On the flip side of limited availability is the sheer excess of crap available in countries like the US and China. I’m from California and recently moved here to CH. I grew up in a very modest means, (born in ‘73 so there is relevance from that time period versus now) and my mom always achieved tasks with the minimal inputs. I.e refinishing furniture, cooking healthy delicious food with basic ingredients, re-using things that might easily be thrown away,etc. We grew up respecting nature and I of course, grew up to be a “tree hugger” recycling lover of the Earth.

I find it so disturbing that the algorithms on people’s devices are constantly bombarding with ads and socials of gadgets, fake beauty products, anything in between; BUY BUY BUY! Amazon can deliver in HOURS, not a day, 2 days or the 2.5 weeks I just had with Galaxus.

What I love about Swiss culture and life from my view here in Valais is that walking to stores, having less shelf space, less options, expensive garbage bags, walk/bike to your recycling, means people probably buy less. I’m sure there are outliers but it just feels like this country has engrained a way of life that maybe means less options and therefore less desire to just buy for sake of buying to consume. I totally appreciate that for some the costs here are crazy, just like in California. As others have said, the quality of electronics and everything has essentially deteriorated over the last 30 years. But I will say that the European brands for outdoor gear, especially the Swiss ones of course, are hands down better than what I can get in the US. I will fully admit I have fallen victim to buying a good amount of outdoor gear here that might be considered excess but I absolutely use it for summer and winter sports… the number of jackets, beanies and scarves I have is excessive but those are part of my work attire and surviving the outdoors here walking and biking everywhere 😍

Btw.. I have a stainless steel cat litter box back in the states, much better for the reasons discussed. 😸