Hello, Potatoes! Welcome to a new year!! ????????????<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Happy first anniversary of Potato Squad! ???? Thank you for being a Potato with us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These next three months we\u2019ll be focusing on consumption. A quick overview: If all humans consumed things at the rate of those in the US, it would take four Earths to supply all of those resources. So these three months we\u2019ll focus on buying less, consumption and the world, and ethical shopping. Large companies produce much more waste and pollution than individuals. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to remember last month\u2019s goal, chiming in, and to support companies we believe in and put pressure on others to improve. And remember, when you buy things, you are voting with your dollars, so whatever you are buying now is telling companies that\u2019s what you want in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This month, our topic is how to reduce our consumption! Our goal is to reduce our purchases to only what we need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ll start with some common marketing tactics (scroll down farther for tips!):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022Tactics such as greenwashing are used to make you think you are being eco-friendly. Greenwashing is an attempt to make products seem eco-friendly by making unsubstantiated claims about the products and company. Products that are actually green back up their claims with facts and details, for example, explaining what their product is made of, where that material comes from, and how it is better for the environment. You can find more information on this topic in this article. In fact, going zero-waste isn\u2019t about buying fashionable, eco-friendly products, but using and reusing what you already have. (See our August challenge on our website potatosquad.org for more information.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022Endorsement and influence is someone famous recommending a product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022Personalized advertising \u2014 showing you ads based on your activity and interests \u2014 is another way marketers take advantage of you. The way this works is companies spy on your search history\/social media\/purchases, then put ads in your social media feeds, search engines, etc. for things that are similar to your interests, and can collect huge amounts of data about you and your life. Follow this link to learn more about this subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 A note from DivergentPotato ???? on commercials: So how do marketing tactics trick your brain into thinking you need everything? Marketers can trick your emotions into thinking you need something by showing people having a really hard time until all of a sudden they get a vacuum (this is just an example) and their knee pain goes away and their dog is back from the dead. By doing this you will think if you get the vacuum your life will be soooooooo much better and so you need to buy the vacuum. Another way they can trick your brain is with editing. Think of all those times a commercial was all gloomy and gray until . . . A new vacuum!! All of the sudden it\u2019s all bright and happy! Which would you prefer, gloomy and sad or bright and happy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![Here<\/a> is an infographic of some more common marketing tactics.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAnother thing that can get in the way of conscious consumption is peer pressure and expectations to buy what we don\u2019t need. If we feel like we need to buy things to be happy, or to belong in a certain group, that can influence us to buy things we don\u2019t actually want. These sorts of influences can be hard to overcome, but you\u2019re not alone. We\u2019re all in this together!<\/p>\n\n\n\nIdentifying what you really need versus what you want is an important step to reducing your consumption that will ultimately make you happier and help you save money. Of course, you can still buy things that bring you joy, but you\u2019ll be surprised at how much you don\u2019t actually need.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOne tip to help you consume less is to have a personal 30-day purchase pause. A 30-day purchase pause is the practice of waiting 30 days before buying an item. Of course, this does not include your daily necessities like food, hygiene products, etc. What this will do is let the instant need to buy an item wear off, and give you a chance to come up with another solution; if you are still thinking about it by the time your purchase pause is over, that shows that the item will truly bring you joy!<\/p>\n\n\n\nAdditionally, knowing what you already own is a really important part of reducing what you consume. This way you won\u2019t keep buying things that you already own, like duplicate clothing, cords and chargers, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSome more tips:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u2022Make a list of what you need\/really want<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u2022Find alternative activities to shopping<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u2022Make a shopping list when you go to the store and stick to it. You can also keep a separate folder for store emails so you can find coupons and discounts on your own terms rather than letting the store convince you to buy things that you wouldn\u2019t have wanted otherwise <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u2022Clean! You may be surprised at how many \u2728amazing\u2728 things you find, and then you don\u2019t have to buy them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u2022Make a New Year\u2019s Resolution to buy only what you need<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u2022For less measurable things like energy, see our eco-etiquette (April, May, June) challenges<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u2022Try re-gifting and buying secondhand<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u2022Refuse, reduce, reuse!<\/p>\n\n\n\nFor a bit of context: Earth Overshoot Day (EOD) is the calculated day on which humanity\u2019s resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth\u2019s capacity to regenerate those resources in that year; 2020\u2019s EOD was August 22nd. Together, we can help push it back by using the tips we share in this email!<\/p>\n\n\n\nHere<\/a> is this month\u2019s checklist. Good luck this month and this new year!!! Let\u2019s do this together!!! Woohooo!!!!!!!!!! ???????? Be a potato!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hello, Potatoes! Welcome to a new year!! ???????????? Happy first anniversary of Potato Squad! ???? Thank you for being a Potato with us! These next three months we\u2019ll be focusing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/potatosquad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/potatosquad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/potatosquad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potatosquad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potatosquad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/potatosquad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250,"href":"https:\/\/potatosquad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/potatosquad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potatosquad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potatosquad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/i.redd.it\/6swdsn8rfkp51.jpg?utm_campaign=Recomendo&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20newsletter\"){kind=link}