“Consuming our way to Extinction”
Written & Researched by Sarah Cipollini, December 2019
photo by John B. Henderson, Seattle 2010
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jbhthescots/5227664185
The average American household has over 300,000 items in it and that number grows each year. As our dependence on producing and purchasing material goods increases, we continue to outgrow our need for them, yet we can’t stop. Our methods of disposing of byproducts and used products are often detrimental to public and environmental health, yet we don’t care. The buying, selling, and sharing of goods can provide income, livelihood, and community among other things- but our obsession has the potential to cause more harm than good, and already has. Unfortunately, the U.S. has a front-row seat to the harsh realities of overconsumption, careless waste, and overproduction in the saga of irresponsible consumerism.
As we have become more dependent on nonessential, luxury items, consumerism has become a way of being, almost becoming a personality trait or identity for some. Most consumption comes directly and indirectly at the expense of people and the planet due to a lack of regard on the part of lawmakers, producers, business owners, and consumers. A huge consumerism boom in the United States encouraged by a deeply rooted, strategic government agenda hoping to further the trend of our rising global affluence following the Industrial Revolution started us on a path we soon realized would be difficult to come back from. As we became more wealthy as a nation, the population began desiring more nonessential material goods and services, which in turn began to be an indicator of social status and wellbeing for those who could afford it.
In order to survive, responsible need-based consumption should take the place of excessive, greed-based consumption. In the consumer culture we live in, it’s incredibly difficult to be someone who does not have the funds to sustain a life of purchasing fueled by want over need. In a study done in March 2012 by Orazio Attanasio, Erik Hurst, and Luigi Pistaferri found that between 1980 and 2010, an increase in income inequality mirrored an increase in consumption inequality.
Although at its core, consumerism is not inherently negative, the way it has been twisted to meet demand as we become more developed and more affluent is harmful to the wellbeing of people and the planet. The path of irresponsible consumption fueled by an intoxicating carelessness on the part of the most wealthy and selfish in the United States and worldwide will only continue to hurt us if we allow it to. Sustainable, educated, and empowered conscious consumerism offers a promising alternative to the struggle of quenching the unquenchable thirst of materialism that humans cannot seem to defeat. As much as we would like to think we have prepared sufficiently enough to venture away from our neoclassic economic methods of buying and selling, there is still a fair amount of consumer and producer re-education and encouragement needed in order to make a significant positive change that will last. Sustainable initiatives in businesses end up resulting in better public image and a healthier environment. By encouraging those who provide us with what we purchase to be more sustainably conscious, socially conscious, and environmentally conscious, the negative impacts of consumption can begin to be significantly mitigated.
It’s unlikely that every person everywhere will stop consuming entirely, nor should we expect them to. Additionally, leading companies and corporations have a way of infiltrating everywhere they can, including our government powers, in order to promote looser regulations for industry and business. For these reasons, it’s crucial we continue educating shoppers and business owners about how we can effectively “use business as a force for good,” inspired by a movement championed by the B corporation certification community of businesses who have achieved rigorous social and environmental standards.
It has become clear that there’s only so far we can go on the path of focusing all our energy on consumer education and engagement. In order to truly make a difference for the social and environmental wellbeing of our communities, we must encourage businesses and corporations to make a change in what they’re offering. Oftentimes, even if someone considers themselves socially and environmentally conscious, they will most likely opt for whichever product offers the most convenience over the one that is the most sustainable. By working towards having more companies focused on not only providing consumers with more environmentally and socially responsible products but also marketing those products to shoppers effectively, there is a chance we can engage with the necessary culture shift in order to take down destructive consumption once and for all.
As much as we’d like it to be, conscious consumption is not the answer to solve our challenging social and environmental problems. If we cannot work effectively to educate, empower, and organize shoppers and citizens to demand structural change in the form of regulation and policy created, enacted, and enforced by our government, we cannot hope to make a meaningful positive difference in the world we are dealing with today. In order to truly make a positive difference in the fight for a just and sustainable world for all moving forward, we must cut down immensely on how much we purchase, as well as working on increasing our skills of DIY projects, sewing, thrifting, creating things, using what we already have, and making well-informed decisions when you do end up purchasing something new. We cannot expect consumerism to disappear entirely, but we can work to rewrite the rules of the systems responsible for furthering oppressive mindsets and practices within businesses preventing us from being sustainable, conscious global community members.
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