Pope Saint John Paul II wrote: A sound and sustainable ecology, one capable of bringing about change, will not develop unless people are changed, unless they are encouraged to opt for another style of life, one less greedy and more serene, more respectful and less anxious, more fraternal.

The following worksheet provides a guideline to walk you through an action plan for a better consumer purchasing lifestyle. By completing three sections (personal, communal, and transformational), you will be able to adjust your purchasing habits in a sustainable manner. Let’s get started!

Consumer purchasing is an expression and a reflection of you, your tastes, and your lifestyle choices. Your spending decisions reflect your priorities. Maybe you take pride in your car or your clothes or your kitchen appliances or your latest, coolest purchase. Or maybe you spend whatever you can on travel or on your passion for hiking. Those very personal tastes will frame your spending choices.

Over the last 50 years, the average American home size has grown from 1,000 square feet to 2,500 square feet, and we consume twice as many material goods today as we did 50 years ago. Excess material possessions do not enrich our lives. In fact, buying things we don’t need keeps us from experiencing life-giving and life-freeing benefits. We would be wise to realize the cause and become vigilant in overcoming it. Whether it’s a new car or the latest smartwatch, the reality is that the value of consumer goods generally drops over time. 

“Consumerism only bloats the heart. It can offer occasional and passing pleasures, but not joy.”

- Laudato Si~Pope Francis 

Pope Francis invites us to remember that "the climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all.  I urgently appeal for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet".  

Objectives of this worksheet

-To diagnose my purchasing habits and restructure my decision-making process before buying something

-To learn how to adjust my consumer purchasing lifestyle 

-How can I live simpler? 

-To create an action plan for a more sustainable purchasing consumption mindset

Spend some time going through the following statements and reflect on your current consuming lifestyle. Converse with family members about these statements.

1. Stop and reevaluate. Look at the life you have created. Are you finding the time, money, and energy for the things that matter most? Have your possessions become a burden on your life in any way? Slow down long enough to honestly evaluate the whole picture: your income, your mortgage, your car payment, your spending habits, your day-to-day pursuits. Are you happy? Or is there, perhaps, a better way?

 

2. Understand your weaknesses. Recognize your trigger points. Are there certain stores that prompt unnecessary purchases in your life? Are there products, addictions, or pricing patterns (clearance sales) that prompt an automatic response from you? Maybe there are specific emotions (sadness, loneliness, grief) that give rise to mindless consumption. Identify, recognize, and understand these weaknesses. 51% of the solution can be found by simply recognizing the problem.

 

3. Stop copying other people.  Your life is too unique to live like everyone else. And if you think you’ll be happier by following all the latest trends in society, you are wrong. Just ask anybody who has stopped.

 

4. Look deep into your motivations. Advertisers play on our motivations by appealing to our desires in subtle ways. Advertisements are no longer based on communicating facts about a product. Instead, they promise adventure, reputation, esteem, joy, and fulfillment. What inner-motivations are subconsciously guiding your purchases? What motivations (greed, envy) need to be rooted out? And what motivations (meaning, significance) need to find their fulfillment elsewhere?

 

Please, take a look at the following list and choose the actions you are willing to accomplish for each area.

It's time to do some decluttering!

Each day for 30 days, walk around your house and collect 30 things to donate, to sell at a yard sale, or give away to people.

The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own, and consume. It becomes almost impossible to accept the limits imposed by reality (LS 204).  These problems are closely linked to a throwaway culture which affects the excluded just as it quickly reduces things to rubbish.  (LS 22) Reusing something, instead of immediately discarding it, when done for the right reasons can be an act of love that expresses our own dignity (LS 211).

 

FACTS:

• Over 24 trillion styrofoam coffee cups are thrown away each year.
• The amount of wood & paper we throw away is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.
• On average each one of us produces 4.4 pounds of solid waste each day.
• If all our newspaper was recycled, we could save 250,000,000 trees each year.
• Plastic bags and garbage that are thrown away into the ocean have devastating effects on sea animals.
• 24 trees are cut down to make 1 ton of paper.
• In the US we use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour.
• There is no limit to the number of times a can made from aluminum can be recycled.
• We generate 21.5 million tons of food waste each year in the US.

Source: sosfuture.com

The vehicles that we drive have a large impact on the environment. Every mile, every gallon, and every trip add up to each one of us polluting our atmosphere with CO. We are called to 2 care for our common home. Below you will find many opportunities to do that.

 

Challenge your parish members to collect 40 bags for 40 days and bring them to church for recycling.