minimalism and america pt.2
you can see my first post on the failure of minimalism to catch on in america right here.
i just read some more interesting statistics reinforcing the notion of america’s unquenchable desire for everything material.
- it took 25 years for the storage industry to build its first billion square feet of storage space. the second billion square feet was added in just seven years, from 1998 to 2005, according to the self storage association.
- in 1995, one in 17 american households rented storage space. by 2007, that ratio had increased to one in 10, according to the self storage association.
- the average american home has grown from 1,400 square feet in 1970 to 2,300 square feet today, but the average size of the household has shrunk from 3.1 to 2.5.
- five years ago, the total amount of revolving debt — mainly credit card debt — that americans owed was $800 billion. today, according to the June credit report released by the federal reserve, it’s nearly $1 trillion, even as millions of us regularly plundered home equity to pay off plastic.
i can’t help but wonder what kind of a difference america could be making around the world if they had spent that $300 billion on feeding hungry children or delivering medical supplies to needy families around the world instead of spending it on stuff and empty spaces to store their stuff. i’m not judging, i’m just wondering…
You can read the whole article here: The High Price of Too Much Stuff.
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