Since the 1890s, overconsumption has been an issue. Overconsumption is the excessive creation and use of goods beyond necessary need for day to day life, at a faster rate than they can be regenerated. For the planet, this means biodiversity is lost and damages environments. It is also a cause of climate change, which many scientists believe is a big problem.
Humans are naturally drawn to the newest trends. Trends like trying to find a perfect dress for an occasion, feeding into social media pressures and the desire for new and improved products people easily fall victim to these. Buying things people will likely use once because they’re trending is impulsive buying. People accumulate all these products and don’t realize they haven’t used old ones. Purchasing stuff not because it’s needed, but because it’s on sale or at a low cost, are examples of ways people everyday contribute to overconsumption.
A method to help regulate how much people consume is a trend called, one-in, one-out. This is essentially controlling how much people accumulate, by making sure one product is fully finished before buying another.
To keep track of this, people may set deadlines to donate items. Donating items is the best way to help overconsumption. By donating the products people know they will not use, another person who needs it would avoid buying a new product and reuse this one.
People can save a substantial amount of money by buying one product instead of purchasing multiple. Even by limiting time online, people can save money by not falling into overconsumption by seeing ads encouraging people to buy their products. This means people cannot fall into popular trends because they “need it.”