Consumerism

[BigVic]

Hey all,

I am writing a paper for one one my classes and I wanted to capture some of your ideas on consumerism if possible. I want to write about what I can do in response to a large, national, or perhaps even a global issue surrounding consumerism.

In my opinion we consume many things. I think I might want to write about the processes envolved in processing and distributing certain products, and how they could negatively effect our water, air quality, and energy resources which are obviously very important. Maybe include the mass media's role in the matter.

I'm just wondering what some of your thought are on this subject if you are interested.


Thanks!

[wincrasher]

Big,

I think it may be interesting to determine which is having more of a negative effect - our "excess" consumerism in the United States or the emerging middle classes in India and China? I'd guess that all of the "negative" effects are to be found in rural China and India. Also, are these negatives (environmental and social) outweighed by the improving lifestyles of these emerging middle classes. You probably will be challenged to come up with statistical evidence to support your claims.

Here is a different angle to take on consumerism. When the financial crisis started, everyone was declaring a "new normal" Consumerism was out. People were getting their financial houses in order. Has that been born out? Was it just a fad? There is lots of statistical evidence to make some conclusions.

Good luck with your paper!

[cschin4]

In my opinion we consume many things

Why to you say that? I will challenge that notion. The act of consuming is actually stimulating and beneficial to mankind. By consuming, there becomes a market. With a market, self starters seek to find ways to meet that demand and want and learn to do so in an efficient and profitable manner. It is because of consumption that we have many of the wonderful things we have including clean air, running water and on and on. The worst scenario would be no consumption where we all just decide to live in a tent and eat worms and drink as little water as possible. In that circumstance, there is no impetus for mankind to better himself and thus the lot of those around him are not improved either.
With consumption, it has a snowball effect in terms of economics and then we need jobs for producers, transporters, technicians and on and on.

[wincrasher]

You bring up a good point.

There is obviously a difference between providing everyone a comfortable existance and jobs and the mindless, wasteful consumption that does nothing but pollute the enviornment and fill landfills. Yes, giving jobs to garbage men serves a purpose, but is it really worth it?

Men die to mine coal to run power plants so that we can waste electricity. So how we live can easily become a moral arguement one way or another. Things to think about.

[happygirl]

I just saw a book at the local big name book store the other day that was about how the USA consumes more "stuff" than any other country in the world, contributing to more garbage than anywhere else in the world and ever increasing debt. I can't remember the name of the book, but it was near the front of the store so it must be a new release.

I personally started looking around at all our "stuff" several years ago and realized it just clutters my life. Not to mention that having your choice of 100's of different styles of jeans for example, makes it harder to choose the best pair. I find myself thinking maybe the jeans in the next store will make me look even better. I can't help but think that too many choices just cause more stress, but that's just my opinion.

[bjl584]

Good subject, but way too broad unless you are writing a book. I would narrow your topic down if the objective is to write a paper. I'm guessing that you are somewhere in the 20 to 50 page range. Perhaps, Consumerism of the American middle class. Compare and contrast consumerism's positive effects on our lives with the negative effects. Compare consumerism in a capitist country with that of a communist country. That may give you a few ideas as to where to start with your paper. If you keep it broad you will be overwhelmed, plus your paper will come across as very general. Good luck.

[cschin4]

Men die to mine coal to run power plants so that we can waste electricity. So how we live can easily become a moral arguement one way or another. Things to think about

Men died to build bridges and skyscrapers. Men died to explore lands and space. Without electricity and heat and power, more people will die from the lack of it than are harmed as a result. It is much easier to say something is harmful but not to measure the negative. We can quickly pull a drug off the market that is shown to be harmful to some but then we never know those who are harmed who no longer have the benefit. We can take all drugs off the market and nobody will then die. But, we will not then be measuring the resultant suffering.
What is "excess" to one is not to another. And, it is humanities quest and striving that has produced all the good things that we now benefit. We can use and enjoy things or make a god out of them. And, that is human nature too. We can have and should enjoy abundance when we have it and not live as paupers. But, then we should share some, consider the needs of others and be thankful as well.