CONSCIOUS
CONSUMERISM
Introduction
Consumerism is economically manifested in the
chronic purchasing of new goods and services, with little attention to their
true need, durability, product origin or the environmental consequences of
manufacture and disposal. Consumerism is driven by huge sums spent on
advertising designed to create both a desire to follow trends, and the
resultant personal self-reward system based on acquisition. Materialism is one
of the end results of consumerism.
How
consumerism affects society, the economy and the Environment?
Consumerism interferes with the workings of society
by replacing the normal common-sense desire for an adequate supply of life's
necessities, community life, a stable family and healthy relationships with an
artificial ongoing and insatiable quest for things and the money to buy them
with little regard for the true utility of what is bought. An intended
consequence of this, promoted by those who profit from consumerism, is to
accelerate the discarding of the old, either because of lack of durability or a
change in fashion.
Landfills swell with cheap discarded products that
fail early and cannot be repaired. Products are made psychologically obsolete
long before they actually wear out. A generation is growing up without knowing
what quality goods are. Friendship, family ties and personal autonomy are only
promoted as a vehicle for gift giving and the rationale for the selection of
communication services and personal acquisition. Everything becomes mediated
through the spending of money on goods and services. Human beings who cannot
spend become worthless.
It is an often stated catechism that the economy
would improve if people just bought more things, bought more cars and spent
more money. Financial resources better spent on Social Capital such as
education, nutrition, housing etc. are spent on products of dubious value and
little social return. In addition, the purchaser is robbed by the high price of
new things, the cost of the credit to buy them, and the less obvious expenses
such as, in the case of automobiles, increased registration, insurance, repair
and maintenance costs.
Many consumers run out of room in their homes to
store the things that they buy. A rapidly growing industry throughout the world
is that of self-storage. Thousands of acres of land good farm land are paved
over every year to build these cities of orphaned and unwanted things so as to
give people more room to house the new things that they are persuaded to buy.
If these stored products were so essential in the first place, why do they need
to be warehoused? An overabundance of things lessens the value of what people
possess.
"You work in a job you hate, to buy stuff that
you don't need, to impress people that you don't like."- Fight Club
Malls have replaced parks, churches and community
gatherings for many who no longer even take the trouble to meet their neighbors
or care to know their names. People move frequently as though neighborhoods and
cities were products to be tried out like brands of deodorant.
Consumerism sets each person against themself in an endless quest for
the attainment of material things or the imaginary world conjured up and made
possible by things yet to be purchased. Weight training, diet centers, breast
reduction, breast enhancement, cosmetic surgery, permanent eye make-up,
liposuction, collagen injections, these are are some examples of people turning
themselves into human consumer goods more suited for the
"marketplace" than living in a healthy balanced society.
The past ten or fifteen years have seen a growing
concern with a concept usually referred to as the "quality of life."
Various social and ecological problems have been associated with a felt decline
in life's quality. In particular, the potentially deleterious effects of many
consumer products available in the marketplace have been singled out as sources
of worry. Numerous studies have explored aspects of the eco-logical
movement/consumer action relationship perhaps reflecting some of this con-cern.
Consumerism
seems to us a wholly natural way of
life But it is not
“natural” – it is a relatively
recent social invention
Why did it
appear?
What does it
involve?
How is it
changing now and in the future?
Environmental
Costs of consumerism
Consumerism causes the
wasteful use of energy and material far above and beyond that needed for
everyday living at a comfortable level.
Money is not the only way to
measure the cost of an item. When one adds up all the raw materials and energy
that go into the goods and services consumed over an individual's lifetime, the
toll on the environment is staggering. When this cost is multiplied out over
the lifespan of families, cities and countries, the proportions are incredible.
An example: 220 Billion cans, bottles, plastic cartons and paper cups,
are thrown away each year in the "developed" world.
"Disposable" items exemplify this. Rather than compete on
quality or reliability, products are made for a one time use. "Fun"
is a catchword discarding notions of inherent value, longevity, and the
environmental consequences of manufacture and disposal of the product. Buying
quality products that are warranteed against failure or wearing out, learning
about the materials that things are made of, their national origin and the
conditions of the workers that make them, are some ways of resisting
consumerism and waste.
While there may be some new appliances and cars that are more
productive and energy efficient, discarding the old often leads to an almost
total waste of the energy and material already invested in these products. This
alone may more than nullify the energy savings of the new.
.
“The advertising industry is one of our most basic forms of
communication and, allegedly, of information. Yet, obviously, much of this
ostensible information is not purveyed to inform but to manipulate and to
achieve a result — to make somebody think he needs something that very possibly
he doesn’t need, or to make him think one version of something is better than
another version when the ground for such a belief really doesn’t exist.”– Marvin E. Frankel
Conscious
consumer
An intriguing notion has been advanced of a
poten-tially important market segment for products which may alleviate some of
these problems. These "socially conscious consumers" may be the group
whose actions lead the way to an improving quality of life in society
The socially conscious consumer can be defined as a
consumer who takes into account the public conse-quences of his or her private
consumption or who at-tempts to use his or her purchasing power to bring about
social change. What psychological, social, demo-graphic, and socioeconomic
characteristics describe the socially conscious consumer?
A conscious consumer is someone who
– like you – understands that what we buy connects us to the rest of the
world and wants to be sure that their purchases don’t contribute to human
rights violations elsewhere on the planet. Or, using a few more words: “Socially conscious
consumerism can be defined as consumers ‘voting with their dollars’ by
purchasing products and services produced responsibly. Responsible production
can encompass a range of social and environmental factors, such as ensuring
labour practices are fair or that products are produced with the aim of
minimizing environmental impacts. Consumers reward socially responsible firms
through higher sales and punish other firms through boycotts and protests.”
THE SOCIAL INVOLVEMENT MODEL (conscious consumerism)
What type of a person is likely to be willing to incur the trouble
and expense involved in socially conscious?
As a starting point, the socially conscious consumer
must be aware of the problem (say, air pollution or water pollution) and he
must also be aware of oppor-tunities to buy products and services which are
re-sponsive to the problem. Stated simply, he must be "informed,"
which suggests that he will be reasonably well educated. Second, he must
perceive that it is within his power as an individual citizen to have a
favorable influence on the problem situation. This suggests an individual who
perceives himself as active, socially in-volved, and not alienated. Third, the
socially conscious consumer will have attitudes toward social affairs and
community involvement which are consistent with his behavior. In other words,
he will score high on an index of social responsibility and he will be active
within the community in social, political, and charitable causes. To summarize
this social involvement model: the so-cially conscious consumer is a person who
is in a good position in terms of income, education, and occupation to
contribute to the community and his self-concept allows him to take an active
role. He acts in a manner consistent with his attitudes, playing an active role
not only in organized activities but also in his individual behavior as a
consumer.
Socially Con-scious are those consumers who uses low
lead or lead-free gasoline, low phosphate detergent, and beverages in
returnable bottles; he or she: -used a
recycling service -had disconnected his car's pollution control device if it
had one -reused paper grocery shopping bags -had reduced usage of petroleum
products and elec-tricity even had
refused to buy a product involved in a labor dispute.
Getting
towards conscious consumerism...
It is definitely
becoming a challenge today for the companies totransform themselves to suit the
needs of the conscious consumers. Consumers today are increasingly becoming
more conscious in their approach, thinking and consumption.
Five
values drive conscious consumers
From the
ethnography — which observed the behaviors, experiences and values behind 24
consumers’ purchasing decisions in Lawrence, KS; Long Island, NY; and
Livermore, CA — researchers first learned why these Americans are thinking more
about the social and environmental impact of their purchases on the world in
which they live. Specifically, after analyzing 1,000 photographs and 150+ hours
of direct observations, the ethnographers discovered five core values driving
the nation’s more sociallyminded consumers:
1.
Health
and Safety.
Conscious
consumers seek natural, organic and unmodified products that meet their
essential health and nutrition needs. They avoid chemicals or pesticides that
can harm their health or the planet. They are looking for standards and
safeguards to ensure the quality of the products they consume.
2.
Honesty.
Conscious consumers insist that companies
reliably and accurately detail product features and benefits. They will reward
companies that are honest about processes and practices, authentic about
products and accountable for their impact on the environment and larger
society. Making unsubstantiated green claims or over promising benefits risks
breeding cynicism and distrust.
3.
Convenience.
Faced with
increasing constraints on their time and household budgets, conscious consumers
are practical about purchasing decisions, balancing price with needs and
desires and demanding quality. These consumers want to do what’s easy, what’s
essential for getting by and make decisions that fit their lifestyles and
budget.
4.
Relationships.
Who made it?
Where does it come from? Am I getting back what I put into it? These consumers
want more meaningful relationships with the brands in their lives. They seek
out opportunities to support the local economy when given the chance, want to
know the source of the products they buy and desire more personal interactions
when doing business.
5.
Doing Good.
Finally,
conscious consumers are concerned about the world and want to do their part to
make it a better place. From seeking out environmentally-friendly products to
rewarding companies’ fair trade and labor practices, they are making purchasing
choices that can help others. These consumers want to make a difference, and
they want brands to do the same. “While consumers continue to prioritize
personal and practical concerns like health, safety, price and quality, they
are also looking to make a difference in the world,” said David Lubensky,
founder of Bagatto, a San Franciscobased ethnographic research firm. “We see a
trend toward ‘self-centered consciousness,’ whereby consumers want companies to
meet their personal needs and positively impact society.”
Influencing what you decide to buy
Here are some of the factors that might influence the decisions you make
on what to buy and what not to
•
How will your
identity – who you are, what you believe in and value, where you live, the
groups you belong to, your way of seeing the world – come into play?
•
How much will
you consider your health? Safety? Security?
•
How does
choosing a product affect the jobs people have?
•
How important to
you are the environmental impacts of products and services?
•
How will
marketing affect how you buy?
•
Do you really
need to buy anything at all?
How
to be a conscious consumer?
•
Most important issues
The most pressing issues by far are those that
most directly affect consumers – safe drinking water, clean air, Global warming
and diseases like cancer, AIDS and Alzheimer’s.
•
A conscious boom.
The language and labels of the “conscious
consumer” have penetrated the marketplace and become part of the consumer
culture.
•
Making more informed decisions.
Consumers are looking beyond the buzz to
make more informed decisions about the products they buy and the companies they
support. To understand if a company “does good things for people and the
planet,”
•
Moving beyond convenience.
Consumers have moved beyond just convenience
when shopping for various products. While price and quality are paramount,
convenience has been edged out by more socially relevant attributes.
•
Rewards for social responsibility.
When given a choice between products of
equal quality and price, consumers are more likely to buy from a company that
manufactures energy efficient appliances and products, promotes consumer health
and safety benefits, supports fair labor and trade practices, commits to
environmentally-friendly practices
•
Is it easier being green?
Consumers willingly engage in “easy”
behaviors, such as recycling cans, bottles and newspapers and using energy
efficient appliances, but they often fail to adopt a more “demanding” behaviors
like carpooling, using public transportation or purchasing carbon offsets.
Conscious Consumer Shopping Guide
If you need to make a purchase, see if
you can find the most durable, just, and sustainable option that works for your
budget. Being a conscious consumer isn't just better for the planet, it's
better for your own health and that of your family. As sustainable options
become more widely available, you won't have to break the bank to make a
purchase you feel good about.
Chocolate
Most of chocolates comes from the Ivory Coast region of West Africa, where cocoa production is an enormous part of the economy. In Ghana, 40 percent of the country’s export revenues come from the sale of cocoa. Unfortunately, very little of the profit goes to the farmers who grow the cocoa beans. Cocoa farmers receive about a penny for a candy bar selling for 60 cents.
Most of chocolates comes from the Ivory Coast region of West Africa, where cocoa production is an enormous part of the economy. In Ghana, 40 percent of the country’s export revenues come from the sale of cocoa. Unfortunately, very little of the profit goes to the farmers who grow the cocoa beans. Cocoa farmers receive about a penny for a candy bar selling for 60 cents.
In fact, the difficulty in making a
living at cocoa farming has spawned an increase in child and even slave labor
drawn from poor neighboring countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin and
Togo. Children and other workers are forced to work long days picking and
processing cocoa beans (it takes 400 of these pods to make just one pound of
chocolate). Very few of the children have the opportunity to attend school.
Bottled Water
In reverse order of importance, the top
few reasons to give up bottled water are:
4. Disposable plastic water bottles
are not meant for multiple uses. A plastic bottle made from #1 polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) is fine for a single use, but reuse can lead to bacterial
growth and leaching of dangerous chemicals.
3. Bottled water is full of oil. Making bottles to meet consumers demand for bottled water requires more than 17 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 cars for a year. To put it another way, the entire energy costs of the life-cycle of a bottle of water is equivalent, on average, to filling up a quarter of each bottle with oil. (Pacific Institute)
2. Bottled water is expensive! Drinking the recommended daily amount of water using bottled water can be expensive.
3. Bottled water is full of oil. Making bottles to meet consumers demand for bottled water requires more than 17 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 cars for a year. To put it another way, the entire energy costs of the life-cycle of a bottle of water is equivalent, on average, to filling up a quarter of each bottle with oil. (Pacific Institute)
2. Bottled water is expensive! Drinking the recommended daily amount of water using bottled water can be expensive.
1. At least 40 percent of bottled water is tap water anyway. We are paying a huge premium on water that you could have just gotten from your taps
Jewelry
Every piece of jewelry tells a story.
Gold and diamonds are often produced at the expense of the Earth and workers'
rights and safety. Look for used or recycled jewelry, or dig in the family
treasure chest for an old heirloom that can be repurposed with a sentimental
twist. If you're opting to buy new, choose jewelry that provides a decent
living to talented artisans, or gold and gems mined in a socially and
ecologically responsible manner.
The mining of gold, silver, and precious
gems can have tremendous impacts on the local environment, on the health of
mine workers, and on communities that live in the vicinity of mines.
Flowers
Fresh flowers look beautiful while they
last. But unless you grow your own, chances are you're buying flowers that may
have a "hidden" toxic effect on workers and the Earth. Look for organic
or even better, buy locally grown organic flowers that eliminate the carbon
used in shipping the flowers from China
or Africa. Find locally grown organic flowers. Even if your local flowers
aren’t organic, they were probably grown without the chemicals applied to
flowers shipped in from overseas.
Majority of cut flowers are grown in
Latin America and Africa, near the equator, in an industry that employs mostly
women working without benefits and with forced overtime when holidays roll
around and flowers are in demand. The flowers themselves are grown in
greenhouses or under broad tents – not to keep weather or insects out, but to
keep pesticides in. Growers in other countries douse the flowers with chemicals
and make frequent use of pesticides banned . Heavy application of pesticides in
confined areas has significant impacts on both the environment and workers. The
chemicals get on worker’s clothes, in their skin and lungs, and are carried out
of the greenhouses to their homes. Pesticides also contaminate the soil and
seep into water supplies. Studies in Costa Rica have indicated that 50 percent
of floriculture workers show symptoms of pesticide poisoning, and rates of
miscarriage and birth defects are higher in areas surrounding flower farms.
Personal Care Products
The skin is a very sensitive organ, and
also one of the easiest channels for toxins to penetrate the body. We don't
often think about the chemicals in many personal care products which are
derived from petroleum. Choose organic skin and hair care products that keep
toxins out of your body and our water and waste streams.
While some personal care products
perpetuate excessive consumption patterns through a luxurious emphasis on
beauty and physical appearance, there are basic products, such as soaps,
shampoos, moisturizers, and lotions, that help keep our bodies healthy and
clean. However, there are both health and environmental concerns surrounding
these products. In terms of physical health, there are considerable impacts due
to absorption through the skin of toxic chemical residues. The absorption of
substances through the skin is particularly disturbing, as the body's normal
filters—the kidneys and liver—are bypassed; skin becomes an effective gateway
for toxins to enter the bloodstream.
Environmentally, these products
contribute to our dependency on petroleum and the related environmental
destruction associated with drilling and refining; many chemical body care
ingredients—such as Propylene Glycol and PVP/VA Copolymer—are
petroleum-derived. In addition, when these products are washed off of our
bodies, they are released into our environment and require intensive cleaning
processes to be removed from water sources.
Cell Phones
Cell phones rapidly become obsolete,
making them a growing contributor to our landfill problem. It's important to
recycle your old phone, but solar chargers and environmentally-minded cellular
providers can help you chat more sustainably.
The humble cell phone charger has gone
futuristic. You can now wear your environmentalism on your sleeve with a
strap-on solar cell charger, or work up a charge at the gym with the kinetic
charger. Many solar models feature USB plugs so they can be charged either by
the sun, or--on cloudy days--by your computer.
Many office supply stores accept drop
offs for recycling.
Bags
Next shopping trip, bring a reusable bag
or three along. It can be a backpack, string bag, canvas tote, or you could go
for a colorful nylon number that balls up to the size of an egg and fits in
your purse or pocket. Do your part to promote consciousness about bag waste
while reducing your own contribution to the landfill.
Between 500 billion and 1 trillion
plastic bags are consumed throughout the world each year. An estimated 8
billion pounds of plastic bags, wraps, and sacks enter the waste stream every
year in one country alone.
The production of plastic bags requires
petroleum. An estimated 12 million barrels of oil is required to support the
annual consumption of plastic bags. When tossed, plastic bags contaminate soil
and waterways, and are among the most common debris found in coastal cleanups.
Recently, scientists have found dramatic accumulations of microscopic plastic
fibers in beach and seabed sediments, and in plankton filtered from seawater.
One study found that plastic debris acts like a sponge for toxic chemicals,
soaking up a million-fold greater concentration of such deadly compounds as
PCBs and DDE (a breakdown product of DDT), than the surrounding seawater.
Read the Label!
It's important to be wary of
"green" or "healthy" consumer items that are being pushed
by marketers but that are potentially less safe for you. Bottled water, for
example, often claims to be healthier and safer, and to originate from pure
mountain springs—but in many cases, it's really just filtered municipal water.
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