Sustainable Minimalists

Big tech trains kids to become consumers from … well, birth. Child-targeted marketing is cringe-worthy at best and unethical at worst. It also undermines children’s healthy development because it robs them of opportunities to play, imagine, and learn freely without manipulation. Today I speak with  Dr. Susan Linn  about the ways in which technology exploits children (and what we can do about it at...

The Japanese argue that we each have three faces. The first is your idealized, near-perfect version; it's also the mask you present to the world. You reveal your second face selectively to very close friends and family, and you keep your third face — your true self — hidden from everyone (including, perhaps, yourself). Our first mask conveys self-assuredness. Of being happy, put together, and in c...

Want to be "up to date" with your wardrobe choices? Fashion forwardness understands that the textile industry is incredibly polluting; having your finger on the fashion pulse, then, is about consciously choosing not to participate in trends. And yet we somehow must dress ourselves. While fast fashion is quite literally made to fall apart, wearing what we wore decades ago isn't a good look. So what...

More free time and less stress. Extra money in the bank. While minimalists often report such benefits of the lifestyle over and over, for many of us, it goes deeper. Indeed, a minimalist lifestyle may fundamentally change the way we interact with the world. As this podcast approaches its 500th episode I find myself curious about the ways in which adopting a minimalist or minimal-ish outlook has al...

Just because a product is marketed to babies or kids doesn't mean it's safe, and new research published just last week has alarming things to say about the presence of phthalates in personal care products for children.  While minimalists know that excess stuff harms our emotional well-being and mental loads, *sustainable* minimalists understand that products can harm our physical health. On today'...

Meal planning and prepping, laundry, and taking out the trash: These non-negotiable household tasks are never truly "done". And because it's impossible to get ahead of these mundane chores, they are likely the reason you feel like you’re always busy but never accomplish anything. The bad news? Non-negotiables are a part of adulting. The good news? Streamlining such chores with a reduces the time a...

American culture is heavily influenced by a “rise and grind” reverence for hustling, and many of us have adopted the belief that sleep is a waste of time. When we dismiss the importance of sleep, we have more time to work harder and longer. And when we have more money in our pockets, what we are really doing is keeping our capitalist engines turning. Contrary to what you've been told, sleep is not...

We humans are evolutionarily primed to live in concert with the natural world, but these days Americans spend over 92% of time either indoors or inside a vehicle. The result? Stress, inflammation and — for some of us — a pervasive sense of malaise.  American culture is designed to keep us indoors because capitalist engines make money when we are distracted, and yet cutting-edge science supports th...

A product needs to fit into someone’s life seamlessly in order for it to be bought, and it’s the job of the advertiser to show exactly how the item in question will fit into a life. On today's show: 5 crucial insights advertisers know about us (that we perhaps don't know about ourselves).   Here's a preview: [1:00] Examining our clutter problem through metaphor (bathtub, baby!) [9:00] Selling isn'...

One football field's-worth of forest is lost every single second of every single day. Loss of forests means loss of species and loss of stored carbon; it also means an increased risk of pandemics. On today's show: Explaining the ways in which deforestation is linked to the pandemic prevalence, with tangible action steps for conscious consumers. Here's a preview: [5:00] It's not *just* about timber...

Parenthood is awash with immense pressure to do right by our kids. We are told that children need certain (expensive) experiences to 'get ahead', and many of us observe our parenting peers investing in countless extracurriculars. But children need downtime, and recent research suggests that children should experience twice as much unstructured time as structured enrichment. On today's show podcast...

‘Tis the season for back-to-school door busters, price slashes, and closeouts. On today’s re-air: How to reduce clutter, save money, and help the planet by shopping for back-to-school with greater intention.   Here's a preview: [6:00] Let’s pull back the curtain on back-to-school marketing, shall we? [11:00] Here’s what it actually means (and what it actually looks like!) to shop your own home [18...

Welcome to Back To School Week 2024! In many homes, back to school season means back to packing lunchboxes. It's a stress-inducing chore, sure, as many parents find it difficult to think up new, creative lunch ideas that are actually healthy (and will actually get eaten!). On today's show registered dietician nutritionist  Megan McNamee  offers up her tried and true lunchbox formula; she also sugg...

Scientists have found unsettling details about the potential health risks of common household cleaning products. And yet Big Cleaning capitalizes on fear of germs, bacteria, and disease to sell us home cleansers with traditional chemical compounds on the regular. It behooves us to ask ourselves whether the ways things have always been done align with our own values. On today's show  Zac Kieffer  a...

If you're like me, you're likely dealing with constant, low-grade clutter situations, and that's because once a purchase is made, the item is ours to maintain, manage, and store. Sadly, consumerism never talks about the negative wellness effects of buying (I'm looking at you, cortisol!). If clutter keeps piling up despite your best efforts, my guest today argues that it's time to dig deeper. Not d...

In our hyper-capitalist society, it's often implied that the only things worth savoring are the really fancy, really shiny, really new, and really exotic. Let's push back against that narrative by finding the glimmers, also known as those simple moments of pleasure that pop up during our days. We minimalists already know that it's in the small things that beauty lies. On today's show: Research-bac...

We talk an awful lot about "climate science" and "what climate scientists predict" on this podcast. Today, I'm talking to one of them.  What exactly are the next 100 years likely going to look like for humans? What needs to happen for the US to mobilize for real? On today's show: A conversation with Michael Barnard about climate solutions, with an emphasis on that pesky air conditioning problem. ...

When it comes to environmental concerns, there's certainly plenty to worry about at the moment. Whether you and your family is eating microplastics on the regular may not be your list of top concerns. But it’s an important topic to cover. While the health effects of microplastics on humans are not fully understood, common sense measures that reduce our exposures to both the plastic itself and  als...

In 1901, American families spent 20% of their income on non-necessities.  But 123 years later? These days that figure has risen to 50%. Many of us spend hard-earned money in hopes of acquiring things that money can't buy, and the result? Nearly 3 and 4 of Americans identify finances as a top stressor in their lives. Marketers have created consumer desire, sure, but it's entirely possible to spend...

Once upon a time (oh, about 175 years ago) we were epic creators. Human hands made things, grew things, built things, and even invented things on the regular. But these days? By and large, we identify as consumers, and our hands are mostly used for typing and swiping. And yet, when we consume too much, many of us experience stress, anxiety, and depression. We know it because we're living it: Our p...

Tomatoes, green beans, peaches, and so much more: Our great-grandmas knew a thing or two about food preservation, and yet these days few of us can. It's a time- and labor-intensive practice, sure. But it's also a self-sufficient life skill.  Whether you grow some or all of your own food or seek out bargains at the store and farmers' market, canning the season's bounty means you'll be eating well a...

Does it sometimes feel as though the passive act of being alive is too expensive and too difficult? You're not alone: Many scholars argue that late stage capitalism is what happens when everything (literally everything!) is commodified. Existing feels unnecessarily hard, too. There IS good news: Surviving (and perhaps even thriving!) in a late stage capitalist society is possible. On today's show ...

Despite our massive financial and material gains, happiness in the US has been in a consistent state of decline since at least the 1940s. The research is clear: Materialism is toxic to human happiness. On today's show author  Jeff Golden  suggests practical ways to nourish in our lives the things that can help us live well (while simultaneously avoiding the hooks of money and stuff).   Here's a pr...

For so many of us, day in and day out home maintenance feels like a gigantic weight on our shoulders. And because conventional gender roles pervade, matters of the home often continue to be one (wo)man's burden. Decluttering, tidying, organizing, and cleaning, oh my! On today's show: A conversation with professional organizer  Sona Avetisyan  about getting our partners and our children to pitch in...

When we buy something, it's not necessarily about the *thing*. Oftentimes we are buying into a story about ourselves; namely, what we simply must fix as we seek to get one step closer to our aspirational, in-a-perfect-world self. Important truth time: You are not a perpetual self-improvement project, and no product can fix what was never broken in the first place. On today's show: A conversation w...