consuming | personal

Though many recognize the pressure to consume and the general trend toward a materialistic society as it effects our wallets, portfolios, and retirement funds, few may understand, however, the very real and serious ramifications this behavior has on the environment, our society, and even our individual lives. In the book Affluenza, John De Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas Naylor coined the term "affluenza" to describe the condition as:

"n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more" (1).

According to Chayley Collins in Never Enough, the USA alone, with only 6% of the world's population, consumes 30% of its resources. Consumerism is a social and economic state that promotes the desire for more than this already inequitable share of resources, regardless of the consequences. A popular western explanation of poverty in the Third World attributes global hunger to a shortage of resources, which is far from the truth. Unequal distribution of those resources favor the rich and widen the poverty gap. The small percentage of those who control the world's resources is also responsible for polluting it--the consumerist lifestyle that the small percent is accustomed to requires the production, transportation, dispensing, and packaging of large quantities of goods, creating high levels of environmentally destructive substances. The United States, which has 6% of the world's population, uses 30% of the world's energy supply. In addition, 20% of the world's population, is responsible for over 50% of its 'greenhouse effect' atmospheric pollutants, 90% of its ozone-depleting CFC gases, and 96% of its radioactive waste. The levels of pollution and rates of environmental degradation are undeniably an urgent issue to address in order to avoid irreversible damage to the eco-system. Quoted in Affluenza, Al Gore noted in his book, Earth in Balance that America,

is holding ever more tightly to its habit of consuming larger and larger quantaties every year of coal, oil, fresh air and water, trees, topsoil and the thousand other substance we rip from the crust of the earth, transforming them into not just the sustenance and shelter we need but much more that we don't need....The accumulation of material goods is at an all time high, but so is the number of people who feel an emptiness in their lives. (2)

From bankruptcy and psychological un-fulfillment, to impending ecological disaster and world hunger, the many stresses consumerism places on our global community produces repercussions that permeate into almost every crevice of our economy, culture, and individual life.

(1) Collis, Chayley, et al. "Never Enough, Anti-Consumerism Campaign: A Crtical Look at Consumerism, Poverty, and the Planet." Retrieved 26 Sept 2004. http://www.enough.org.uk/index.html#cont

(2) De Graaf, John, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor. Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2002.