The Earth overshoot day was on July 24th this year.  

It should remind us we don’t have much time before our industries consume all resources, leaving us with a big question mark waving at us ahead of time.  

We could avoid that, but how? We could just buy less, some would argue.  

Minimalism could play an important role on this matter. What happens when we design with the intention of making someone care for something?  
 
Can design discourage someone from disposing an object and rather repair it, recycle it or just keep it with them?  

It’s about making things meaningful, useful, and easy to understand. When a product is simple, reliable, and intuitive, people start to care for it instead of throwing it away. They learn to fix it, personalize it, or simply enjoy it for years. 

Trust and attachment grow naturally in objects. The teddy bear on top of the shelf, the chair we used for breakfast at granma’s, a lamp that still glows after a decade of homework from school, or the mug filled with the morning coffee: they all build small relationship with their owner.  

Those interactions change how we consume because when we stop seeing objects as disposable, we start seeing them as companions in our daily lives, leading to us caring for them. 

Maybe, just maybe, if more of our products earned our trust and affection, we could push Earth Overshoot Day a little further back. Buying not just less, but with meaning.