What We’re Thankful for This Year

The Postconsumers team tries to practice thankfulness whenever we can. We actually think that should be a daily practice and not just something we focus on in November, but we appreciate that it’s also nice to have a set time of year to sit back and reflect on the things that you’re most thankful for. This year, with the extreme amount of turmoil and upset going on in the world, we figure that it’s even more important to focus in on the good and the things that we’re most thankful for. So, without further ado, here is our list of our thankful items for the year 2014.

We’re Thankful for the Post Growth Alliance

One of our favorite things that happened this year is that we were invited to participate in the Post Growth Alliance, organized by the Post Growth Institute, an international network committed to tackling the cause, rather than the symptoms, of a myriad of social and environmental problems by building and empowering a broad-based global movement to create global prosperity that does not depend on economic growth. As part of the Post Growth Alliance, Postconsumers is able to not only broaden the reach of our message about the Satisfaction of Enough, but also at times share the compelling and always cutting edge information from the Post Growth Alliance and its members.

The National Emphasis on Food

In between celebrity nude photos and the Kimye wedding, Americans did seem to start to care more and more about an issue that’s near and dear to our heart – food. More documentaries and activism happened this year surrounding the need to clean up our food supply and to reduce food waste than any year that we can remember previously. We’re thankful for this because we’ve been talking not only about the role of food and health for years now, but also about how the consumer mindset is leading to unsound eating and overall wastefulness. While we have a lot of content on this topic, we like this article on ways to avoid TV while enjoying food. But, in general, we’re thankful to see an emphasis on raising awareness about our food cycle and how it operates.

The Willingness to Debate Ideas (No, Seriously, It Can Happen).

If you watch just about any news channel or, for that matter, news program, you’ll probably doubt that it’s possible to have any kind of real debate or conversation about topics that people may have different opinions on. Few are interested in considering another viewpoint and most people are fairly entrenched in their own opinions. But Postconsumers are fortunately, in most cases, willing to consider both sides of an argument. That’s important since the basis of postconsumerism is respecting each individual’s choice about where he or she falls on the postconsumer scale of how much is enough. The article we did this year that sparked the most debate was an article on whether eco-travel was actually more eco-friendly or not. Our favorite summary of the discussion that went on around it comes from our Facebook page:

Katharine Bee Wrote: “To paraphrase John Kenneth Galbraith – you seem to be engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. Just because it’s an eco-resort doesn’t make it eco-friendly for you to travel there. (although, if you hop on your bicycle or use the “two feet and a heartbeat” mode of transit, it’s all good!) But I agree we all need to retreat from the world once in a while!”

We’re thankful we get to hear so many opinions and that they’re opinions couched in understanding that there are multiple angles to everything!

Instagram and Pinterest? Actually Yes!

We’re even surprised that we’re saying this given that we are very wary of overexposure to social media. But not only have Pinterest and Instagram (as well as tumblr) been great ways for us to spread the Postconsumers message, but the first two have also helped to keep us inspired with visual images that are absent of much of the nonsense clutter of the internet. We’re trying to stay optimistic that these channels will remain great (unlike certain other social media channels that have gone down a dark path). Optimism is the key to happiness, after all!

Your Feedback on the Get Satisfied Interactive Handbook

We honestly believe that there’s so much to be gained from taking the Get Satisfied Interactive Handbook. That’s why we’re thankful for the people who took our 30-min web course and then shared their feedback with us. We both got inspired by the feedback and recognized some areas where we can provide content on the Postconsumers website that you will find helpful. What were people saying? Well of course you can read it here!

What were you thankful for this year? We’d like to hear about it. Tell us on the social media channels below.