I didn't watch the whole thing, but my takeaway from the first 20 minutes of that show was that you need to have a healthy (vs. unhealthy) relationship with "stuff". The two guys who wrote the book clearly both had unhealthy relations with stuff, as do a lot of other people (a lot of the people on Hoarder: Buried Alive start hoarding because they are looking to fill some kind of empty void in their life, usually after the loss of a spouse).

Even those of use who do have healthy relations with stuff often have too much because we just take it for granted. We buy something, use it for a while, then for whatever reason stop using it but never get rid of it. I'm all in favor of getting rid of excess stuff you don't need or use, especially if it gives you more space to enjoy what you do love, but I don't think that's necessarily the point. One of the guys in the show said that he doesn't have to justify how much (little) he has to anyone else and I think that's true for everyone. Keep what you need and use and like but don't look to material things in and of themselves to bring you happiness.

I agree with you 100%. But I would add my part. Even with a healthy relationship with your "stuff" there's still something ugly, wasteful, and sad about all our shit floating in the oceans or filling up landfills, and just generally not integrating itself back into the planet well.

Edit: I think minimalism -- to its credit -- tries to minimize (duh!) that aspect, but it still doesn't entirely address the human industrial waste issue, IMO.

Try reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau- more extreme than the show you're describing but a very cool read about minimalism and self sufficiency.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

"Happiness isn't found in things, it's found in depressing emptiness"

Thanks for my coffee-meets-laptop screen moment of the morning.

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Long Chile was a silly place.