17/09/2025
The Earth doesn’t need us
*Marisol Del Toro Orozco
The Earth definitely doesn’t need us. We are the ones who need it. Every single one of our actions has a direct impact on the environment, on climate change, on waste generation, and on our own lives. Here we are in 2025, a society that has reached a historic level of consumerism, and this is especially reflected in the waste we produce, which remains on the planet. And it seems we don’t care.
Before diving into the debate on awareness and the privilege of making sustainable decisions, I propose a very simple mental exercise: think about the last thing you bought and, once you have it clear in your mind, answer these questions:
Where was it manufactured? What was the production cost? What material is it made of? From which country was it shipped to your home or the store? What problem or need did it solve? Does what you paid really represent the product’s value? How many times will you use it? And most importantly: since you acquired it, has your life changed, and are you happier?
If the answer to the last question is YES, you can stop reading. Otherwise, if it’s NO, I invite you to stay here and reflect on how the current system pushes us—and almost forces us (by fashion or social pressure)—to consume more things than we could ever use in our entire lives and makes us believe we will be happier because of it.
A common example could be shoes: 40 years ago, people generally had an average of only four pairs of shoes, which we could classify like this: one for work or school, one for sports, one for daily use, and one for social events (considering the most fortunate, since some people could only afford a single pair). Only when they wore out or the size changed would they buy a new pair, and in many homes, shoes would even be passed down to another family member. Today, there are people who own up to 100 pairs of shoes, accumulating (or “collecting,” if you prefer) them.
The materials have also decreased in quality and therefore deteriorate faster, so all those shoes kept in the closet (or in the special display space) end up spoiled due to the natural expiration of the materials and become unusable within a few years (let the first person cast the stone who has never saved a pair of new shoes for “special occasions” and ended up wearing them only once). The reality is that to wear out all those pairs of shoes, a person would have to walk thousands of kilometers per month, which is practically impossible.
Today, we face the linear economy as a system that is no longer sustainable. This production model—extract, produce, consume, use, and discard—has lasted for almost 300 years and is now practically obsolete. We are depleting natural resources, destroying ecosystems (with the flora and fauna that inhabit them), and harming people. This linear consumerist system leaves no room for anything else. Literally and metaphorically, it takes up all the space in our minds, our lives, and our homes.
The circular economy proposes that both products and services be designed to leave no permanent waste. In other words, each manufactured item, from its origin, should have an intelligent design that allows the material to be reused multiple times. Obviously, this involves different processes that require everyone’s collaboration: from the designer who comes up with the idea, the engineer who designs the machine and production system, to the entrepreneur, the distributor, and finally, the consumer. In this system, every object could be reused or recycled. We have the false idea that we recycle in our homes when, in reality, we don’t. We, as consumers, only separate the waste; the real recycling process is carried out by specialized companies. This feeling that “we recycle” makes us believe “it’s enough,” when in fact, it is just one of the possibilities for sustainability, along with refusing, rethinking, reducing, reusing, repairing, and regenerating.
Knowledge, education, and awareness are tools that can change the course we are on. Learning and practicing circularity is one of the greatest challenges of contemporary society. Today, there are several international and local organizations seeking to make a difference. I will share one with you: the Circular Movement. As an organization, we understand the urgency of acting in the face of the global poly-crisis we are experiencing. That’s why we seek to inspire changes leading toward the concept of circular societies, where resource reuse, environmental protection, and the planet’s regeneration are part of the culture—something natural.
Our role is to engage people through Education and Culture so that the Circular Economy becomes part of everyday life, transforming the way we produce, consume, and discard in a conscious way. Through online and offline educational solutions, we offer knowledge and practical tools so that more and more people and organizations can adopt circularity in their routines and businesses. You can join in different ways through the official website: www.movimientocircular.io. Because change is only possible if we make it together.
To start today, I propose five ideas for daily life:
- Recycle and share whatever you can. Exchange clothes, decorative items, books… almost everything can have a second life in another home.
- Prioritize repair over replacement. If something doesn’t work or has a repairable defect, we can always look for ways to fix it before replacing it.
- Talk about the Circular Economy. With your friends, family, and acquaintances, start spreading knowledge. Share the practices that have been useful to you. The more we talk about it, the more present it will be in our vocabulary and daily actions.
- Stay informed about the current environmental situation. To understand what is happening around us, we need to know what is happening in the world. This opens our minds, broadens perspectives, and makes us more conscious consumers.
- Buy less. The best waste is the one that is never generated. Ask yourself: “Do I really need this? Is it worth the money and effort I put into earning it?” Let’s think about this: nothing disintegrates or disappears. Everything we produce and consume ends up somewhere in the world, even if we can’t (or don’t want to) see it.
These small actions can give us a path to begin the transition to a circular economy and bring more people around us into this urgent change. Circularity is not just an environmental strategy; it is a path to a fairer, more dignified, and healthier life for everyone.
Therefore, the Earth definitely doesn’t need us. We are the ones who need it to live. The time has come to ask ourselves: what are we willing to change to have a better quality of life while living on Earth? It’s not tomorrow, it’s today.
*This text was automatically translated with the help of artificial intelligence and reviewed. Still, there may be slight differences compared to the original version in Spanish.
*Prof. Marisol Del Toro
Ambassador of the Circular Movement in Mexico. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication Sciences from Vasco de Quiroga University, a Master's degree in Human Development from La Salle University Morelia, and is currently a doctoral candidate in Education at the University of the Americas, with ongoing research. She was a teacher in secondary and higher education for 17 years and is an examiner for the International Baccalaureate Organization, whose educational program is taught in over five thousand schools worldwide.
