Summary:
The system of consumption is called materials economy. There are five stages of the materials economy which are: extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. Extraction is the removal of resources from the natural environment. Production is the process in which those resources are turned into manufactures goods. Distribution describes no only the journey of the product from place to place but also how it is marketed and advertised. Consumption refers to the actual buying and using of the good. Disposal is what happens to the good after its purpose has been used up. Disposal is not only throwing things away, it is also repurposing and recycling. Consumption is a large environmental issue because in modern days our ecological footprint, or how much of nature a personal lifestyle requires to use, is so large and the supply is rapidly decreasing. Not to mention, overpopulation is decreasing the amount of natural resources the earth has.
Quote:
"If a country's economy is dependent on the ever increasing consumption of its people people, is it sustainable?"
Personal Thoughts:
I think it is really hard to decrease human consumption. It is unethical to try to combat against overpopulation (as China did) and modern culture requires us to use goods that derive from many natural resources (technology such as computers and cars, for example). Although there are some aspects of consumption that we can change, such as how much we consume and what we consume, it is hard to change the fact that we need to consume.
Citation:
Skelton, Laura, et al. Exploring Global Issues: Social, Economic, and
Environmental Interconnections. Seattle: Facing the Future, 2013. Print
With the ever growing population I agree that decreasing consumption would be extremely difficult and seemingly impossible. But when you think about it most consumption comes from distinct areas of the earth. Some people consume in a day what seems like 10x more than what another person may consume in a week and it's too bad. So, you're right, consumption can't exactly be changed, but we do need to find some way to reduce what we lose.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what both of you are saying and I think this connects perfectly with Colleen's study of overpopulation. Although it isn't very likely to happen soon in the future, we do need to reduce our consumption. This reminds me, again, of the book Ms. McWilliams suggested to me about the benefit the world would have if we all had just one child. It doesn't seem very reasonable but it may be necessary.
ReplyDeleteThis issue is very difficult especially with the materialism that exists in our population. Many people just don't want to reduce the amount of items that they consume. This also comes back to the point about how many people don't think that they should have to because they haven't seen the immediate consequences of climate change.
ReplyDelete