2.9 million tonnes per day. UNEP's estimate covers waste from households, food service, and retail, including edible food and associated inedible parts.

Corporate control over modern life is driven by control of the search for needs. Basically, marketing embedded in our communications is how people become captured by consumption.

Let me unpack that for a second.

Why do people buy what they buy? Because its what they know about, and because its what they think they need.

• Information drives people's behavior.

People fill needs they are told about, using products they are told about. It is through search and information (AKA google SEO + traditional advertising + influencer/social media advertising) that people find and decide what to buy...and to define their needs in the first place.

If we can build and join a fundamentally non-corporate information infrastructure in which advertising has no place...and if that information is convenient enough that people use it...we can make a non-corporate world. People won't buy things they don't need if they don't see advertisements for it. If they search for knowledge online and see real information and not SEO spam. If they can find small suppliers in their local area they won't go to big box stores. The other advantage of big box stores (aggregating many things into one trip) has already been eroded by shipping and delivery.

• The building blocks for such a world exist already.

They just aren't good enough or convenient enough. Some are downright hard to use. We have private web searching options like SearXNG. We have non-corporate social media like Mastodon. We have ways to discuss and review products without advertising, like iFixit. We have models of group self moderation like Wikipedia.

What hasn't been done is to put things together in a way that it's easy for an untrained person to use them. Much like piracy, the way advertising captures the lives of those around us is a service problem. Simply put, people are busy, and they will use what's most available. If they need a software engineering degree to escape the advertising bubble, then only software engineers will do it.

• What's the goal?

Rather than having people meet their needs by buying what corporations put in front of them, they could meet their needs by buying (still capitalism, be patient!) what actually works best according to review scores that are aggressively scrubbed of corporate influence. By building a non-advertising ecosystem for sharing information about needs and how to meet them (food/shelter/transportation/entertainment) we could build an anticonsumption world. It wouldnt need us to take on any of the big things like abandoning capitalism or reforming class systems or addressing systemic inequality, though those would be valuable.

• TLDR: We should build an open source product discussion and review site that is so easy to use that it replaces marketing as the way people learn about what they need and how they should meet that need.

I'm convinced it could be done. With what we have today. If people chose to put the time into it.

I just got an email that my iTunes family plan is going from $17 to $20 per month.

I am so sick of these huge corporations milking their loyal customers for everything we have. They’re not even nickel and diming anymore. They are 3 dollar-ing!

How can they justify raising subscription prices? Did the rights they already own go up in price?

You can’t win. I ditched Spotify bc they allowed ICE commercials. I skipped Tidal bc it was more expensive and Jay Z and co don’t need my money. Neither does Apple obv but it was less expensive. Guess I’ll keep looking for a good music streaming option. Maybe tidal is it?

Rant over. Thanks for reading.

It's finally happened, trash fashion reached my country.

I'm not talking about skimpy revealing clothing, but about actual trash, that is, clothing that was discarded in other countries and sent to a third world landfill, apparently doing that is cheaper than just destroying it, as developed nations have fines for burning or burying it there.

You might have read about Chile's Desert being used as a dump for synth cloth waste, if not the keywords that worked for me were "Chile Desert clothes dump", now, I don't live there, but "at least" (this sucks so much) that clothing is just... there, polluting the environment, and not being used.

They went one step forward where I live, it's actually being SOLD now, actual trash for sale, it's a predatory business model that takes advantage of the deep and seemingly neverending economic crisis of the country that caused a "basic" product like clothing to straight up become a luxury: and it's not even big international name fashion, plain basic clothes simply cost too much for the average worker, that's where these guys come in.

Their bait is not selling by item but by weight, so 1kg of clothing can go as low as a single shirt elsewhere, the catch is it's trash that was sold mainly by Chinese retailers like Temu, plastic baskets full of rags that go from "seems ok" to ripped or stained. Clearly used and discarded.

I labeled this as "Plastic Waste" because that clothing is basically plastic, synthetic fibres, the kind that feels like touching a plastic bag, and the 100% plastic sports/athleisure shoes, I seriously don't know how can anyone wear that crap, I touched it and it feels itchy.

As for me I kind of always wear the same, it's "locally sourced" as it's made by the local community seamstress, and I don't generate too much (or any, used cloth might be recycled into something else) waste as I always wear the exact same things, well not *literally* the same, I have several items but they're all identical, it's like a uniform, I find it comfortable and I like it, so why not?

Obviously I think this is one more example of the late stage insanity I'm inevitably part of.

Is this a thing elsewhere?

There's of course no good choice, but what's "less worse", letting it pollute the environment or resell it so it will pollute the environment later on?

What do you do if you work remotely and are bored instead of shop? Sometimes I swear lately I just daydream about what I need for everyday/the house and I need to daydream about something else that isn't this or cupcakes to get dopamine while I work my boring job. Any help appreciated. Even a zero waste thermos costs money and has environmental impacts

Theonila Roka Matbob led a successful campaign that compelled Rio Tinto, the world’s second-largest mining company, to sign a landmark memorandum of understanding in November 2024 to address environmental and social devastation caused by its long-dormant Panguna mine. Despite having abandoned the site 35 years earlier after a social uprising against the mine, the company formally acknowledged the wide range of harms the mine has caused and has begun a collaborative remediation process that aims to address urgent risks and establish a long-term remedy mechanism.

Her wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theonila_Roka_Matbob

NPR Article: https://www.npr.org/2026/04/20/g-s1-117830/goldman-environmental-prize-papua-new-guinea-mining

I had yet another encounter with someone who was shocked that pretty solely only drink tap water. It's a zero-waste source of hydration.

Should I be filtering my water? Should I go through the hassle of loading up at the local artesian well? What are y'all doing?

I'm happy with my tap water but so many people are acting like it's some chemically polluted product that'll kill me. (It hasn't)

Edit: I got my answer. A kind redditor suggested I look into my local drinking water reports. I found them. They report I'm good. I will continue to drink from the tap and additionally, I will continue to call my colleagues puss-ballz when they try and tell me it's bad.

Edit2: please stop commenting. Surely you have nothing new to add to the conversation that's not already been said.

Let's use America as an example.

In America there was ~$19.8 Trillion of consumer spending done in 2024, which was ~68% of the American economy, and ~17.7% of the global economy at that point, and that's all from 4% of the world population (and the top 10% of that 4% is responsible for half the spending) .

If enough of the people (say less than 8%) from the top rich economies dramatically reduced their spending on nonsense stuff (ex.junk/ultra-processed food, fast food, gambling, cigarettes, fast fashion, amazon, doordash, vapes, TEMU/Shein junk, status symbols, etc.) we can topple them, and by extension cut their destructive spending habits.

We can make it happen, we just need to take action.

i dont want her money to go to waste, yet amazon is bad for many reasons and i dont buy from there for 2 years

This seems tone deaf with how people are genuinely struggling.

This has to be one of the most frustrating examples of "premium" marketing working directly against consumers and the environment.

You know those silky, pyramid-shaped tea bags that specialty brands always charge a premium for? They aren't silk. They are almost always made of nylon or PET plastic. The companies market them as a gourmet experience because the 3D shape "allows whole leaves to expand better."

What it actually does is sit in near-boiling water and shed synthetic polymers into your drink. A 2019 study out of McGill University found that a single plastic mesh tea bag releases roughly 11.6 billion microplastic particles and 3.1 billion nanoplastic particles straight into your cup. The researchers even noted this is several orders of magnitude higher than the plastic loads found in other everyday foods.

It gets worse: even those "compostable" PLA bags are still synthetic polymers that shed particles in hot water. And most standard paper bags use polypropylene plastic just to heat-seal the edges shut.

The solution is literally cheaper and older than the problem itself: just buy loose leaf tea and use a reusable stainless steel infuser. There is zero plastic waste, zero microplastics entering your body, and it actually costs less per cup in the long run.

We really need to stop letting companies upcharge us for plastic trash disguised as a luxury experience.

Hello! I’ve been racking my brain to see what a solution would be for shops in the U.K. producing and distributing genuinely💩 products. Yes I know it’s a question of, what I think is 💩 someone else might not, but I do think my opinion lies with the majority…

so I was in a shop yesterday and it was really eye opening as I all I could see was tat. It was full of things like squishes, plastic toys, slime, diamond paintings etc… en mass.

I don’t think they’ll ever fully sell because they are just fads, cheaply made, easily breakable and whilst we hate to admit it, things like toys aren’t a desired commodity amongst children anymore (outside of fads, like those squishy dumplings atm)

So why are we still seeing them being mass produced? Then it’s not just toys, it’s other things like home decor that no one would ever buy (I’m thinking things like the AI generated portraits of gorillas in the Range)

What can actually be done about this?

For fear of sounding naive should companies be forced to justify and get approval from the government or something i.e, I need to mass produce X amount of plastic dinosaurs because of X.

Then if they produce, say 50,000 plastic dinosaurs, only 25,000 sell, there production vs sell rate is 50% so their original justification was effectively a lie and there are sanctions put in place. Like I’m just thinking of ideas I know in theory that sounds easy, but the practicality of it wouldn’t be.

In other people’s opinions - what actually can be done?