Latest news with #overconsumption
Fox News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Netanyahu sends message to people of Iran as country faces water crisis
Iran is facing an intense water crisis, but help could soon come from an unlikely source – provided the "tyrants" are out of power. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a message to the people of Iran just days after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned against excessive water usage, saying the country is on the brink of severe shortages. Iran has faced electricity, gas and water shortages during peak-demand months due to mismanagement and overconsumption, according to Reuters. The outlet, citing the semi-official Tasnim news agency, reported that severe shortages could hit the country as soon as next month. "The thirst for water in Iran is only matched by the thirst for freedom," Netanyahu said in a video addressing the people of Iran. Netanyahu compared the regime's treatment of its citizens to Israel's struggle against it, saying, "Your dictators impose tyranny and poverty upon you – just as they impose war on us." While he stopped short of explicitly calling for revolution or regime change, the Israeli leader dangled a clear incentive for Iranians to rise up: remove the regime, and Israel will help end the country's water crisis. "So here is the great news: The moment your country is free, Israel's top water experts will flood into every Iranian city bringing cutting-edge technology and know-how. We will help Iran recycle water; we'll help Iran desalinate water." Iran expert and editor-in-chief of The Foreign Desk Lisa Daftari said Netanyahu's message was "a clear policy signal wrapped in humanitarian aid." "He told them that Israel has the technology, the expertise, and the willingness to end their water crisis, but that this help will flow only when Iran is no longer ruled by the current regime. It was a direct link between political change and tangible improvement in daily life, acknowledging the daily struggles of the Iranian people while putting the responsibility and the opportunity squarely in their hands," Daftari told Fox News Digital. "By tying water to freedom, he's making the idea of resistance more immediate and personal. It is a nod to the commonalities shared by the Israeli and Iranian people who just want to live normal lives away from radicalism," she added. In June, Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war after Jerusalem acted against Tehran's nuclear program. The U.S. eventually joined, aiding Israel in destroying nuclear facilities, including Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. After the war, the Iranian regime intensified its crackdown on civilians. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Iranian police claimed to have arrested as many as 21,000 people during the conflict. Despite the arrests, there have been no credible reports of mass demonstrations or coup attempts. Netanyahu is not the only one criticizing the Iranian regime; exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has also condemned its handling of the nation's water supply. "This regime has driven Iran's water, land, air, skies, lives, and wealth to the edge of destruction. Iran's rivers are dry, its soil eroding, its ground sinking, its air polluted, its skies in the hands of foreign forces, its economy in free fall, its people's homes without water or electricity, and their lives held hostage to the sectarian delusions of an anti-Iranian regime and its foolish leader," Pahlavi wrote on X. In July, Pezeshkian rejected a government proposal to impose a midweek day off or a one-week summer vacation to curb shortages. He said "closing down is a cover-up and not a solution to the water shortage problem," according to Reuters.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Maher on doll talk: Trump ‘losing an imaginary negotiation with children'
Comedian Bill Maher poked fun at President Trump's use of dolls to illustrate the need for families to avoid overconsumption as the administration navigates an uneven economic climate fueled by his trade war. 'He's obsessed with how many dolls we get to have,' Maher said Friday on an episode of his 'Real Time' show, adding later, 'What is it with the dolls?' 'Three times, three times in the last week now, three times he has defended his tariffs talking about dolls,' he told the panel, according to a clip shared by Mediaite. Questions around the impact of the Trump administration's latest tariff rollout on U.S. consumers has prompted the White House to switch up its messaging. The president and his allies have argued that families must be prepared to sacrifice during what he's floated as a transition period. As retailers have expressed concerns about how the sweeping import taxes will affect the prices of their products and any impact on the supply chain, Trump suggested children would be OK with fewer toys — a sentiment Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller later defended. 'You know, someone said, 'Oh, the shelves, they're going to be open.' Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally,' the president said last week. Maher leaned into the rhetoric, noting that the president changed up the number of dolls in recent days. 'First off, 'maybe children will have to have two dolls' and then a couple of days later he said 'They're gonna have three or four dolls,' he said. 'And then he bumped it up the next day, five dolls.' 'Yes, that's our deal-maker-in-chief,' the comedian quipped. 'Losing an imaginary negotiation with children.' The TV host isn't the only one to question the administration's strategy. Senate Republicans have also pressed the president to tone down the doll talk. Some have even suggested the comments are counterproductive and could risk Trump coming off as insensitive at a time when consumer confidence is seemingly already at a five-year low. 'Everything that we need to do needs to be instructed by people who experienced scarcity, and that's clearly the words of somebody that's never experienced scarcity,' one Senate Republican told The Hill earlier this week. 'It's not really sensitive to the circumstances of people that are struggling every day,' they added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fast Company
06-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Fast Company
Tired of overconsumption? Try this new challenge to break free of consumerism
Ashlee Piper is a former political strategist turned eco-lifestyle journalist. She has been a Professor of Sustainability Marketing at Loyola University Chicago and eco instructor for LinkedIn Learning. Well-known companies, such as Airbnb, LUSH, and Nissan, have sought her counsel on sustainability practices. Piper has spoken at the United Nations, SXSW, and has a popular TED Talk. What's the big idea? A life of overconsumption can feel almost inescapable in our hyper-personalized advertising ecosystem. Billions of dollars go into getting people hooked on shopping. Fortunately, a way out of this addictive cycle is the No New Things challenge, which guides anyone fed up with buyer's remorse toward a healthier, happier, more sustainable lifestyle. Below, Ashlee shares five key insights from her new book, No New Things: A Radically Simple 30-Day Guide to Saving Money, the Planet, and Your Sanity. Listen to the audio version—read by Ashlee herself—in the Next Big Idea App. 1. It's not you, it's us. If you wrestle with overconsumption or just buy way more stuff than you'd like to, then you're not alone. Fifty-four percent of Americans report feeling stressed by their stuff, 60 percent say they don't have enough time in the day, and 80 percent are in some form of consumer debt. Overconsumption distracts us from what's important and steals time, energy, money, and peace of mind—not to mention harms the planet. It's safe to say that if you're uncomfortable with your relationship to shopping, you're probably experiencing one or more of these side effects. 2. It's not your fault. Our drive to buy more, buy better, and seek out stuff to meet or fulfill every need and emotion we experience is the result of decades of deft marketing programming. Starting at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, Americans fundamentally shifted their consumption habits, and World War II turned consumerism into a patriotic act. From 1941 to 1945, advertising expenditures grew from $2.2 billion to $2.9 billion, and the 1950s were seen as the 'advertiser's dream decade' (think Mad Men). Today, companies collectively spend nearly $515 billion annually on marketing in the US, much of which is devoted to consumer insights, data, and research. 'Our drive to buy more, buy better, and seek out stuff to meet or fulfill every need and emotion we experience is the result of decades of deft marketing programming.' I don't want to sound like I'm wearing a tinfoil hat, but there are entire departments that track how you buy, when you buy, and what you buy, as well as your demographics like income, gender identification, marital status, and more. It's no wonder we are constantly exposed to advertisements that show us exactly what we need or what they can convince us we need. 3. This is your brain on shopping. This conditioning isn't just historical; it's omnipotent and happening to you right now. It has morphed over the years to create an uncomfortable, unsustainable pattern that keeps industry overproducing, marketing playing on our emotions, and advertising driving us to buy because we don't feel good enough. The act of browsing merchandise initiates the release of dopamine, so what you sometimes conflate with a feeling of pleasure is really you being flooded by desire. Let's say you're a little stressed or excited when going out on a shopping trip. In that scenario, adrenaline enters the equation, heightening your senses and making you more impulsive. You're essentially high, teetering between feeling in control and out of control, which ratchets up the dopamine release even more. 'The emotional high isn't meaningfully sustained.' The interesting part about dopamine is that it's released in anticipation of getting the thing you want. Before you even receive the item you're coveting, dopamine begins to Irish Goodbye, leaving you feeling…sort of empty. That's why many shoppers regret buying many of their impulse purchases. The emotional high isn't meaningfully sustained. If you repeat this process regularly (aka: you shop at the same places around the same time), dopamine interacts with the part of the brain responsible for habit formation, recognizes your behavior as a pattern, and eventually automates it into a habit. In that way, impulsive shopping gets coded in your brain. This is biochemically similar to what happens when someone is addicted to drugs or alcohol. When you feel powerless over your shopping impulses, remember that you're wired to chase your next fix. 4. The No New Things solution. Help is on the way in the form of my 30-day No New Things Challenge, designed to help you build strong neural pathways that move you away from knee-jerk shopping and toward more sustainable, economical, circular ways of getting your needs met. Each day is designed with an action item and reflection that is relatively easy to do, but incredibly powerful for building a new relationship with shopping. 'You don't need any supplies or fancy connections to get started.' Moreover, these action items help you extend the longevity of the things you already own, tap into gratitude for the abundance you already have, declutter your space and schedule, save loads of money, focus on your goals and dreams, and nurture the things that actually matter and make your life better. You don't need any supplies or fancy connections to get started. No New Things is as easy as turning off of the shopping tap and learning to redirect shopping impulses to healthier-for-you activities. 5. Make it stick. The rest of the book covers how to keep the No New Things mindset going as an enjoyable lifestyle. You'll hear from some of the people who have done the Challenge with remarkable results, from the family that saved enough money and got organized so they could adopt a little girl to the woman who saved a whopping $36,581 just from items she wanted to buy, tracked, and didn't. And yes, I consider that savings because she saved herself from spending that amount. No New Things gives you the tools, guidance, and support to shift your mindsets and habits, and in turn, live better—while also being better to others and the planet. Thousands have participated in No New Things before it was a book, so imagine the community doing the Challenge alongside you. Imagine the broader, powerful impact it can make. Getting closer to a more peaceful, prosperous, satisfying life while also upending epidemic overconsumption? That's a win-win.
