Mission: Consume Less

con∙sume: verb \kən-΄süm\

 -transitive verb

"Too Much Catnip" Shirt.Woot t-shirt by Spiritgreen

1 : to do away with completely: DESTROY

2 a: to spend wastefully: SQUANDER

   b: USE UP

3 a: to eat or drink especially in great quantity

   b: to enjoy avidly: DEVOUR

4 : to engage fully: ENGROSS

5 : to utilize as a customer

 -intransitive verb

1 : to waste or burn away: PERISH

2 : to utilize economic goods

“The proximity of a desirable thing tempts one to overindulgence. On that path lies danger.” 

–Frank Herbert, Dune.

There is a butt-load of human consumption transpiring at any given second on planet Earth . No, I can't exactly quantify "butt-load;" I'm no statistician. But think about it: we’re consuming oxygen, we’re consuming energy, we’re consuming calories, and we’re consuming alcohol. We’re engaged in all-consuming TV shows, all-consuming jobs, all-consuming arguments, and, if we’re lucky, all-consuming sex. We’re using our consumer power for new shoes at Nordstrom’s, new apps for our iPhones, and trash cans at Home Depot to transport the waste of our consumption to the curb, where it will be picked up by a gas-consuming truck and toted to a space- and natural resource- consuming landfill. Yep, there is a whole lotta consumption going on.

Now there’s nothing wrong with consumption.  In moderation, that is.  But the American culture isn’t much for moderation.  You don’t have to look very hard to find evidence of this society’s penchant for overindulgence.  Alcoholism, early onset obesity and childhood obesity, credit card debt, overfilled landfills, smog alerts, our over-consumption leads to so many negative outcomes.  There IS such thing as too much of a good thing.

For the year of 2011, I’m resolving to consume less.  I'm breaking free of the manacles of Too Much.  Call it Operation Consumption Liberation.  

Every month, I will abstain from or minimize my partaking of some thing or practice in which I feel my overindulgence has a negative impact, be it on my personal well-being, or on the well-being of the human race and planet Earth. My mission is NOT to permanently eliminate any of these habits and dependencies, but rather, in eliminating/reducing my consumption of them for a month, to lessen their overall prevalence in my life.  I like wine, but it wouldn’t hurt my liver to drink less.

Below is a rough monthly schedule of the twelve reduction/elimination challenges I will take on over the course of the year. The order of the challenges is subject to change, but not the content. Each month on this blog, I will clearly define the monthly challenge’s rules and stipulations, explore the impacts of overindulging in the identified item or behavior, and write about what I experience and learn as I leave it behind.

 Operation Consumption Liberation: Monthly Challenges

• January: Sugar (processed & added)
• February: Frivolous spending (the Eating/Drinking Out edition)
• March: Alcohol
• April: Gasoline (planes, trains, and automobiles)
• May: Frivolous spending (the Goods and Services edition)
• June: Caffeine 
• July: Electricity/water
• August: Superfluous web browsing (Facebook, etc.)
• September: Food & goods from outside 300 miles of my person
• October: Watching TV, Hulu, Netflix, etc.
• November: Meat
• December: Paper and other waste (packaging, etc.) 

Please follow me on Operation Consumption Liberation! AND if you recognize anything on this list that you feel your life would benefit from going without, feel free to join me on that challenge of this journey.  I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments section.  Likewise, if you are planning any similar challenges for the year or for a month, let me know, and I'll link to you.

Wish me luck as I kick off the mission with a well-needed sugar cleanse in the Christmas cookie aftermath!