Over-Consumerism

Over-Consumerism

In today's world, our country has become accustomed to a "throw away" lifestyle. This disposable lifestyle is piling up in our landfills and becoming out of control. Our country has a higher material standard of living than ever before. While earning money should give us the right to consume, it should not be at the disposal of our environment. Extensive measures must be taken in order to change our over-consuming society.

Everything we consume goes through a developmental process; starting with extraction and ending with disposal. Materials for the items we buy have to be extracted from somewhere. These very materials that lie within an iPod or television, a pair of socks or jacket, refrigerator or stove, come from the Earth's natural resources. Most manufacturing plants also use these natural resources from the earth's crust to operate machinery used to make different products. These fossil fuels create pollution all over the planet. Not to mention the rapid rate we are running out of these resources. Within the past three decades, one-third of our planets natural resources have been consumed (Leonard). Some of these resources are not renewable, which means that they will not replenish themselves. Once a non-renewable resource is gone, it becomes extinct and is no longer available for use. Imagine if our planet ran out of oil. There would be a great panic among many nations because of our dependency on oil for so many purposes. I believe that it is our responsibility as consumers to start purchasing items that do not require or use as much, if any consumption of these non-renewable resources.

The growing population and the desire to own "things" are the route of most of the consumption problems today. Do we really need the newest, flattest, brightest, television? People are constantly upgrading their current products for newer, better looking versions. Out of all the products that consumers buy, only 1% is still being used in the home after six months. That means that 99% of the items we buy are either thrown out or are useless within six months. If everyone on this planet consumed at the rate the United States consumes, we would need three to five planets the size of Earth to support our consumption (Leonard).

In today's society, we have become accustomed to many disposable products. Items like disposable diapers, paper plates, plastic or Styrofoam cups add up in landfills and contribute to consumption waste. It can be a challenge to explain to someone just how much we consume, especially people in developed nations. Purchasing eco-friendly products is definitely a plus, but one of the biggest environmental problems is that we consume entirely too much. We purchase things that we do not need and other things that we sometimes may not want. All these items that we purchase will eventually end up in a trash dump somewhere. Our country is running out of places to put all the trash. At our rate of consumption, we will eventually be overwhelmed with so much trash that we will not have anywhere to put it.

The build-up of obsolete computers, televisions, and other electronics are increasing at an alarming rate. Most Americans do not know where to dispose of their old computers and televisions so they remain in unused areas of the house. I too, have a broken television sitting in a closet that I do not know what to do with. The electronics that are disposable have little if any resale value and are obsolete in the technological world (Schmidt). Businesses do make attempts to recycle their used electronics. However, small businesses do not follow through with audits on the people they surrender their recyclable material to. There is no way for them to monitor what happens to the machines once they are surrendered. The "recyclers" they forfeit their electronics to are not "bound by any mandated certification program" (Schmidt). Once they turn of the waste, it releases them of all liability from the company. There are ways to obtain a "certificate of recycling", but they are not bound by legal proceedings. It is simply, a piece of paper. So what does all this have to do with consumers? Well, as consumers