Why Buy the First....

Now this blog is about reducing the impact of cars and in a broader sense, reducing our carbon footprint. The next few posts as I've outlined in my eNotebook are going to explore why we buy, especially when we potentially have so much more than we need (chocolate, wine and coffee excluded of course). The gist behind these next posts is that the act of consumption necessarily increases our carbon footprint, not just in the goods we buy, but also in the energy to obtain those goods. I often drink coffee with a guilty conscience, but don't most addicts feel guilty about something.

The most obvious reason we buy, is need. I'm going to say that food, clothing and shelter are standard. We get hungry, we buy. We need a place to live, we rent or buy. We get clothes. I'm not going to parse it out further but the word need is a catch all, and highly negotiable. Do I really need that iPod, hmmmm. Yes. But before I go to far off the edge, let's talk about real and perceived need.

A real need is something that allows you to be here tomorrow, insulin to a diabetic is a real need, food is a real need, shelter from the storm is a real need. but we really go beyond that quite quickly in the U.S. at least, but define real need according to your conscience. But real need is a real buy, what about the rest?