What does a low-carbon lifestyle look like?

A Vision for A Low-Carbon Luxury Lifestyle That Boosts the Local Economy

Starving students who calculate their carbon footprint get a nice dose of “smug” from their fantastically low footprints—60% to 70% better than average—but let’s be honest, as soon as we go from starving student to salaried employee, our consumption usually increases right up to that average level. Maybe even higher.

However, we are not only increasingly aware of the environmental consequences of “stuff,” many question the basic assumption that this stuff improves our quality of life in the first place. What if I theoretically decide to use my increased income to buy a giant screen TV? Yes, the giant screen is great for watching TV, but now I watch more and more TV, get less exercise, stay up late watching meaningless shows, feel more tired, so I exercise even less…and honestly now I’m questioning how much that really did for my overall life quality.

What if I had instead spent the $1,000 that the TV cost on going to one GREAT concert every month, and getting a $8/month Hulu Plus™ subscription for the shows I really like. Instead of passive TV-watching, I purposely choose my favorite shows and get the most out what I watch. I’m getting out and DOING fun things--dates or days with friends every few weeks. I’m out and about instead of being a couch potato.

Plus I make a bit of a dent in the unconscious increase in TV watching that might have happened just because the TV was there. For big sports games (or the grammies), I get my pals to go watch it on the big screen at the local bar and make it a fun, social group event (without the cleanup afterwards).

Instead of being the friend with the big TV, I become the friend who generates activities for my group, the center of the social activity hub. The person who gets people to DO fun things together instead of passively consuming together. Not only do I increase my quality of life, I increase the quality of life for all of my whole social circle, too (or my relationship with my significant other).

This also reduces my footprint because the one one-thousanth of the emissions from the concerts I attend are far less than manufacturing and operating a giant screen TV, even counting my Hulu-viewing every night on my relatively efficient laptop. As a general rule, producing services (like concerts or theatrical productions) are far less polluting per person than goods (like TV’s). By focusing on fun events and experiences instead of things, you can have a huge increase on your quality of life without a giant jump in your footprint.

There are lots of similar trade-offs for other goods. Purchasing digital music over physical CD’s has a lower footprint. Digital magazine subscriptions have a samilar benefit (and minimize clutter around the apartment or house). Going to lectures, plays, and other live learning or entertainment events boost quality of life without boosting your impact through the roof.

On the same very appealing vein, getting a professional massage each month generates far less impact than buying a mass-produced massage chair. Plus, you have the added benefit of directly paying someone who works in your local economy, rather than a string of mega-corporations on some international supply chain. This argument also goes for any service where you’re directly paying for the skill or knowledge of another human in your neighborhood being rather than subsidizing international industrial trade that gives a tiny percentage to the people doing the actual work.

Suddenly you have an argument for personal training services, personal cosmetic services (use your extra income to go for ones that use non-toxic products) and a great tutor for that language you keep saying you'll improve.

A great solution for the problem of “fashion meant to go out of fashion” is buying used or consignment and employing the services of a skilled local tailor to having clothing fitted. Not only do you spend far less money, you’re going around in beautifully tailored clothing fit especially to you. Look like a million pounds of carbon while feeling utterly smug about your low-cost, low-impact smarts.

It certainly takes more time, but for many people the satisfaction of knowing that you’re only spending $20 for a gorgeous pair of brand-name slacks and then maybe $30 for tailoring is worth it. And you look fantastic.

Since food is a major impact area, that’s another thing we want to consider. As income goes up, we tend to spend far more on food because we’re eating out more and buying higher-quality stuff. It's definitely possible to do that and maintain or even decrease your carbon footprint from food. With diet, it's less about how much you spend and more about what you spend it on. Namely, beef, dairy and seafood products tend to carry high inefficiencies in pollution produced per serving.

It’s possible to cut your food footprint nearly in half by selecting chicken and plant-based gourmet meals instead of beef. Of course, many people really enjoy eating red meat or seafood, so an idea there is saving you high-impact intake for one or two really high-end steak or seafood dinner places to patronize once a month. You drastically reduce beef consumption, but also drastically increase the utter culinary ecstasy for the times that you do eat beef. Baby back ribs: it’s what’s for dinner…once a month. My most sincere apologies to the vegetarians I piss off. This is a very carbon-centric view of diet.

Other lower-impact options include refurbished electronics, which nowadays through services like CEX (Consumer Electronics Exchange) come with robust warranties and fantastic selection.

If you earn an increase in income, the American dream (i.e. sense of entitlement) says you earned a right to more stuff. Shifting towards personal and professional services, digital goods & events can actually provide a luxurious, awesome lifestyle while minimizing CO2.