Sustainable consumerism seems a bit contradictory to me. I guess there is a way to consume in a sustainable way, but I don’t think it would make much of a difference unless everyone agreed to consume sustainably…which we all know probably will not happen, at least for a long long time. So, sustainable consumerism in a perfect world would be to only take what you need to sustain yourself or your family, only take from things and places that are local or grown organically or treated with love and kindness, and never take silly things that will hurt the environment right now or in the future. Globalization seems to be a negative driver to sustainable consumerism. Globalization leads to more degradation overall because all we want is the next best thing which leads to our planet being chopped up into pieces. It also can cause “brain drain” where people from other cultures come here for education or a better life and end up losing all or most of their cultures way of life as the assimilate to American society. Globalization strengthens the wealth inequality we have where only a small percentage of the population has the majority of the money. All of this seems to undermine the fairy tale of sustainable consumerism to me.
As for paying a premium for organic, fair trade, or local foods…I’m not sure how far I would be willing to take it. As a college student now on limited funds, it is very hard for me to pay the higher prices for the food I know I should be buying. But in the future, when I hopefully have a career, I think this has the capacity to change and I hope it does. I would love to be able to shop at the mom and pop stores instead of the chain centers and support the people I believe in, but right now it is the opposite. As I said before, it is saving what little money I have and that is just how it has to be right now. I know I’m hurting the environment by shopping at Walmart, Target, and Publix. Most everything I buy is shipped from hundreds to thousands of miles away, packaged in an excessive amount of packaging, and not grown sustainably. It sucks to say it, but it is true.
A social trap that I am a victim of is alcohol! Like most college kids, I enjoy frequenting the social gathering here and there and consuming some tasty concoctions for the immediate effect of a nice buzz. But I pay dearly later the next day with a lovely hangover. I usually don’t think of the consequences while I’m drinking, just like most people including myself don’t think of the consequences for the Earth when they live unsustainable lives.
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