We are using a linear system for products being: extraction, production, distribution, consumption, disposal

However, it can't work. It's a linear system on a finite planet.

 

Extraction

- we are running out of resources: in the last decade, 1/3 of the world's resource base has been consumed

-We go to different parts of the world, find an area, strip down the resources, destroy the homes of people living there for generations to create goods.

- In this system, if you don't own or buy a lot of stuff, you don't have value

 

Production

- Many chemicals employed, most untested

- Eg. pillows, are doused in BFR (a flame-retardant), which is a neurotoxin

-Pollution: they emit more than 4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals a year

The erosion of local environments and economies leaves people with no other economic option... but to work (and live) in toxic environments

 

Distribution

-Sell as quickly as possible, keep prices down

-It's all about externalizing the cost - keep wages down, skimp on health insurance ie. How do we spend $4.99 on a radio when parts come from all around the world, manufactured in a different area, shipped to the country, transported to the store etc.

“I didn't pay for the radio...kids in the Congo paid with their future”

-Many workers are women in reproductive age, working with multiple toxins because tehy have no other options.

-Globally 200,000 people a day are moving from environments that have sustained them for generations to cities, into slums, looking for any work.

 

Consumption

The heart of the system, the engine that drives is - that's why Bush said, after 911, to shop

- the primary way our value is measured and demonstrated is how much we consume

- 1 percept of material we consume is still in use 6 months after we consume them

How did this happen?

It was designed

- our enormously productive economy demands that we make buying a way of life under Eisenhower - the purpose of the economy became to become consumers of goods planned obsolescence (disposables) and perceived obsolescence

- We are convinced to throw away stuff that is still perfectly useful - by changing the way stuff looks

- Advertisement plays a big role in this - the point of an ad is to make us unhappy with what he have - we are told "we are wrong"

- all we see is the shopping - the production, distribution and disposal happen outside our field of vision

- we pay for this with our time - we work harder than ever - and in our leisure we watch TV (commercials) and we shop - "we are on this crazy work watch spend treadmill"

(doesn't mention - but should - credit)

 

Disposal

- Garbage - gets stuffed in a landfill - pollutes air, land and water - and changes the climate - burning releases the toxics

-Recycling helps, by reducing garbage, reducing demand but recycling is not enough - for every 1 can of recycling, 70 cans remain upstream also, much of the garbage can't be recycled

It is a system in crisis

There are many points of intervention

But all of it works when we see the big picture

We need to chuck the old school throw-away mindset - based on reduced consumption and social equity

 

As you can tell this causes a lot of harm to our environment as well as destroys people's lives.

Also affects people's health

 

Researchers have found that low self-esteem and materialism are not just a correlation, but also a causal relationship where low self-esteem increases materialism, and materialism can also create low self-esteem. They also found that as self-esteem increases, materialism decreases. The study primarily focused on how this relationship affects children and adolescents. It’s found that even a simple gesture to raise self-esteem dramatically decreased materialism, which provides a way to cope with insecurity."By the time children reach early adolescence, and experience a decline in self-esteem, the stage is set for the use of material possessions as a coping strategy for feelings of low self-worth," -Journal of Consumer Research. Statistically people have more things than they did 50 years ago, but they are actually less happy in several key areas. There is also the considerable cost of what materialism does to the environment. We don’t yet know what final toll that could take in terms of quality of life and overall happiness. What many people don’t understand is that if we want to save the environment then at some level we have to buy and consume less. We don’t need to buy so much bottled water, for example. Studies have shown it’s usually not any purer than city tap water, which doesn’t leave mountains of plastic bottles strewn across the nation’s landfills. It also wastes energy and resources to make those plastic bottles and the many other unnecessary things that both youth and adults alike believe they need to have in order to enjoy life and feel good about themselves. Also insecurity can also lead to relationship troubles and other problems associated with a materialistic lifestyle.

 

In an experiemnt,144 undergraduates, 37 male (25.7%) and 107 female (74.3%), average age of 21 completed the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale, the depression subscale of the Symptom Checklist 90-R, the materialism subscale of the Cultural Misorientation Scale, and the Materialistic Depression Quiz. Using the Materialistic Depression Quiz, high scorers versus medium and low scorers had greater depression scores on two depression measures and greater materialism scores. Materialistic depression appears a masked form of depression not to be overlooked.

 

According to a series of experiments recently done at Northwestern University, when college students are exposed to pictures of luxury goods or words "mobilizing consumerist values", they rate themselves higher on scales of anxiety and depression. In another experiment, which gave students identical surveys—though one was titled 'consumer response survey' and the other 'citizen survey'—those with the consumer survey responded in ways reflecting materialist values. 

 

This increase in American materialism, unfortunately, exists along with other less fashionable increases; teen suicide, depression, divorce, the disintegration of the family, bankruptcy, and despair. It does not appear that those living by the law of materialism are necessarily happy or fulfilled. The increase in the pursuit of things is evident; satisfaction from possessing these things is suspect and spurious.

 

Materialism goes hand in hand with debt.

 

People who were brought up in homes where they benefitted from a higher income than they currently enjoy. Even if you haven’t got the income to support it, you have no idea why you can’t have everything you want when you want it. That’s entitlement! But here’s the rub: A lot of those people are going into debt to have the lifestyle you crave, so what you’re craving isn’t real. It’s smoke and mirrors. Playing the keeping-up-with-the-Joneses game is stupid at the best of times, but it’s suicidal if you’re doing it on credit.

Shopping is not a problem on its own; It's the obsessive accumulation of unnecessary products, along with the hope that buying a Chanel bag will somehow make you happier that is problematic. The things that we own often end up owning us, and that's what I see around me. People are obsessed with material goods. We're bombarded with ads telling us how a certain car/shoe/phone/soft drink will make us happier, cooler and more fulfilled. People are trying to "keep up with the Joneses" by defining their worth on the basis of what they possess. Now it's not only about being richer than your neighbor; with the availability of social media, rich people can compare their status to that of people all over the world. There seems to be no limit to the ridiculous expenditure, especially when people are actually willing to spend money on solid gold bags, private jet planes, and diamond-studded vacuum cleaners.This conspicuous consumption has its drawbacks. It wastes time, money and energy, and often racks up credit card debt. And even then it doesn't add any fulfillment to one's life.