Stop shopping or the planet will go pop!

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2052490,00.html

Many big ideas have struggled over the centuries to dominate the planet,' begins the argument by Jonathon Porritt, government adviser and all-round environmental guru.' Fascism. Communism. Democracy. Religion. But only one has achieved total supremacy.

Its compulsive attractions rob its followers of reason and good sense. It has created unsustainable inequalities and threatened to tear apart the very fabric of our society. More powerful than any cause or even religion, it has reached into every corner of the globe. It is consumerism.'

According to Porritt, the most senior adviser to the government on sustainability, we have become a generation of shopaholics. We are bombarded by advertising from every medium which persuades us that the more we consume, the better our lives will be. Shopping is equated with fun, fulfilment and self-identity. It is also, Porritt warns, killing the planet. He argues, in an interview with The Observer, that merely switching to 'ethical' shopping is not enough. We must shop less.

From pictures of Coleen McLoughlin weighed down with designer bags to branding endorsements by the likes of David Beckham, the image of consumerism as a universal aspiration is ubiquitous. Last week 3,000 people stormed Primark's new flagship store on London's Oxford Street before the official opening time, putting two staff in hospital and earning the description by BBC2's Newsnight of 'a plague of locusts'. There are, however, a growing number of dissenting voices such as the so-called 'Froogles', individuals who use the internet to seek a simpler lifestyle, and organisations and websites which urge people to kick the retail habit.

Porritt, chairman of the government's Sustainable Development Commission, has concluded that consumerism is central to the threat facing the planet, cannibalising its natural resources and producing the carbon dioxide emissions which result in climate change.In a film for Channel Five, he points out that Britons throw away their own body weight in rubbish every seven weeks, with 100 million tonnes of waste pouring into the country's 12,000 landfill sites every year. If all six billion people in the world were to consume at the same level, we would need two new Earths to supply all the energy, soil, water and raw materials required.'

I think capitalism is patently unable to go on growing the size of the consumer economy for any more people in the world today because levels of consumption are already undermining life support systems on which we depend - so if we do it for any more people, the planet will go pop,' Porritt told The Observer. 'So in a way we don't have a choice about this: we've got to rethink the basic premise behind capitalism to make it deliver the goods. In the long run, when you really look at what happens on a planet with nine billion people and really serious constraints on the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that we can emit, it's almost inevitable we will learn to have more elegant, satisfying lives, consuming less. I can't see any way out of that in the long run.'

I couldn't agree more. I am so grateful to be off the consumer converyor belt and nolonger feel compelled or obliged to spend money on things I do not need or even want very much. I very rarely buy clothes and when I do they are usually not fashion clothes but more ethnic, Ibizan style dresses. I have worn the same Jesus sandles for three summers running and have had one pair of winter boots for that same time. Lottie wears clothes from second hand shops in England and the junk market here in Ibiza.

Almost all of my kitchen equipment is either vintage or second hand and I very rarely buy anything new for my house. My car is a heap of crap but I will keep it going for as long as it passes its MOTs.

Life is a lot cheaper and far less stressful now that I do not feel the need to go shopping every Saturday. I'm quite happy with what I've got.

Lottie Bogotti, my soon to be antique and vintage shop in San Carlos, will be a shop catering for people like me; people who like nice things but do not buy throw-away, cheap rubbish. Spending money at Lottie Bogotti will not harm the environment, will not add to land fill sites, will keep treasures alive for future generations and be an investment as good things never go out of fashion or fall apart willingly.