So there have been some attempts to reduce the amount of “waste” generated today under the heading of “ZeroWaste” aspirations; for example of making plans to use up whatever foods you have before they go bad and to be aware of shelf lives of items, of trying to reuse things instead of throw them out, and so on.

In computing, maybe some of us look for ways to “debloat” programs to use less computing resources.

I think these kinds of projects have a broad appeal as they have both environmental and economic benefits.

However I’ve also noticed that it seems “waste” is often necessary for doing a lot of things, and I think the attempt to avoid all waste may have, at least for me, gotten in the way of doing things at times.

For example, the sculptor must take a block of marble and cut all kinds of “wasted” pieces of marble from it, to make a sculpture. And then if the piece didn’t even work out, then then the whole block would be “wasted”. I think I’ve been trying to come to terms with all this apparent and possible “waste” and to be able to consciously choose to “waste responsibly” (?) maybe in order to do certain things.

Has anyone experienced this kind of feeling of not wanting to “waste” and come to terms with navigating it?

Any thoughts on “anticonsumption” in general (or reducing consumption of material goods)?