Timely reflections on consumerism

The man himself!

Reading John Kenneth Galbraith's writings on "The Theory of Consumer Demand" (that is a link to the abridged text of the overall book, The Affluent Society) brought up a great point, in my opinion. Sure, we all talk about how all of our consumption is a bad thing, but did we ever think about the cycle of consumption we are locked into? Why do we consume so much if we need very little? Why do I crave new shoes or the fanciest Apple product?

Galbraith said it is because advertising tells us we need it! Think about it. To quote him:

"A man who is hungry need not be told of his need for food. If he is inspired by his appetite, he is immune to the effect of Messers. Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn. The latter are effective only with those who are so far removed from physical want that they do not already know what they want. In this state alone men are open to persuasion." [Note: I am assuming the aforemention Messrs. are advertising gurus. Also, the italics were my own.]

This water came from a pure mountain!

Surprisingly I had never thought this through before. Why do Americans, among others, need to have commercials for food? Bottled water? Because we actually have no great need for it! Were I in desparate need for water, I would not need at TV commercial tell me which mountain spring it came from in an exotic country. I would just drink the water.

With the surplus of production in Western society, producers had to do something to entice us to buy beyond our needs. Hence, the rise of advertising. I find this very interesting. A whole sector of our business is perpetuating the constant consumerism that causes so much trouble environmentally. In order to change it, we wouldn't just have to change people's habits, but also remove or completely alter portions of our economy.

After coming to this realization, I will be more suspicious of advertising I see and attempt to see past all the bru-ha-ha about the newest toy. Even though iPads look pretty sweet ...

The power of change

I am inspired when I read or hear of stories of societal change. Stories like the effect of the condom campaign in Thailand (that's a link to a pdf file) or the dramatic increase in wind power as a source of energy in Denmark. In my lifetime societal change has always been fast. The advent of the Internet, cell phones and numerous other technological advances have all happened in my lifetime! I have lived a short 21 years, but already I have seen incredible change. I can only imagine the kind of change my parents or my grandparents have seen.

Given my experience with all this incredibly fast change, it is a struggle for me to hear so much about needed environmental change and see so little being done. Perhaps it's because I am now old enough to be conscious of the change as it is starting and the slow beginnings make me anxious to see more in the future, but I feel as if this movement is crawling. The three pillars of society that encourage change as discussed in our reading by Garder, "Accelerating the Shift to Sustainability" don't seem to be contributing like they should. I am unimpressed with the government - all I can see is partisan arguments and special interests in control. Businesses seem to be thinking in the short term. There are examples of businesses who have heeded the call to go green, but they are in the minority. And civilians, as far as I can tell are valuing quick and easy over long-term benefits. I, myself, have only just woken up to the fact that I need to make some sacrifices to help push change along.

With all these stalled efforts in the three main sectors of our society, how will change ever start? Doesn't at least one sector need to make a big push to convince the others to come along for the ride. In this one area I am feeling pessimistic. I have seen very little to convince me the government or businesses at large will make short-term sacrifices. Indeed, I haven't seen much of that in the civilian sector either. Alas, right now all I can do is lead by example.