As the holiday shopping season draws to a close, it’s obvious it caught many Canadians financially unprepared. Personal debt levels are at close to an all-time high and tapped-out consumers dug even deeper into their lines of credit to afford gifts for their loved ones.

In this environment, it’s no wonder that discount stores are flourishing. Consider the success of Montreal based Dollarama. As of February 2019, Dollarama had 503 stores in Ontario (of which 150 are in the Greater Toronto Area) compared to only 371 stores in 2014. Amazingly, Dollarama has never closed a single store as a result of poor financial results, and it is on track to open 500 new stores across Canada by 2027, meaning it will have as many as 1,700 locations nationwide.

Now add in the Walmarts, HomeSenses, Winners’ and of course Amazon, and you realize that most of the things we buy are not meant to last. We are very price sensitive, but hardly quality sensitive and we buy loads of crap.

But while our personal financial budget seems the most pressing, there is another budget we should be no less worried about — the carbon budget. This refers to how much carbon, including CO2 and other greenhouse gases, we can emit into the atmosphere while still keeping global warming tolerable.

In polls conducted before the recent federal election, climate change was consistently rated as one of the top-3 pressing matters for Canadians. Some even argue that the Tories lost the election due to their poor stand on the issue.

Yet it seems that the same people who acknowledge the urgency of the environmental crisis are slow in making the link to their consumption habits. One doesn’t see the connection between rising sea levels and buying a cheap shirt on Amazon that makes it all the way from China, packed in plastic and cardboard, and delivered by a polluting vehicle. We need to close the gap between what we know about the climate and how we behave as consumers.

Buying cheap and fast is the norm nowadays. Fast fashion, the model that responds quickly to the latest trends by updating products available in stores almost immediately is a good example. Major retailers, such as Zara and H&M, introduce new clothing designs to stores as fast as every three weeks.

We wear our clothes for a much shorter period than they could be worn, don’t take care of them properly and often dispose of them without much thought. Companies respond to our addiction by producing low quality garments, which carry a huge environmental cost. According to some estimates, the apparel and footwear industry accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions, and is second only to the energy sector as the largest industrial polluter.

We don’t have to be part of a throwaway culture. Collaborative consumption offers an alternative, by promoting business that can reduce our environmental impact as consumers. By renting, trading, swapping and borrowing goods, we can extend the actual time we’re using them.

In the fashion industry, an example of a collaborative consumption business model is a clothing library, which allows members to borrow a number of clothing pieces over a set period of time. The Fresh Fashion Library in Toronto has implemented the concept, a nice realization of the vision that you can buy less and wear more, while being sustainable.

But sometimes, we need or want to own things. In such cases, avoiding deep-discount stores and buying longer lasting products could offer a better experience and ultimately be cheaper while reducing the environmental impact. Many products still carry a lifetime warranty. Knives and watches by Victorinox, Le Creuset’s cast-iron cookware, and Patagonia’s gear are a few examples. There is even a concept store around the idea of lifetime warranty, called Buy Me Once.

If we would buy fewer but better-quality products, and look after them carefully, our economy would be more sustainable. Buying things that last also adds a sentimental value — your gift could last someone a lifetime. So when you’re making your gift list for next holiday season, ask yourself whether the presents you share will still be used and enjoyed 10 years from now.

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Amir Barnea is an associate professor of finance at HEC Montréal

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