Consumerism shifts

In The Rise and Fall of Consumerism Cultures Erik Assadourian discusses how consumerism has ingrained itself in today’s culture and the environmental impact it has on the planet. The idea that consumerism is bad for the environment is not a new concept. Neither is the statement that consumerism has become part of our everyday culture. However, the way he talks about addressing the issue of consumerism is worth discussing. Assadourian suggests changing the cultures of the world from ones that glorify consumerism to ones that focus on environmental sustainability and equity. His basis for this concept is that culture is what helps humans derive meaning form the world and understand how they fit into that world. If we are able to change this process of meaning making to be more environmentally friendly then people would feel obligated to act in more sustainable ways to achieve more self-worth.

Assadourian says that the way to achieve this shift in cultural meaning is through paradigm shifts. There are a variety of different tools that cultures use to shape human behavior and each culture responds differently to these tools, which is why Assadourian does not give a specific step by step plan for cultural change. Each culture is different and there for needs to make changes in their own way in order for the change to be effective. Certain taboos or rituals that work in Europe will not necessarily be effective with Americans. While some people may get frustrated that he does not elaborate on what specific steps to take to achieve this cultural shift, keeping his concept broad makes it more applicable across the world.

However, Assadourian does point out what areas need to be addressed and in what order. Firstly, he says that actively destructive behaviors need to be discouraged. Under this category he includes eating junk food, smoking and car dependency. Luckily there are already some movements in place that work to counter smoking and eating junk food. The issues of car dependency and owning big houses will be tougher to address because they do not have the health effects that smoking and junk food have. However, that does not mean that these issues cannot be addressed in an innovative manner.

One of the points that struck me the most is his discussion about public versus private consumption. In this section he includes everything from public transit systems to libraries and public gardens. I found the fact that he mentioned libraries really interesting. I wish that he would have given his thoughts on the kindle and other e-readers in this part of the section. There is a clear environmental case for libraries when you are looking at the use of tradition books; however, are libraries really more sustainable then e-readers. I would be interested to see some research on the topic because there are a lot of factors to consider. For example, the energy costs of the library building versus the energy costs of the e-reader. And then there is also the production of books for the library versus resources used to produce e-reader books. What is the greenest way to read a book? His last point is that the goods that are still produced should be cradle to cradle that way buying new products does not necessarily mean using more resources, because what you are buying was already part of a product before. While the steps that he outlines are a step in the right direction everyone should remember that culture takes a long time to change and therefore other steps need to be taken to address the environmental situation.