Whilst I’ve really enjoyed books like Natalie Fee’s ‘How to Save The World for Free’ and Lucy Siegle’s ‘Turning the Tide on Plastic’, I’ve been after something a bit different for a while now. It’s not that these aren’t valuable titles – they absolutely are – but they can be a little… samey if you read a lot about the environment.
A Life Less Throwaway by Tara Button looks at the problem of overconsumption from a different perspective – by examining how marketers manage to get us to buy things we don’t need. As someone who used to work in the advertising industry, Button sheds light on the tricks that are used and how we can combat them.
Having decided that the ad industry wasn’t for her, Button then went on to create BuyMeOnce – an amazing resource for people looking to buy items which will last. Again, drawing on this expertise, she speaks about the sorts of questions we should be asking manufacturers and retailers when making a purchase, as well as the sorts of questions we should be asking ourselves.
In fact, there are whole sections of exercises for discovering what your ‘true’ tastes might be. Despite the fact that I grew up in charity-shop clothes and hand-me-downs, and have actively been trying not to aquire anything new for the last five years (and trying to reduce my general environmental damage for the last decade), I still found theses really useful – particularly the one concerning interiors.
Visiting friends and family in Denmark has often left me feeling as though I should decorate in a more… Scandinavian fashion. Home-decor there is a lot more homogonous and as a result, there’s a certain sense of visual peace to the country that I feel as though I should try and emulate. The exercisefrom Button’s book definitely helped me to realise that just because it is prevalent, that doesn’t mean I like it. I’m much more ecclectic and chaotic at my core. 😉
Though I did borrow this from my library, it’s a book I will be purchasing in the future. I’m on a deadline to return it, but I’d actually like to take the opportunity to work through all of the exercises slowly and carefully. I think they’ll be a total game-changer in the coming years – especially as my eldest enters their teen years. Being able to know which questions to ask to get my child thinking will be invaluable.
Have you read A Life Less Throwaway? What did you think? Did any of iwhat you learned come as a surprise? I’d love to hear your thoughts, here or on twitter.
Trail of Breadcrumbs 
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