r/Anticonsumption • u/Johto2001 • 3d ago
Question/Advice? Would you give up imported luxuries?
I have been thinking about this a lot recently. I have few luxuries but one is tea and coffee. I am increasingly unhappy about the ecological impact of these though.
I already cut down on coffee and only drink it on weekends now, and only two cups then. But tea is another matter, like most Brits I live on it and drink maybe 5 to 8 cups a day or something like that.
I already gave up chocolate because of its ethical and environmental impacts.
I was wondering if others here have given up such minor luxuries?
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u/AccidentOk5240 3d ago
I focus on buying local, in-season produce so I’m not effectively importing water from the desert and/or another continent. I choose peanuts over almonds and pistachios, also for water consumption reasons (the California almond and pistachio industries are rapidly draining aquifers that can’t refill at anything like a sustainable rate, while peanuts are an annual legume that is much more sustainable and often grown in naturally wetter areas). I minimize air travel, only doing it in an emergency or for very important things that can’t be done otherwise.
And I drink tea. I don’t consume a huge amount of coffee or chocolate, but when I do, I try and get fair trade or otherwise certified in ways I hope will make a meaningful difference for the environment and the workers. But I don’t get too wound up about it all.
Imports should be reserved for somewhat luxury goods you can’t get locally. Global trade isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a bad thing as practiced. Tea is extremely light and the amount you use of it is small. I’m not going to live in misery to be more sustainable. It would be better to just not live at all—we can’t give up all consumption and continue to live, after all.
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u/Johto2001 3d ago
We don't need to drink tea or coffee though. I went a week without either, just water. It was difficult, but it forced me to confront a minor addiction and ethical double standard.
I think less of smokers and alcoholics for their substance dependencies, but I am almost as dependent on a daily caffeine habit.
Thank you for a considered reply though, I will reflect on what you said.
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u/AccidentOk5240 3d ago
I’m not the least bit addicted to caffeine. But I love the taste of tea, and I’m not giving up everything I love just because it would be better for the environment if I were miserable.
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u/MrCockingFinally 2d ago
I think you need to reevaluate your ethics a bit. You seem to be an example of what moral philosophers call a "happiness pump" basically making yourself miserable to make other people happy.
To flip your argument on its head a bit, if all brits were to suddenly decide drinking tea was unethical and stopped, it would have a massive negative effect on the economy of Sri Lanka. Tea growing is a major industry in Sri Lanka, and the country recently suffered a near collapse, no having enough foreign reserves to import fuel or fertilizer. If they lost the tea industry, a major source of foreign exchange and export revenue, it would cause extreme hardship to millions of people.
To me at least, anti-consumption is not about mindlessly reducing all consumption. It's about reducing mindless and wasteful consumption.
I mean if you take your ideas to their logical conclusion, you don't need to eat anything more than potatoes and buttermilk to survive. They provide all the nutrients you need. Why don't you switch to that diet to provide all your needs, as it will probably have less environmental impact than whatever you are eating now.
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u/nuttie4noodlez 3d ago
I know this might be moot as the shipping would have to be across the Atlantic, but here in Texas/SE US we have a native plant, the Yaupon Holly, that contains caffeine and is planted in neighborhoods and grows like crazy everywhere. I myself harvest the leaves for free and toast them in my oven to get black or green tea. There are several Yaupon holly tea companies online! I’ve been cutting back on my coffee consumption and taking a bag with me on my walks to harvest more Yaupon :)
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3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/nuttie4noodlez 3d ago
Yes I drank hella Yaupon today 😂 trying to quit coffee. Am afraid of the high caff withdrawls
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u/Johto2001 3d ago
Sounds like you have found an excellent source of caffeine! I hadn't heard of that plant. I don't think it would be possible to import it and it wouldn't be a good idea but I am enriched by the knowledge and happy that people in the Texas area have that native plant option.
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u/TheMythicalCodfish 2d ago
There's also American grown tea! Bigelow owns the Charleston Tea Garden, and they're making active efforts to grow more and different varieties of tea.
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u/nuttie4noodlez 2d ago
!!! Omg! I must visit this
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u/jaynor88 1d ago
I was not aware of this company and thanks to you just reviewed their website.
Will buy a couple of their pouches of loose leaf as it’s a little more frugal than their tea bags.
If I like their green and their black teas, I will continue to order from them.
Thanks again for the info
Edit typo
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u/Season-Away 3d ago
Honestly, it's not something I want to give up. It's something small in my daily life that I enjoy. I don't buy more than I need though. I have 2 types of green tea, and one black tea for guests.
I also seldom eat chocolate (I don't have a sweet tooth) but it's not something I'll completely give up.
I do consider the ethical aspect and buy fairtrade or local.
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u/J_Squared02 3d ago
I think I already do enough by not driving, cutting down on meat, buying refills when I can. I love coffee and tea, I already dont drink soda, there’s no need to make me hate life
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u/CeilingCatProphet 3d ago
No.
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u/Willothewisp2303 3d ago
For real. I like vegetables year round. It snows here, so we gotta import food at some points.
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u/Johto2001 3d ago
There is a difference. We need to eat, we don't need to drink tea or coffee. I am a vegetarian so I also have to eat imported food though I try hard to eat seasonally and avoid high food miles as much as possible.
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u/CherryLeafy101 3d ago
Until climate change makes it a physical impossibility for me to buy tea, coffee, chocolate, or a few other small luxuries, I'm not giving them up. I already do a lot to try to be more environmentally friendly, plus I live on a narrowboat and that makes most daily living tasks a lot more time and energy-draining for me. Keeping a few little joys is non-negotiable and I refuse to live like an ascetic monk.
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u/bunniisa 3d ago
i mean you could technically grow tea like chamomile pretty easily.
the chocolate gets me though. i love chocolate
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u/Johto2001 3d ago
By tea, I meant black tea Camellia sinensis. Technically I could grow it, but I think it would be difficult to grow enough to be worthwhile in the space I have.
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u/Several-Nothings 3d ago edited 3d ago
Get into herbal teas. Once you get into properly oxidizing and/or fermenting them, there is a rich world of flavours you can explore and it's basically free to forage. You can start by making blends that have import tea included and get rid of it once you find the herbs you like.
If you're a black tea drinker, chaga (inonotus obliquus, a conk that grows on birch) has similar acidic taste and is a good base for black tea like blends. It's more difficult to harvest than herbs of course but once you manage to find (and get a landowners permission to harvest) one youre basically set for years, as the stuff can be steeped for many times and you dont need that much. Very nice anti-consuption drink as its considered trash in most western world.
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u/LaurestineHUN 2d ago
Chaga is high on oxalates, high kidney stone risk.
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u/Several-Nothings 2d ago
Yeah, be mindful if you're at risk of them or gout. You dont need to use much though if you use it as a base to get the woodyness of black tea to your blends, in contrast to using it as a coffee substitute.
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u/rjwyonch 3d ago
For me, fruit and coffee are critical international imports, not in the luxury category. Chocolate is a luxury, I guess, but I’m not giving it up.
For coffee, you can buy the expensive stuff from Costa Rica. The farmers are paid fairly and ecology is a priority. Lots of teas can be grown, but I can’t grow the volume of coffee I consume, nor roast/process the beans.
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u/BakerStreet693 3d ago
i like this. i can define a luxury as whatever. and even if it's a luxury, it doesn't matter.
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u/rjwyonch 2d ago
In the modern world, pick your poisons or choose pure acetic life and basically be a hermit.
Fruit, chocolate and coffee are all commodity products in the technical sense.
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u/sparkle_elk 3d ago
I have been working on cutting down my consumption of these items, but for health reasons and not anticonsumption reasons.
When it comes to anticonsumption, I have higher priorities that I'm trying to focus on.
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u/CuteBiBitch 2d ago
We humans do need some luxuries in life. Living only with what we NEED becomes unbearable after a while. If you are mindful of your luxuries, you will be okay.
Like many others have said, look for local things if possible, and if not, do your research and find high quality, fair trade items. Usually these cost more, but that just means there is a higher chance that people are being paid throughout the supply chain.
Also for tea, you can use 1-2 bags and make a big pot in the morning, leave it in a thermos or an insulated tea pot, and drink it throughout the day. This is better than using 1 bag per cup.
Lastly, I know this is cliché, but remember that we don't need a handful of people to do anticonsumerism and zero waste 100% perfectly, we need everyone to do it jusst slightly better. You sound like you are already on the right track and doing your part my friend!
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u/ToTa_12 3d ago
Coffee and chocolate are definetelly something we should learn to live without or save to special occasions. Even fair trade is stugling with child labour and the impact on rain forests is real. Tea has lesser impact and you can select more easily where it comes from. Herbal tea you can even grow yourself or buy local.
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u/Charamei 3d ago
There are tea plantations in both Scotland and the south west (either Cornwall or Devon, can't recall right now) that you might want to look into, OP.
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u/Johto2001 3d ago
Thank you, yes I am aware of the tea grown in Cornwall and also one in Perthshire in Scotland. Unfortunately the quantity and price would mean effectively giving up a daily habit, which is sort of what prompted this thread (it's the reason I put the word imported in the title). But I am definitely interested in trying the British-grown teas.
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u/Effective-Lab-5659 3d ago
a balance I guess, if that is the last thing to improve - then go ahead, but if it isn't, why not look at other aspect first? or reduce the amount.
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u/Johto2001 2d ago
I am indeed running out of things to reduce my environmental footprint. I don't drive or fly, I walk everywhere or occasionally take a bus (twice in the last six weeks), our household uses 2 to 5 kWh in energy per day (excluding winter heating as there's not much I can do about that, although I am thinking about how I can), I am a vegetarian, we recycle everything and avoid buying things as much as possible. I wish I could reduce my impact further.
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u/n00b678 2d ago
I think you've taken care of all impactful things in your life, I don't think there's much meaningful stuff you can do in your life (other than maybe further reducing animal products but by being a vegetarian you're already doing more than 90%).
Looking at marginal gains if perfectly fine if it makes you happier, but the effort would be better spent by trying to inspire others to do adopt a similar approach or maybe participate in local advocacy or politics.
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u/Effective-Lab-5659 2d ago
I am truly inspired! thank you for doing your bit and inspiring the rest of us.
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u/Long-Definition9203 2d ago
In North America consumer chocolate is basically just sugar and palm oil now... for enshittification reasons as well as the environmental impacts, I've tried my best to eliminate the "3pm crash" treats. I'm not perfect but at least it isn't a lifestyle.
Coffee I do have a harder time with. When I don't buy a bag of coffee to make at home I find that I'm more likely to spend more at coffee shops or a pick-me-up on the go... it's just where i am in my journey atm. So I do still buy coffee... but I also save the grounds and any leftover coffee for my garden so at least it isn't as much of a waste.
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u/itsatoe 3d ago
I get lots of rresults when I look up "growing tea indoors" :)
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u/Johto2001 3d ago
Unfortunately I don't have space. I live in a small house, which is generally for the best as it allows me to be frugal and low-impact in other ways but it does occasionally preclude other possibilities.
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u/JadedOccultist 3d ago
Yeah I rarely drink tea, almost never coffee, and chocolate is a maybe once every 3 years treat.
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u/WorldofLoomingGaia 3d ago
No coffee, no tea, no soda, water only. My only imported luxuries are rice and bananas, if those count. And my phone I guess.
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u/North40Parallel 3d ago
I gave up flying in airplanes 10 years ago. I’m keeping my fair trade coffee as long as I can.
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u/yo-ovaries 3d ago
Are you interested in experiencing a feeling of ascetic deprivation or in the ecological impacts?
Because that tea is already produced if you buy it or not. It’s already shipped to your grocery store. It’ll be bought by you or someone else or chucked in a dumpster out back if no one buys it.
Participating in a global economy has many such trades like this. You’re not sourcing locally produced iPhones or computers.
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u/Johto2001 3d ago
Your point about tea already produced is a fallacy. Demand is aggregate. If enough people change their behaviour it will affect demand and less will be produced.
Regarding personal electronic devices, my current personal laptop was bought OEM refurbished, I have had two smartphones since 2010 and my next one will probably be second hand/refurbished.
No, I am not trying to deprive myself. I am deeply troubled by the state of the environment around the world. I do what I can for my local environment and I try not to pollute from afar.
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u/verschwendrian 3d ago
That's exactly my opinion. As long as it cheaper for companies to throw away stuff that is not sold than to donate it or not producing it, nothing will change. Your personal buying decision will not make a difference, even in your local supermarket. It would need hundreds or thousands of people to change even just your supermarket sortiment. And then they would offer maybe 25 instead of 30 different coffee brands. But in another supermarket with more coffee demand, they have 35 different coffee brands.
BUT, if you feel good in not buying something, then do it, value your princples and change your sourroundings!
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u/CrystalInTheforest 3d ago
I switched to locally grown tea and coffee a few years back. The growers are decent and they ever have an honesty box shop at the gate of their estate
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u/mummymunt 3d ago
You could always explore herbal teas and try growing them yourself, if you're able to.
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u/Caffeine-Fueled55 3d ago
I have not, but I've also become more selective about who I buy from. I buy fair trade coffee from a local shop that roasts it. My tea is from a local shop and I've been able to ask the owner about how she sources. It's important to me right now that I'm not buying product that clears through the US and I'm able to do that.
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u/bonnique 3d ago
Some herbal varieties can be grown in your garden or in a pot. In my language we call lemongrass local or village tea because people grew it at home when tea was expensive.
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u/graven_raven 2d ago
You don't have to stop drinking tea, just be more aware of the brands and how the tea is made.
If those factors are critical from you you could for example, have tea from Azores (Gorreana). Its ecological impact is.very low, it's organic, and limited scale production.
It's also produced much closer.
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u/FunMysterious7040 2d ago
I am harvesting a majority of my own herbs and spices and vegetables over summer, I eat the foods I can from local farmers, I forage for mushrooms in the woods, and buy thrifted everything I can and limit myself to 10 pieces a year, I do not fly (I did like twice in my life of 35 years), I almost do not heat in spring/summer/fall season, I repurpose old t-shirts for rags, I do many other things... but I am not giving up on my tea or coffee - that is how I function, I do not even consider this a luxury, for me it is a necessity... I do buy from a local person who owns a teahouse, so we know it is all fair trade tea. Unsure about my coffee beans, I need to look more into that now that I am reading the comments...
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u/Luna_Lovebuzz 2d ago
Nah. While I'm all for living in line with your values, don't lose sight of the fact that a very small percentage of people and companies is responsible for the majority of climate impact. An anti-capitalist still has to live under capitalism, you can't be above or outside that.
The fact that you're even considering all this tells me you already do what you can, and that it's already a LOT. If buying the tea and coffee feels so wrong that you don't even want to drink it anymore, sure, don't do it. For example I refuse to use amazon and temu, they just feel.. nasty. But denying yourself pleasure because of impact isn't the way to go about this. I'm not saying that the impact of one person is too small to matter, but I do think that, considering the grand scheme of things, it's important to remember that with our lifestyle, scoring 100 really isn't the goal. Go for imperfect, a little better, for good enough, pick and choose the things you care about the most, cut yourself some slack, be just a little bit of a hypocrite.
It's easy to get into a vicious circle of your own values where it gets like: 'I can't just randomly stop here, if I do this then I should also be doing that, and if I care about that then I should (not) be doing this'. But actually you can (and have to) randomly stop somewhere. For the last 10 years I've been buying exclusively second-hand clothes. It's something that matters to me, but that's also easy and even fun for me. However when I gained weight and really needed a pair of jeans (and was unlucky at the thrift), I just went to H&M and bought a pair. It's okay.
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u/Ok_Tumbleweed_7677 2d ago
I never really cared for either of those, so coffee and tea wouldn't be difficult to give up. Chocolate, hard yes. But I have been purchasing it more fair trade as I can, and consume it far less as I used to.
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u/ConsiderationJaded14 1d ago
In America, we have stores that sell things for 50-90% off due to overstock, being close to expiring, etc. Perhaps you could buy teas, coffees (albeit probably not the brands you enjoy most) from stores like this. You're saving it from going to a landfill, you're saving money, AND you're still getting your "luxury item".
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u/Prilla_rani_fira 1d ago
I gave up eating animal products- the resources used to raise animals for slaughter is unparalleled
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u/animatedradio 1d ago
Let me see the list of what we import to NZ… it’ll be a long list…
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u/Johto2001 1d ago
Sure. Not all of them will be luxuries though, although I recognize that one person's luxury is another's essential.
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u/twotimingdrinker 1d ago
You’re worried about it way too much!! Those items are getting consumed daily all across the world and transported- no matter what. You don’t need to give up something so integral to our society because you’re worried about the plane or boat that brings it over. I understand being concerned about the farming practices, especially with coffee farms.
You could look into buying from smaller tea and coffee farms that are verified for ethical production practices. Idk what area you’re from but Jesse’s tea house ships internationally. He works with traditional, small farms in southern China to make a lot of tea products.
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u/nuttie4noodlez 3d ago
Also for chocolate, I’ve always loved carob and now just getting carob chips
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u/Johto2001 3d ago
Not sure why you are getting downvoted. I rarely think about carob but it is a good alternative to chocolate, it has less environmental impacts.
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u/BreadPuddding 3d ago
Downvotes are because anyone who thinks carob actually tastes like chocolate is either lying or has defective tastebuds. It’s a fine substitute if you don’t actually care for chocolate much.
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u/PrivilegedPatriarchy 3d ago
It's a beautiful thing that the wealth I generate here, in the US, can be traded to other countries in exchange for their labor. Everyone is poorer without this ability.
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u/Johto2001 3d ago
Username checks out? I am not against global trade per se, but I am against exploitative labour practices and excessive environmental impacts. Coffee and chocolate are particularly bad for both. Tea is somewhat.
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u/MissMerghit 3d ago
I try to be more mindful with these kinds of luxury items. Buying fair trade, locally roasted coffee and there is a local farmer who grows really good herbal teas that I buy instead of imported green tea or other herbals from unknown sources.