Capitalistic Consumption
Written on June 25, 2007
We in America live in an economic culture based on consumption. Economic growth depends on continued consumption. The more we consume, the more we grow. The more we consume the more we and others have to produce to support our consumption. The more we consume, the more others want to consume also. The more we all consume, the more we all have to produce. The more we produce the more we can afford to consume. The more we produce and consume, the more we reproduce, needing to consume and produce more. The more we produce, the quicker we use the natural resources of the planet. The more we consume, the more byproducts we produce to pollute the planet.
Most of us Americans know very little of the history of any of the products we consume. Where did the product come from or where was it made? Who made it? What resources went into making it? Under what labor conditions? Under what environmental conditions? Who invested in the making of the product? Who profits the most from the selling of the product? How did it get into the store? What are the stories of the people who touched the product–the miner, the farmer, the chemist, the factory worker, the banker, the trucker, the warehouse worker, the store clerk? Most of us don’t care to know the histories of the products we buy or to know the stories of the stuff we consume and collect.
In America products just magically appear on the shelves of the malls and our big box stores. The packaging of the products give us little information and no stories about the products. Advertisements for a product gives us misinformation about a product to stimulate our emotional need for the product. Rarely do we get a chance to visit a farm or tour a factory here in the United States to see how a product is made. For the most part we Americans don’t care about how or where a product is made. Sometimes we have concerns about a product’s quality and durability. The bottom line for most of us Americans is how much does the product cost in dollars and cents at the very moment we are considering buying a particular product. Do I have enough money or enough credit card capability to buy the product now? Who cares about the product’s past when we want the product now. Once we buy it, it is ours to take home, to keep in our own storehouse with all our other belongings. And who really cares about the future of any of our products? We buy the product, we consume or use the product, it gets used up or breaks or becomes obsolete and gets disposed of. Where does the by-produce go? Will it be reused or recycled, burned or buried? Who knows, who cares?
Over the past century human consumption and production activity has radically changed the environment of the planet. These changes will now rapidly cause social and economic changes to the human condition as the environmental damage accelerates and becomes more evident. Human consumption and production patterns (particularly in America) need to rapidly and radically change in order to lessen human and planetary suffering and to salvage a survivable and livable future. When purchasing a product we as consumers need to shift our consciousness. We can no longer just think of our own immediate individual wants and needs. We need to consider the history and the future of the product in order to evaluate the true costs and benefits not only to ourselves but to the larger human community and to the planet. When we truly consider a product’s past and future in the context of planetary health and human harmony, we will find that much of what we consume we could do with less or do without.
If we can consume less, we can produce less and begin to convert our consumer culture to a sustainable society based on human rights and ecological balance. The path of the past, which prioritized economic growth, is leading us to a world that is collapsing. It’s future is a dead end. We need to change this future. The capitalistic corporate leaders however want us to continue to focus our fear on the collapse of the stock market, caused by a recession, caused by a slow down in growth, caused by less consumption and production. Our only hope for the way forward is to reject this model of economic consumption and growth. We now need to create an economy based on compassion for the environment and for all others.
