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by
Adam Minter
Read between
August 15 - August 16, 2020
Nothing that an affluent American minimalist can say about consumerism and stuff is likely to change the mind of a developing-world teenager whose only experience of minimalism has been involuntary.
As of 2017, there were at least fifty-four thousand mini-storage sites in the United States,
by 2030 senior citizens will account for one fifth of the U.S. population.
Most American homes contain very little of value beyond the sentiments of the person who purchased them.
Historically, personal identity revolved around religion, civic participation, and pride of (oftentimes small) place. But as those traditional bonds disintegrate in the face of industrialization, urbanization, and secularization, brands and objects become a means to curate and project who we are.
Food for thought
As possessions are set aside, a more profound grieving takes place. It’s not just the loss of a sentiment; it’s the loss of an identity.
it’s easier to discard a store-bought shirt than one made at home by a mother, a wife, or a sister.
People over age sixty-five will account for one quarter of the U.S. population by 2030,
Japan’s population could shrink by one third over the next fifty years.
Japan’s mythological three “sacred treasures”—the sword, the mirror, and the jewel—
Japan had twenty million used-clothing consumers in 2016—or roughly one sixth of the population.
strikes me that the desire to see one’s things take on a second life is as much a matter of vanity as it is a concern for the planet or dismay at waste. It’s as if she’s saying that her stuff is worthy.
yutori—a word that roughly translates as “a search for time and space to enjoy life”
Between 2000 and 2015, global clothing production doubled, while the average number of times that a garment was worn before disposal declined by 36 percent.
the term “garage sale” fully emerged in 1967, “when people made a verbal distinction between rummage sales for charity and garage or yard sales for profit.”
“Whenever there’s a gap between wealth and poverty, there will be a secondhand industry,”
