Why stick with what you've got? The issues surrounding consumerism
Environmental
Never before in our history have we had so much stuff. Our houses are full of gadgets, clothes, TVs, computers, CD players, appliances and so on, and many other things that just sit around gathering dust. Our modern society is built around the need to buy things; we are constantly bombarded with messages about the latest products and releases, and are persuaded that we need to be the first to get them. And then it's not long before the next new thing is on the market, and it's out with the old and on to our next purchase. Globally, the richest 20% of people in the world are responsible for 86% of the world's spending. The poorest 20% account for just 1.3%.
This kind of lifestyle clearly isn't sustainable. Our throwaway culture puts huge strains on the environment, using up diminishing oil resources and precious raw materials, as well as vast amounts of fossil fuels in production and transport. Not to mention the huge waste mountains created as a result once we're finished with our products, and corresponding carbon emissions at every stage of the process.
Things are so cheap, objects seemingly so plentiful, that their value becomes diminished and they are tossed aside before they've even outlived their usefulness. It is thought that of all our purchases, only 1% are still in use 6 months after we've bought them
(and some sources estimate this as being as little as 6 weeks).
Making new things is also an astonishingly wasteful process. According to the United States National Academy of Engineers, as much as 93% of the materials used to produce something don't even end up in the final product.
Our landfills are burgeoning under the sheer weight of all the things we throw out. And the over-abstraction of existing resources, and the need to continually seek and obtain virgin materials results in the destruction of wildlife habitats, rainforests being logged, indigenous communities being displaced and land, air and water pollution.
Psychological & Societal
Although we have more things, it's been found that we're not actually any happier for it. A recent study showed that, despite being twice as well off as we were 20 years ago, with incomes rocketing by 60% over that time, happiness levels haven't increased at all.
In fact, having all these things and racing to accumulate more may actually be contributing to our levels of depression, as we try to keep up our levels of material wealth with those around us, and displace more meaningful activities in its stead. Rates of substance abuse and depression have climbed in the last 50 years.
This lack of happiness despite our wealth is so prevalent there is even a word for it - affluenza;
a condition where there is never a concept of 'enough', and the afflicted works long hours and places a higher value on money and possessions in order to keep up with or ahead of everyone else, driving themselves into debt and anxiety despite having more than enough income for needs to be met. It's a condition that de-focuses attention on the more important things like values and relationships, and creates the kind of pressure that can leave someone vulnerable to psychological problems.
In 1904 the philanthropist and businessman Joseph Rowntree identified what he described as the main 'social evils', which at the time were considered to be war, slavery and the opium trade. A recent public consultation
by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that the main 'social evils' afflicting us today were perceived to be amongst others, a lack of community, consumerism and greed, and a decline in values.
The Solutions
Buying less
The only real solution to avoid consuming ourselves out of all our planet's resources is really just to buy less in the first place. Making more considered purchases, finding alternatives to retail therapy that bring us longer-term fulfilment, borrowing those things that we only use on occasion, and donating or swapping things we have with other people when we no longer want them, are all ways we can cut down on how many new things we buy. When we have fewer things, we value what we do have that much more, have a less cluttered environment, and more space and time to pursue things that truly fulfil and inspire us.
Cradle to Cradle thinking
Cradle to cradle (rather than our current cradle to grave system), as defined by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, goes beyond manufacturing goods that can just be recycled at the end of their life. It is intended to achieve true sustainability by shifting the way we think about our products, and designing them intelligently so as to be completely waste-free. This means that all materials and by-products that are part of the manufacturing or recycling process are seen as nutrients and put back into the manufacturing chain, much as in nature where nothing is wasted.
MDP not GDP
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country is considered to be a measure of its economic progress and standard of living; its advancement as a society. Yet it doesn't measure in any way the success of a society in terms of the well-being and satisfaction of the people who live in it. Many happiness polls have shown a flatlining in happiness levels in recent decades despite continued growth in GDP. In reality, concentrating more on other measures of progress such as MDP - Measure of Domestic Progress, which takes into account social factors such as crime and family breakdown, as well as environmental pollution and resource depletion,
is a much more effective long term measure for ensuring the well-being of a nation, rather than focusing on the consumer-driven growth of a country's GDP. Bhutan places GNH (Gross National Happiness) - with measurable, metric indicators - rather than GDP at the centre of government policy.
Carbon Savings
A Norwegian study
found that there is a clear relationship between total consumer expenditure and carbon footprint. The research, by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and the Centre of International Climate and Environment Research in Oslo, examined carbon footprints per capita of countries and, uniquely, incorporates carbon emissions of imported products within the figures, i.e. CO2 incurred by the country of consumption, rather than just the country of production.
The US tops the list at 28.6 tonnes CO2e per person per year. The UK comes in at 15.4 tonnes CO2e per capita, with manufactured products making up 15% of this, or 2.3 tonnes CO2e per person.
George Marshall, author of "Carbon Detox",
calculates that on average, for every £1 we spend on general goods and services, around 0.4 kg CO2 is emitted. For more complex items, e.g. items of electronics, this can rise to 2.5 times that value, i.e. 1 kg CO2.
The Dutch company RePay International aims to offset the CO2 emissions of any retail purchase made using their Visa GreenCard. For product purchases, they use a value of 0.79 kg CO2 per £1 (1.1 kg per Euro)
The Office of National Statistics
cites an average of 0.82 kg CO2 per £1 spent.
The Industrial Design Consultancy
(IDC) also looked at a range of products as part of a typical Christmas Santa's sack. This comprised books, games, electronics and toys.
Let's examine the carbon saved by sticking with what you have, rather than buying a new thing:
CO2 emissions for manufactured goods are extremely variable.
A useful figure is the amount of CO2 emitted per pound (£) spent on retail goods.
Authoritative sources cite a range of values:
"Carbon Detox": 0.4 kg per pound spent on general goods, rising to 1 kg per pound for electronics goods. Average taken as 0.7 kg.
Greencard: 0.79 kg per pound, averaged over a range of consumer goods.
Office of National Statistics: 0.82 kg per pound, averaged over a range of consumer goods.
Industrial Design Consultancy: 0.8 kg per pound, averaged over a range of consumer goods.
Average value: 0.78 kg per pound.
To be conservative we have used the lowest cost retail product in our research, a book or CD. The average price of a top 10 selling DVD on Amazon is £12.48 so the average CO2 saving when buying an old thing is:
0.78 * 12.48 = 9.73 kg CO2 approx
CO2 contents of typical consumer retail products.
An average value for the amount of CO2 emitted per pound spent on retail goods is 0.78 kg per pound.
• If we consider a book or CD retailing at 13 pounds then a typical embedded carbon figure is:
0.78 * 13 = 10 kg CO2 approx.
• Items of furniture are also worthwhile reviewing. A leather sofa from DFS might retail at around 600 pounds giving a typical CO2 figure of: 0.78 * 600 = 468 kg CO2 approx.
• A good Laptop PC costing around 1000 pounds would have a typical CO2 figure of:
0.78 * 1000 = 780 kg CO2 approx.
However, electronics equipment is more variable and likely to have a higher than average value. In this instance 1000 kg CO2 is more realistic, using the upper range from "Carbon Detox".
Useful websites
Websites which cover the issue further:
Story of Stuff
http://www.storyofstuff.com
The David Report - a look at the ethical, social, political and economical effects of consumption
http://davidreport.com/the-report/issue-9-2008-i-shop-therefore-i/
Overcoming Consumerism
http://www.verdant.net/
The Compact:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A25871141
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/europeancompact/
Growthbusters
http://www.growthbusters.com/;
The origins of consumerism - a synopsis
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self_episode_1.shtml
New American Dream
http://www.affluenza.org/
Consumercide
http://www.consumercide.com/
Peak Everything
http://www.richardheinberg.com/books
Cradle to Cradle
http://www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm
WWF Strategies for Change
Also Weathercocks & Signposts report on creating environmentally-friendly behavioural change
http://www.wwf.org.uk/core/ge_0000004945.asp
http://www.valuing-nature.net/
Footnotes
