Might we have it backwards
We think we own things, but most days weâre possessed by our own possessions. Itâs backwards. Just look at the food. The United Nations estimates that in 2022 the world wasted about 1.05 billion tonnes of food at the retail, restaurant, and household levelâroughly oneâfifth of all food available to consumersâwhile hundreds of millions of people went hungry. Households alone threw away an estimated 631 million tonnes that year, more than a billion mealsâ worth of edible food wasted every single day. Look at housing. In the United States, recent data suggest there are roughly as many, or even more, vacant homes than people experiencing homelessness, showing that the problem is not a lack of buildings but how weâve chosen to use them. We leave human beings outside in the cold and dark while heated, empty rooms wait in silence. Thatâs how upsideâdown our idea of âownershipâ has become.