Consumerism and the Story of Stuff

I found this "Story of Stuff" to be absolutely fascinating. Many of these facts I have heard before, but when they were all laid out in the "entire" economic process from extraction to production to distribution to consumption to disposal, it really put it all together how much we (think we) are benefitting from this cycle, while everywhere else is getting hurt and getting almost nothing back. Even thinking back to the articles in Conformity and Conflict from a few weeks ago discussing tourism, even though we justify going to beautiful but "third world" vacation hot spots as a "win-win" situation in which we get a great vacation while those who live there get money back into their local economies, very little actually benefits the area we are visiting; in the end, all of the (perceived) benefits really end up simply returning to the companies that "sell" the vacation experience. After all, in our industrialized/post-industrial societies, we end up working for these corporations involved (even indirectly) in the "production" of these vacations, only to be worked so hard that we are told by different sectors of our economy (such as marketing) that because we must not be happy with our lives or are too stressed, we must take time off by consuming in another part of the world.

Now, I am absolutely all for travel, but I believe in traveling with meaning and trying to be as conscientious as possible about how I consume when I travel. This example of the economy of Caribbean tourism is just as applicable to this "Story of Stuff" for that very reason that there is "another way" even in the ways in which we travel: not only can we consume less when we do and try to plan our purchases and extra traveling while we are there so that we consume and pollute less literally along the way, but we can try to "live like the locals," meaning shopping and buying where they do when at all possible, living in closer contact with them (as opposed to at large, isolated resorts) where this is convenient and, yes, safe, and trying to do other activities that DO directly go back into the local economy. Not only will this then end up actually benefitting the community you want to support, but you will most likely experience many more valuable moments, such as greater contacts and more meaningful exchange with the cultures and communities.

In the end, however, it is clear that the bottom line is clearly consuming less. I feel that I am already making some good progress in that. It helps that I do not watch TV or see many printed advertisements---and when I do, they are often not directed towards me; I do not feel that I am one of the people who "needs" an expensive perfume, because I'd have no idea what to do with it, and during the few times I watch TV, it is often a show like Jeopardy! where they advertise things like arthritis medication all the time. In college, at least, my leisure time is often soaked up by hanging out and being with people, whether that is watching a movie, talking, or, at the most expensive, going out to eat. And then, of course, there is travel. I do love traveling and going out in nature/hiking, but obviously this isn't something I do or can do every weekend as a student. However, I feel overall that this has greatly influenced my happiness and well-being, because I do not often feel like I have to consume in order to be happy. I remember the first time I went to a new, gigantic mall built near where I live, and that my first impression was one of absolute disguist. I found it to be really wasteful, and had no idea how even a mall serving such a large community could possibly be necessary---how could people actually buy this much crap?

That said, I still consume way too much and I am a hypocrite. I may not consume as much as the average American, but it will be interesting to see how this will change once I am no longer living on campus; after all, when I go home, I end up going to stores and buying things. For the most part, it is practical items like shampoo or toothpaste, but sometimes I just go to Target for fun and buy a few t-shirts or a cheap pair of jeans. But do I really need as many clothes as I have? Is my life really complete if I don't have a new fill-in-the-blank? When I get my own place, should I aspire for a larger house than I need? I should think not.

And that, really, I think, is the heart of this problem. I can try to be "eco-friendly" by buying eco-friendly clothes, decorations, etc., but really, if I don't even need those in the first place, wouldn't it be better if I just didn't buy at all? And same thing goes for the debate between local and organic (if you can only pick one...); many advocate "local," simply for the very reason that you are consuming less in transportation and production when you are doing everything locally, which means a less taxing world economic system, less negative impact on "far away" communities, and overall less pollution.

At the same time, we are in an economic crisis. But guess what! Rather than finding new solutions, everywhere we are simply seeing lower prices on more crap we don't need. Take for instance the sales during Christmas--stores simply churned out more things; it was very easy to find nice sweaters for $10 even in more expensive stores. And I was always suspicious of "planned" and "perceived" obsoletion, but now I really do believe it exists. It's simply amazing what many businesses sit around and discuss...

And of course, I should also just buy less toxic stuff. I'm now even a little more suspicious of those "anti-bacterial" sprays. We laugh about the things people did even as late as the 40s, 50s, and even 60s and 70s, such as children dancing in the DDT being sprayed on lawns as if it were water. But now things have gotten even worse, and it will be interesting to see what future generations find out about the toxins we put into our boides; we may not be playing with lead toys or putting mercury in our clothes, but now even women's breast milk is the main collector of toxins, and we are constantly burning already dangerous chemicals to compound pollution by putting it into even the final stage of the economic "chain," such as dioxin!

In short, this video reinforces the ideas of consuming smarter, and most importantly, consuming less. As the video pointed out, we simply cannot have a linear system of endless consumerism in a finite planet of limited resources. It seems that one of the resources that still is growing, however, at an alarming rate---is people. Overpopulation is a very real, growing problem, and while there is an ever-widening disparity between the Third World and the Industrialized nations, more in the Third World are trying to live like us, and that absolutely cannot be, because what we are doing at our numbers is already unsustainable. If 7 billion people were to live like us, who ARE 5% of the population using and chucking 30% of the resources, it is frightening to think what the end results would be. So it's up to us to take it down more than a notch, and then try to show the rest of the world that we no longer ascribe to the practices that put the Third World in the position it is already. People ARE our most valuable resource, and it would do us all a huge favor if young children in Mexico in maquiladoras or Congolese children dropping out of school to mine chemicals could instead find more sustainable work that directly benefits their own communities, and that must start with a change in our own practices. Perhaps in a time of economic downturn, if we can simply learn to consume less, we will force change on the world economy that will, maybe, force people around the world into more sustainable livelihoods...maybe. It's obviously not that simple, because we already see the results in Guangzhou and other places in China where consuming less = loss in factory jobs, however (long story short), if we can also create and support more businesses that support fair trade, more environmentally friendly practices, etc., AND work on curbing skyrocketing population (which always falls heaviest on the Third World cultures and communities, which exascerates the problems with cheap, ready factory labor) through CULTURALLY-FRIENDLY/ACCEPTABLE family planning methods, we could really do a world of good.