Debates about global warming, a growing shortage of clean water, deforestation, pollution, degradation of the oceans, biodiversity and waste permeate public spaces and private discussions. Unsustainable growth is the underlying force driving all these crises yet is virtually absent from public discourse. Since World War II, growth or growing production has become a mantra, an unquestionable axiom, for political, business and economic leaders as a means to strengthen the economy. Tragically, no distinction is discerned between sustainable and unsustainable growth. This books explores why unsustainable growth is unrealistic and catastrophic and examines its consequences on people and the earth. In addition to analyzing the environmental impact, the book will examine the unequal distribution of wealth resulting from capitalism and unsustainable growth.
Selling Out
Consuming Ourselves to DeathBy David Model Lesley ModelAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2010 David Model & Lesley Model
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4520-4316-6 Contents
Introduction..................................................................................................ixChapter One Grow Up: How Economic Growth Became a Religion...................................................1Chapter Two Measuring Up: Growth Measurements are Misleading.................................................17Chapter Three Work Up: Growth Does Not Reflect the Plight of Workers.........................................31Chapter Four Pay Up: The Benefits of Growth Exclude the Poor.................................................43Chapter Five Drink Up: Shrinking the Supply of Potable Water.................................................59Chapter Six Cut Up: Deforestation and its Ramifications......................................................73Chapter Seven Muck Up: Hazardous Waste and our Health........................................................81Chapter Eight Hit Up: Exploiting Developing Countries for Cheap Resources and Labor..........................101Chapter Nine Ad Up: Paying for Political Engagement: the marketplace of political change.....................119Chapter Ten Act Up: How to Have an Impact....................................................................129Bibliography..................................................................................................137
Chapter One
Grow Up: How Economic Growth Became a Religion
Before the economic crisis greatly reduced people's disposable income, consumers were engaged in an orgy of frenetic buying in order to be seen in the right clothes or to disport themselves with the latest electronic gadgets. There is nothing intrinsically or morally wrong with indulging oneself in a life-long buying spree since the problem lies not with the individual consumer but with the invisible overall impact of consumption on ourselves and the planet.
Manufacturing, transporting, providing energy for and disposing of consumer goods depletes resources, pollutes the environment, generates waste and requires energy. The cumulative impact of world-wide consumption involving all these phases in the production cycle has had a devastating and deleterious effect on the planet and on all living species. For example, climate change, toxic chemicals in the air, food and water, destruction of the ocean ecosystem, destruction of the rain forests, a growing shortage of drinking water, loss of biodiversity, conflicts over a declining inventory of resources, and human suffering are only some of the results of manufacturing the products which people believe they need. These effects will be discussed further in another chapter.
The disastrous consequences of consumption beg the question as to why people feel the need to consume so much. Is it part of human nature, is it taught or a combination of both? Western culture profoundly etches into our psyches the need to define ourselves in terms of material possessions and to blur the distinction between needs and wants. Furthermore, we have been conditioned to ignore the overall consequences of consumption.
North Americans are so seduced by new technologies and the huge benefits they offer, the temptation to buy the dazzlingly sophisticated new products becomes irresistible.
For example, when cell phones first appeared on the market, people bought them for use in the case of an emergency but also as an extension of their land line. They soon became attached to people's ears. Then advancement in cell phone technology converted cell phones into computers, cameras, and television sets. Now, it carried all your electronic gadgets in one small electronic device that could fit into your pocket.
Next, blackberries appeared on the market tempting consumers with all the features of cell phones but also a GPS system, internet capabilities and more, serving as the new all-purpose electronic device. Blackberries expanded people's communication capabilities to such a high level that they could sit in the same room with someone and send them a text message. All these electronic methods of electronic communication are destroying real human to human exchanges. In the not-too-distant future, I can envision a new addiction group, Blackberries Anonymous.
As well, the antediluvian concept of maps for navigating to your destination was becoming unnecessary. Rather than waste time and brainpower reading a map, people can now watch the GPS system on their dashboard or blackberry and drive to any location in North America.
Another example, television, underwent many technological advances and on each occasion motivated consumers to avail themselves of the latest technological wizardry. When Beta video players became available, movie fanatics could purchase one and watch movies at home. Then VHS replaced Beta as the technology of choice forcing movie buffs to replace their Beta players and videos. But it didn't end there. DVD's replaced VHS as the latest technology for showing movies. Now it's HD DVDs. Every time a new technology replaced the old one, people who collected movies had to dispose of the old device and buy the new one and then also had to replace all their movies.
It is true that the more sophisticated and advanced devices are a greater convenience and offer more benefits but the consumer is not conscious of the overall impact of these products on the environment. The problem with consuming at current levels is its overall impact, not a reflection of the consumer.
Depletion of resources, pollution, and waste were not factors that had a noticeable impact on people's purchasing habits. For instance, when you buy a cell phone, you are not remotely aware of the six year old who mined the coltan in the Congo, the theft of that country's resources, or the death of millions of Congolese as countries scramble to purloin its resources. Nor are you aware of the women assembling the cell phone in a sweatshop who are exposed to dangerous chemicals. There are also energy costs in transporting the cell phone to the distributing centre in North America. Ultimately, the cell phone will become garbage at which point the toxic chemicals locked in the electronic parts will be released into the atmosphere or groundwater.
By continuing to buy new products, consumers guarantee increasing consumption thus satisfying the underlying economic imperative of growth in production on which prosperity is speciously based in most western economic systems. Growth has not really brought prosperity to everyone, the proof of which is the growing inequality of wealth in North America and the small percentage of people and corporations who benefit from expanding wealth.
Maintaining growth was industries' plan to ensure a steadily growing level of consumption so that their singular objective, the maximization of profits, would be realized on an ongoing basis. The fear that consumers would only buy what they needed would be alleviated through a plan to cultivate artificial demand for products through subterfuge.
Our impulse to devote so much of our disposable income or borrowed money obtained through credit cards or lines of credits is not a natural phenomenon but the result of a deliberate strategy of the government and business to ensure a constant growth in profits.
The crusade to guarantee a never-ending growing economy began after World War II when one of the major...
