For some people, it’s easy to live your life with only the bare essentials, but for others, it’s hard to discern between if they need something or if they really want something. Now, if you really want to get argumentative, practically everything can be written off as a “want”, including clothes in the summer, blankets in the winter, and umbrellas in rainy days. This is why it’s so easy to berate someone for wanting material possessions, while at the same time you can just as easily wave the blame off of yourself for getting a new muffler for your bike. It’s when you think about how we have been living for centuries without a dire need for anything, and that we’ve been living in excess for so long, that you realize that the question changes from “Do you really need it?”, to “Is my purchase of this item really what’s causing all of this?”. We’ve known that CO2 emissions have been rising ever since the Industrial Revolution, and the main driver of global warming is most likely not the customers that buy the products, but the manufacturers that pump out incredible amounts of waste in a landfill they call products, and don’t even stop for a second to think about their impact on the environment. The environment isn’t solely in the hands of you and whether you decide to buy that Hydroflask or not, but it’s up to the companies that dump tons of oil into the ocean, the same companies that use the energy that just so happens to be the most damaging to the environment. Now, I’m not saying to be mindful of your impact on the environment, in fact, I support those who “reduce, reuse, recycle” and don’t buy tons of environmentally-damaging plastics. What I’m saying is: Be mindful of your waste, but please don’t beat yourself or others up about it. Buy more organic options at the store, support your local farmers and business owners and avoid the companies that emit the larger percentage of the world’s carbon, but please, don’t force yourself or anybody to live a life that you/they don’t want when the real problem is out of your hands.

I agree. Everyone can go on in life without all the excessive things we often buy but many of us can't bring ourselves to agree with this. I know of people who frequently go shopping on a daily basis for things that and very nice to have, but not necessary. Things like celebrity fans rushing to purchase the most recent merch, people immediately buying the latest design that their favourite brand just dropped, and those who are shopping for their 9th pair of shoes are all common examples of how we buy what we want, not need. We have the luxury of getting to choose what we want to buy. Those people in under-developed countries and places don't have this choice. They can only make use of what they find and what they are given. Yet you still see them making the best out of it unlike us who want more and more even if our current item is still in usable condition. All these small little things add up bit by bit as we continue to contribute to global warming.

I agree a lot with this. Currently, I feel like average, everyday people are blamed and made to feel bad for problems that are really out of their hands. Sure, the accretion of normal people's carbon emissions is part of it, but when celebrities are emitting the same amount of CO2 in one 15 minute private jet flight than the average household emits in a year, who is really the problem? The average person doesn't have even a fraction of the influence and power a politician or celebrity has. Telling people the climate crisis is their fault is a hugely mistaken perspective to take. Most families have no option but to buy clothes that are not sustainably made or to buy cheap, non-organic, non-local produce and food. Shaming other people for the choices they make surrounding sustainability is in no way going to help. Change doesn't come from a few people being "perfect", it comes from a lot of people making small, everyday improvements.