New things are born into a life of carbon crime. It takes precious resources and energy to make them and gallons of fossil fuel to transport them, all of which creates more CO2.

Then there’s the packaging. Americans dump a million extra tonnes of garbage a week around Christmas and New Year. And it’s not as if we keep the new stuff we buy anyway. In the UK we chuck out a million tonnes of electrical goods every year. Waste is one word that springs to mind. Unnecessary is another. And if all that wasn’t enough, research shows that new stuff doesn’t even make us happy. Huh.

Old things already exist so have far less impact on the environment when they change hands. If we could buy more old things instead of new things, or curb some of our materialistic urges and buy fewer things, we’d save CO2, spend less money and spend more time with things that matter most.

More info from the Green Thing Wiki >>

Why? Tell you why.

If someone asks why you’re buying an old thing instead of a bright and shiny new thing like everyone else and insinuates that you’re some kind of mumpty-weirdo-commie-pinko-loser, come straight back at them with one of these top five Tell You Whys (if you’ve got a funnier or cleverer one, post it on the blog).

1. Because I’m cheap as chips, lend us a tenner.
2. I had this valued on Antiques Roadshow and it’s worth an absolute fortune.
3. Haven’t you heard, old is the new new.
4. Old things help curb my urge to batter people who ask me new questions to a bloody pulp.
5. It’s all relative, compared to the oldest known piece of the earth, a tiny speck of zircon crystal which dates back 4.4 billion years, this is quite a new thing.

Got something to say?

What others have said...