Name: How We End Consumerism
Uploaded: 2021-06-24T12:34:45.000Z
Duration: 11 min 46 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

The stuff we cram into our closets, store in our garage and acquire in malls, shops,

Stuff that gets thrown out and washes up on shore, and stuff that causes billions of tons

of carbon dioxide to spew into the atmosphere every year.

But all this stuff isn't really necessary to live, indeed often we're less happy because

But more importantly, how do we stop this rampant consumerism fueled by capitalist growth?

Today, we try to answer those questions by carving out possible avenues through which

we can end consumerism and craft a more just and ethical way of living well on this planet.

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Consumerism In the Global North, overconsumption runs

Whether a brand new Tesla Model S or nice pair of jeans, buying for status, acceptance,

desire, or because of an advertisement are all ingrained in our conception of success

Under capitalism, we buy the right things as way for us to seek acceptance from and

The barrage of ads we encounter every day equate smiles with khakis, suaveness with

sunglasses , and even love with headphones.

But this drive to purchase that new swiffer wet jet or that new car is not an inherently

Our quest for more--our relentless overconsumption-- is a symptom of capitalism.

An economic system reliant on constant growth in order to create profits.

For a business to succeed, outcompete others, and ultimately rake in more profits, it must

One of the brainchildren of this profit/growth imperative is advertising.

A way to make new and useless products seem fresh, exciting, and even essential.

That new iphone, Bose noise canceling headphones, and basically all of fast-fashion are the

This advertising is not telling you what the company's products are, but instead, what

you could be with their company's product.

In this way, the products of the capitalist profit machine are foisted onto us, the consumers,

as life-altering goods that, in reality, change very little of our material circumstances.

In short, capitalism needs to make more and more shit to remain effective, so corporations

transform these products through marketing from goods that don't need to exist into

necessities in order to get us to eat up what they're making.

But more consumption and more income does not equate to more happiness.

In fact, this phenomenon is called the Easterlin paradox.

Studies reveal that after our basic material needs are met, any additional consumption

In addition to its impact on individuals' self-conception & mental health, capitalist

overproduction and subsequent overconsumption especially in the Global North drives massive

A country's rise in emissions correlates strongly with their growth in GDP.

Same with energy consumption and production.

The capitalist growth model is incompatible with a zero-carbon world.

A fact which has been on display in the failures of decoupling strategies that try to use renewables

and techno-fixes like band-aids over a gaping wound.

We know that decoupling doesn't work when we look at South Korea's emission growth

after their green growth initiatives in 2009.

And we can see it in the fact that even though renewable capacity is at an all time high,

Decoupling strategies just don't adequately address the overwhelming scientific evidence

that recognizes we need drastically reduce emissions quickly if we are to stay below

So, if the capitalist growth/profit economy can't exist alongside a zero-carbon, environmentally

ethical one, what other options do we have?

The Degrowth Solution Under the pressures of capitalism and consumerism,

certain people are grasping for some form of release valve.

Whether it be minimalism, zero waste, or slow living, those with the privilege to do so

are working to carve out some respite from the unhappiness of capitalist alienation.

All of these lifestyle choices correctly recognize the detrimental effect of capitalist consumption

on life and environment, but they lack a structural approach that recognizes the importance of

Degrowth positions itself in an anticapitalist framework that seeks, in the words of Professor

of Human Geography, Mark Whitehead, the “downscaling of production and consumption” in a way

“that increases human well-being and enhances ecological conditions and equity.”

Essentially, degrowth calls for a realignment of the economy from one based on overconsumption

and “obsessive accumulation” to one that produces goods to satisfy real needs like

housing, health, education, transport, and arts.

At its core, degrowth seeks the dramatic contraction of rich countries to allow for an increase

Models show that a world population of 10 billion people cannot exist on this planet

living the current capitalist North American/European lifestyle.

It now takes the Earth one year and eight months to regenerate what we consume in a

year, and by we I mean the richest 10% of the world, who are responsible for 50% of

So, degrowth completely reimagines what it means to live well in countries like the United

It means buying less, repairing, reducing meat consumption, and no second homes on an

individual level, but ultimately degrowth cannot function as just individual lifestyle

Systemic pathways, like subsidizing all housing retrofits, shutting down the 100 companies

that are responsible for 71% of the worlds emissions, redistributing all food waste,

dramatically expanding public transportation methods, localizing food production as much

as possible, eliminating unnecessary marketing, and a robust emphasis on low carbon, care-oriented

jobs like educators, therapists, and in-home care providers, are just some of the many

ways to simultaneously improve the well-being of all while drastically reducing the Global

You don't have to live in a cave Degrowth doesn't mean going back to the

stone age, but it does mean a drastic reduction in energy and material consumption from the

largest historical emitters like the United States.

The stark truth is that to both avoid global warming above 1.5 degrees celsius while simultaneously

establishing a decent living for the majority world, consumption levels of the Global North