Summary

The article discusses the impact of consumer choices on the global economy and encourages readers to live a low-impact life by questioning their purchases and supporting local businesses.

Abstract

The article begins by highlighting the influence of top asset management firms such as BlackRock, Fidelity, Vanguard, and State Street on the global economy. It suggests that consumers can make a difference by being mindful of their purchases and avoiding products and services from companies like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Google. The author shares their personal experiences with these companies and provides tips for living a low-impact life, such as buying locally grown produce and goods made by local businesses. The article concludes by encouraging readers to make a change and support their local communities.

Opinions

The author believes that consumers can make a difference in the global economy by being mindful of their purchases.
The author is critical of top asset management firms and their influence on the global economy.
The author prefers to use sustainable products, such as MacBooks, and avoids using Microsoft products.
The author encourages readers to support local businesses and communities.
The author suggests that readers should question every single item they want to buy and focus on not adding more profits to the giant four through the big five.
The author believes that Portland, Oregon, is a model for sustainable communities in the US.
The author encourages readers to become a member of Medium to support writers and gain access to every story on the platform.
The author recommends trying out the AI service ZAI.chat, which provides the same performance and functions as ChatGPT Plus(GPT-4) but is more cost-effective.

You Can Live a Low-Impact Life.

It’s a case of deciding to do so.

Every time we buy something, we line the world’s top asset management firms’ vaults with our hard-earned cash. Aren’t you tired of making rich people richer?

According to Isaiah McCall in BlackRock is Secretly Taking Over the World Right Now:

“BlackRock, Fidelity, Vanguard and State Street are the four horsemen of the global economy. They own the world. They own you.”

So, if we want to keep lining their corporate vaults, we should go right ahead and keep buying and using Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Google products and services.

Some news outlets accused BlackRock of buying up single-family rental units in the US. However, they only owned about $60 billion in 2021, whereas the total housing stock market gained $6.9 trillion, taking the overall value to $43 trillion last year.

BlackRock owns a large chunk of Apple, but LeafScore rates MacBooks as the second most sustainably made laptops because they use easily recycled aluminium and glass. Apple also offers credit when you recycle your old Apple electronics with them.

As for Microsoft, I avoid the expense and frustration of its products like the plague. Fortunately, Google offers Docs and Sheets, which can be saved as .docx or .xlxs, for free. Unfortunately, Google is easier to use than Safari on my MacBook. So I won’t give up my password-saving browser yet.

I can justify buying expensive recyclable products, and Bill Gates does a lot to help the world. Plus, he wants to pay more tax than he already does.

Amazon only gets used with gift vouchers from a friend. I must ask her to stop sending me them — in the nicest possible way, of course.

Facebook, ugh. I shut the tab after I’ve checked my notifications. If I didn’t keep in touch with so many friends there, I’d have shut it completely long ago.

You can live a low-impact life

It’s a case of deciding to do so. You can train yourself to question every single item you want to buy. I’ve done it for ten years now.

Do I really need this super-soft, cute pink fluffy polyester hoodie from Amazon?

What’s the answer? Correct. NO! A friend bought one for me, and I love and wear it as a snuggly bed jacket. But I would never have bought it for myself. Secondhand possibly.

The first step is decluttering by selling or giving away anything you haven’t used in the last year and are not likely to use for the next year.

Focus on not adding more profits to the giant four through the big five.

Buying locally grown fruit and vegetables and goods made by local businesses will keep the profits in your community. Portland, Oregon, is The Greenest Sustainable Community in the US. Its ten Sustainable City Principles starts with:

Make decisions and take actions that balance environmental quality, economic prosperity and social equity.

If you don’t want to keep buying from people who already have far too much, what will you do differently?

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