OMG, I’m a Passive Consumer!
By Christine Rap
August 28, 2011
Image Source: http://www.worldstourist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/women-shopping.jpg
I’m Christine Rapagnola and I’m a student. I am not an environmentalist, nor a scientist. I am just one person who has chosen to make some changes in my consumption because of the information I learned and I’m sharing it with you.
When I first began learning about Eco-Science, I was predisposed to believe that it is the corporations that drive decisions. So, it is their responsibility to create products that are safe for the environment. This attitude has shaped my buying decisions because the problem is not mine. It is the corporations or the government who allows them to continue to shelve these products. They are available so they must be safe, right? I really wanted to know, what really happens to some of the ‘stuff’ I recycle. Is it enough that I’m recycling or is it just putting a band aid on my overall consumption?
My thinking has now shifted to thinking about environmental awareness in terms of the fable of the Golden Goose. The farmer, after becoming rich from the golden eggs, grows impatient and more greedy. He kills the goose but when he opens it up, discovers there’s no more golden eggs inside. That’s the point at which I feel civilization is at with the environment. We are greedy and we want more golden eggs or more technology that is the latest and greatest. We want convenience foods and technology and we don’t care what form it’s in. When we’re done using something, we simply throw it away or recycle. As long as we don’t know where it’s going, it’s a mystery and it’s not our problem. I learned that it’s not very responsible. We are killing the Golden Goose (Earth). How can we possibly have a sustainable future if we don’t change our habits? We are consuming way too much, wasting non-renewable resources and it’s killing the golden goose, our delicate Ecosystem.
So, when my thoughts are pointed toward me, the consumer, I can begin to understand how to make better choices. I’ve come across a term called passive consumerism. It’s what a lot of us do, we accept media messages to believe that we need these items and don’t do our own research. We trust companies and the advertisers too much and they do not have our best interest at heart.
Why do I feel like I need these things?
How Passive Consumerism is shaping our minds?
In a study done in UC San Diego, they learned that since 1981, annual media consumption grows 5%. Here’s a diagram to see a breakdown.
How is passive consumption of media shaping our buying habits?
What happens when we watch TV? We watch ads! In 2010, One of our children had an accident with her medal and our television. It broke. We decided there would be no television for six months. It happened in October which meant that the holiday season would be without television. Of course, we did watch holiday DVD’s, but we were spared commercials. The items my children asked for were much different than their friends’ wish list. Our children wanted dolls and craft items. Their friends asked for a Nintendo DS, video games and the latest and greatest toys. Our children are younger but I believe that this is an example of how media and ads effect our consumption. Do we really need all of these things?
In the 1950’s, consumerism was seen as a help to housewives. Next, everyone wanted a car and that became more popular than public transportation. Eventually, we all got credit cards to make all of these ‘new’ and ‘best’ products available to use. Now we have so many buying options, nearly unlimited money resources and consumerism is permeated into our everyday lives. Everyday e are bombarded with ads in stores, newspapers, magazine ads, computers, television and heck, even our own government encourages ‘consumer spending’ to help economy. Someone or something is paying the cost for the companies making lots of money and unfortunately it happens to be the consumers and poor countries (we'll get into that later in this blog).
HABITS
If we know what we do is bad. How come we keep doing it?
Thomas Paine once said that a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right...”
Things don’t become a habit overnight. Even good habits take time to develop. Habits are usually formed for a reason but then become routine.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously.[1][2][3] Habitual behavior often goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting it, because a person does not need to engage in self-analysis when undertaking routine tasks. Habituation is an extremely simple form of learning, in which an organism, after a period of exposure to a stimulus, stops responding to that stimulus in varied manners. Habits are sometimes compulsory.
OUR HEALTH
None of us need to be reminded that sitting down and eating unhealthy foods is causing our health to decline. Obesity in America is at an all time high. Michelle Obama is currently trying to put a stop to childhood obesity by changing lunch food menus and limiting treats at parties in public schools.
WE ARE BROKE
As we are aware, credit card debt in America is a huge problem. In the Documentary ‘Maxed Out’ directed by James Scurlock, it investigates credit card and mortgage debt in America. Many credit card companies simply offer credit to anyone who is able; including people who have previously filed for bankruptcy. Those people, the debtors are the reason why they can make so much money. They pay monthly payments forever! Even people with disabilities who are hospitalized are getting offered huge credit lines.
WHERE DOES OUR TRASH GO?
We love to consume and throw away. It’s become a crutch to make us feel ‘better’. It’s become a habit! There’s more to environmentalism than habits.
The United States is the #1 Trash consumer in the world! In a year, it’s estimated that one person creates 1,609 pounds of trash! The United States only makes up 5% of the world’s population and is making 40% of the total trash.
Americans use $2,500,000 bottles every hour and then they are thrown away. Some of those bottles get into the ocean and kill marine wildlife.
It’s more than habits that drive us to purchase things and create a demand. For example, food and gasoline are of high demand. How about a demand that was created by a company? I am not merely talking about a genius marketing campaign ad with a beautiful woman selling cosmetics or a fit man utilized to help sell a workout machine. I’m talking about a clever story dreamed up by rich and powerful companies to scare you into believing you need something essential for life like water. Lets talk about the bottled water industry. On the site
http://www.storyofstuff.com, you can learn about many industries.
Do you know the story behind why the bottled water industry became so successful? Even before I get into that, you should know who owns the bottled water industries: companies like Coca-Cola. They started realizing that as people became health conscious, demand for soda would decline. How do you convince people that they should pay for something that’s almost free? If you create a story that tap water is unsafe, you can create demand for something that’s good for you and that these companies can capitalize on. Tap water and bottled water, unless you live in a polluted area, is virtually the same. The ads may paint a different picture of where bottled water comes from. Oil is used to make the water bottles and then more oil to ship it around the planet.
Recycling Continued
Do you like Hershey Kisses? Did you know that every day 80,000 Hershey Kisses are wrapped in foil. It’s enough to cover 40 football fields. That’s excessive and that foil can be recycled; but usually is thrown away.
Aluminum cans can be recycled into a new aluminum can within six weeks. Hard plastics can be reused while soft plastics must be thrown away. Paper can be recycled into more paper or packing material and packaging. Recycling is a great help!
Technology Changes so rapidly. What do we do with the waste?
Some things cannot fully be recycled. What happens to that stuff?
For an eye opening experience, watch this documentary. It is something I cannot forget.
Sadly, a lot of our trash gets exported to poorer parts of the world in India, Ghana, Vietnam and Malaysia. Our trash includes the water bottles, our old electronics and other items that we no longer need because we’ve replaced them with different stuff. The E-waste or electronic waste is usually a donation from corporations and individuals. It’s an easy fix, right? The ‘processing’ facilities consist of dumping grounds where men, women and even children are burning, smashing and ‘cooking’ materials to extract any gold or re-usable electronics. They inhale the fumes which include lead. They do this with no equipment, in a huge ‘junkyard’ with no protective gear. The fumes they inhale are toxic and they go into the atmosphere and the toxicity of these methods cause these people to become ill. The companies who pay them take those salvaged materials and sell them to corporations who use them to make more newer gadgets for the richer people. Those people can be from places like Germany, U.K. and the US.
Consumer Responsibility
I am leaning toward being an informed consumer.
A carbon footprint is defined as:
The total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).
How much you drive your car, how many water bottles you use, cheeseburgers you eat, everything you consume increases your own carbon footprint.
Carbon permits will allow corporations to make money. Paying people to not do something, only to charge someone else money so that they can. By using less and resisting purchasing more than you need, you are helping to create a sustainable future.
Just because I can, does it mean I should?
We’re in debt, we’re unhealthy and a lot of us are unhappy. Companies tell us to buy and buy and we do because we can. We buy more to fill the void and people in less fortunate parts of the world clean up our mess. Unfortunately, the mess doesn’t get cleaned up entirely. Eventually, we have to stop throwing the problem over the fence and basically just ‘cut it out’ and grow up.
Thank you!
Thanks for reading my blog. I hope that I have given you food for thought. Do we really need all the stuff we have? Are we having fun yet?
Sources and more information!
All of my sources are listed below and/or in the body of this blog. Feel free to email me at
momandthepoplife@gmail.com with any questions or feedback.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THINGS ARE RECYCLED???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Goose
Movie: Trading on Thin Air, Directed by Susan Kecera
Movie: Maxed Out: James Scurlock
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