THINKING SPACE HUMAN
BEHIND THE SCENES OF CONSUMPTION
In the 20th century, consumerism reached the masses: many items that had once been luxuries – be they vehicles or clothing – became commodities for everyone. The trade and distribution of goods now knew no bounds: markets became globalised. Consumption is a defining feature of our lives today, according to Frank Trentmann, professor of history at the University of London. “Advanced economies depend, for better or worse, on their ability to achieve and maintain high levels of spending through advertising, branding, and consumer credit.” This is not without consequences for our planet.
AT THE EXPENSE OF NATURE
In Germany, private consumption is responsible for a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions. Large quantities of methane and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are released into the environment – in addition to carbon dioxide of course: on average, each German generates 9.9 tons of CO2 emissions per person per year. [1] And private consumption accounts for much of the depletion of our planet’s raw materials.
For the production of electrical appliances or cars, for example, large quantities of rare earths are used, as well as vast amounts of water. Many of these devices are produced in countries where water is already a scarce resource. Here, the consumerism of the western world leads to an aggravation of a situation that is already critical. Wood too is a raw material in high demand. In 2017, researchers found that the world’s tropical forests had lost an area equivalent to the size of Vietnam in the previous two years alone. Forests are often cleared illegally. [2] Large woodlands disappear to make room for livestock [3] or for the cultivation of animal feed – such as soy for cattle [4]. In addition, meat consumption is increasing, and with it the consumption of the raw materials necessary to produce it.
Deforestation not only harms the climate. In jungle regions, it is causing more and more indigenous groups to lose their habitats. Of course, the environmental problems associated with consumerism also apply to raw materials other than wood. Environmental issues are also evident where rare earths are mined [5]. The rock is often extracted in opencast mines. In some regions of Mongolia, the mining of raw materials consumes kilometre-wide chunks of the steppe grasslands. People and animals in the immediate vicinity suffer as a result of the mining; lakes, rivers and groundwater are contaminated.
LABOUR CONDITIONS
But it’s not nature alone that is being damaged by our daily consumption. Behind the growing of the beans necessary for our breakfast cocoa or that little chocolate treat in the afternoon often lie working conditions that disregard basic human rights. In West African cocoa farming, for example, children are often to be found carrying out the hard work in the fields. But even a look in our wardrobes reveals the dark side of our hunger to consume: in Asia’s sewing factories, people often work under unacceptable conditions. Workers receive poor wages and work around the clock. It’s not uncommon for sewing factories to collapse; fire protection or occupational safety are non-existent. Such conditions are encouraged by our desire to consume as cheaply as possible or by companies that want to offer cheap goods. To this end, they relocate their production to countries where labour costs are low; environmental and social standards in such places are often neither observed nor enforced. [6]
MENTAL CONSUMPTION
Many of us find it difficult to completely give up many of the things we’ve become accustomed to. Consumption as a part of our everyday lives has become firmly anchored in our minds. And even our efforts to buy goods produced under better social and environmental conditions come with pitfalls: clothing manufacturers advertise that they re-collect and recycle old clothes; electronics stores offer more efficient devices. But at this point the rebound effect often kicks in: because T-shirts and other clothes are recycled, we buy more of them; and when it comes to purchasing the next fridge, we usually choose the more efficient – albeit larger – model. In this way, the potentially positive effects on the environment are lost through the “more” and “bigger” mentality. [8] In the end it comes down to these simple facts: every product we buy uses resources and is made in factories.
Even while trying to reduce their consumption, people in industrialised nations still use more resources each year than is ecologically sustainable. So much more, in fact, that as things now stand we would still require two or three Earths just to provide the raw materials to maintain our current consumption on a permanent basis. There’s no getting around the need for “less” consumption.
SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] Trentmann, Frank, Herrschaft der Dinge. Eine Geschichte des Konsums vom 15. Jahrhundert bis heute, München 2017, p. 12.
[2] https://www.umwelt-im-unterric...
[3] https://blog.globalforestwatch...
[4] https://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/f...
[5] https://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/f...
[6] https://www.umweltbundesamt.de...
[7] https://www.boell.de/de/2019/0...
[8] https://www.factory-magazin.de/themen/rebound/von-rebound-prebound-und-performanzluecken.html
In some countries (such as Indonesia or Brazil), large areas of land are still being cleared for agriculture and livestock by slash-and-burn (source: https://www.zdf.de/kinder/logo...).
Photo: skeeze/pixabay