Materialism And Its Effects On The United States

In order for sustainable development to be achieved, humans need to reduce their effect on the environment by consuming less in terms of resources, and living more lightly on the planet. As difficult as this may sound, there are a number of ways in which this is easily achievable. One of the most effective ways to do this is to alter the way in which we function day-to-day, and to begin to change our homes to make them more efficient in terms of resources. In addition, sustainability is not only about ensuring a future in which we can sustain our society without impacting negatively on our environment, but also but ensuring that everyone can have access to this. Therefore we must look at the triple-bottom line approach and align our movement towards sustainable development with this.

If a man were to wake up one morning and decide he wanted a new car it would not be unusual. However, if he decides he wants to upgrade his Toyota Camry to a Ferrari then he is being materialistic. Odds are that this man cannot afford this superfluous vehicle and his fantasies are getting the best of him. He is wasting money on unimportant things.

I also believe that people who are against materialism display hypocritical values as they are a part of the very capitalistic system that has provided them with the life they had. I certainly wouldn’t be able to purchase the new iPhone or even have the choice to enroll at a university like LUMS if it wasn’t due to the progress that has occurred due to materialism.

I always knew people liked to consume more than what they need, but never really considered how it affects our environment. Until I read an article by Graham Hill called “Living with Less. A lot Less.” In this article, Hill argues that individuals obtain products one doesn’t need. Secondly, he mentions how purchasing these products won’t make you happy, but can do the exact opposite. Lastly, Hill argues how living with less merchandise can make us feel and live happier. As a result, I compared my life to his and realized he’s right having less might give us the opportunity to explore further.

As a nation, we have to look at what the future would be for our children, their children and the generations ahead. We can start with participating in recycle programs, investing in clean energy and ways to reduce destruction of our forests." Without Americans constant need to consume, the environment would have plenty of time to replenish the resources it provide us." "NIEHS Environmental Coloring Book." National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, an official government website for Kids. 02 Apr. 2009 .

People should always have the best of the best regardless of our financial status, correct? With this in mind. Consequently, North Americans are too materialistic. Many people in North America feel the need to have a nice, expensive car to commute every day. When in fact, many people put themselves in difficult financial situations in order to make payments for a luxury vehicle, when they could have purchased a car that is more affordable for their budget. Besides having a nice car, North Americans will discard of perfectly functioning items to have a reason to purchase the newest model. Specifically, in this day and age, cellphones are the most important thing to have. Every year a new model of a cellphone

Materialism is also a symptom of this disease we call affluenza. What perpetuates materialism and causes affluenza? This simple answer is marketers by uses an abundance of information that cannot be avoided they condition consumers to buy. One example that supports this claim is a statistic, it states by the age of 20, the average American will have

Throughout the years of American culture, there have been dominate patterns of values that have stood the test of time and are still followed today. One value that stood out to me in particular is the comfort people gravitate to in materials. In the past century the focus of happiness has switched from family oriented to possessive. While mental possession is still very prominent, American’s gears have shifted to a more competitive, greedy society. There’s a materialistic dream that drives Americans to go to college and find a career that’s going to buy them a fancy car with a nice house that is bound to impress. Modern Americans are drawn to what is going to make them look more successful, so while memories and spiritual

Brennan Manning’s says that Americans measure success by one’s pile of possessions. Manning talks about a few articles that he read and he found out that the majority of Americans are fat, exhausted, frustrated, lustful, and dissatisfied with their level of achievement because we care about being overweight, and how to maintain a nice body, and caring a lot about all of these useless things. He states that a lot of Americans’ conversations revolve around consumption, including what we buy/bought, where/what to eat, the price of things, what’s on sale, etc. Americans show a lot of interest in this materialistic items when they won’t even matter when we die. The things that matter in our life should be non-materialistic items and that we should

Regardless of what one thinks about American consumerism or our high levels of production, it is a fact that we live in a throw-away society. What that means is that we produce a lot, throw away a lot, and most things are planned to become obsolete within a few years. Recently, there has been an unprecedented effort to correct these negatives habits of our society, seeing as they can’t last forever. This effort, aptly called sustainability, is one of the most grandiose undertakings in American society today. Universities, corporations, households, and everything in-between, are all striving towards sustainability, but what actually is it? According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, “To pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations” (EPA). With such a broad definition, there are plenty of critics and skeptics that say that such a proposition is too idealistic and therefore impossible. In fact, I agree with that faction and acknowledge that with such a loose definition, it will never be truly possible to be sustainable. However, my rebuttal, as it seems natural to say, is that nearly everything we do or strive for in America is, in a way, too idealistic. From that, I assert that we need to make a deliberate effort, as both consumers and producers, to work towards sustainability to move away from our throw-away tendencies.

This was mentioned quite a bit in the article “Living Deeply” by Janet Luhrs. She tells us not to live on autopilot, not to buy things that don’t have meaning and to live deliberately. Her example of the fact that we shouldn’t be so materialistic that stuck with me the most was, “we seem to be awfully busy here in the US. But at the end of our lives have we really achieved more than the simple farmer, and will we remember that we bought 12 pairs of pants instead of 12?” That points out the flaws of the consumerist world that we live in. Is it really better to slave away for minimum wage, just so every Friday we can buy another item that we probably won’t think about three weeks down the road? This makes me want to slow down my life and stop trying to race the clock. I want to have my own garden and my own self sustainable life so I can essentially try to have as little of a footprint on the Earth as

Society is buying objects we do not need, with the money we do not have, to impress people that do not matter. The American Dream is developing into a more materialistic world, a dream in which the dream keeps getting larger and greedier. Materialism is the tendency to think material objects are more important than people; a desire for money over ethics. Today, life shows us that people have a desire for newest, thinnest, updated—most expensive smartphone or the more expensive lavish materials. Life shows us that our car is undesirable now, especially when our cars do not hook up with that latest cell phone. Life shows us unrealistic standards of a way to live, yet a huge portion of the people in society appear to be emptying out their wallets. This materialistic culture is a show, a phony act when in society we pretend we are what we are not. We all live in a materialistic society where the majority of people are more worried about what we have than who we are. There is an emphasis on what brand a person is wearing, what car someone is driving, and just how many objects one has, in general. A person must wonder where this hunger and greed comes from and why most Americans fall susceptible to this phenomenon, including me.

A major part of living sustainably is using clean and renewable energy sources for as much as possible.(3) Wind, water, and the sun all provide an alternative to fossil fuels which harm the environment through carbon emissions and pollution. Sources such as oil and natural gas can not be replenished quickly, where as solar energy or hydropower can be harvested regularly with little to no effect on the environment. One way to become green in everyday life is to make your home sustainable.(4) A sustainable home should be constructed of recycled or natural, environmentally friendly materials, and renewable energy sources should be utilized. Its important that the construction process as well as the building itself impacts the surrounding environment as little as possible. In addition to living in a sustainable home, eating green can reduce the impact on the natural world. Because the meat production industry uses so many resources and can often harm the environment through waste pollution, many people who eat sustainably decide to be vegetarian. Organic and locally grown vegetables are far better for the sustainable movement compared to factory farm produce due to pesticides used and the negative effect factory farming can have on soil composition and erosion.(3) Even with a sustainable personal life, work takes up much of society’s time and sustainable practices should be brought to

According to Oxford Dictionaries, materialism is defined as a doctrine where material possessions are considered to have the highest value. In simpler words, materialism is a belief that possessions define success and make an individual happy. Possessions are placed higher in value than spiritual beliefs and family. This belief forms a negative society as it creates a sense of dissatisfaction, loss of relationships and traditions. The Australian institute conducted a survey where they asked a simple question, do you believe that the Australian society is too materialistic? Results indicate that 83% of society believes that Australia is

The period of the 1960’s in which these products reference was a vibrant time period, after World War 2 had ended in 1945 there was an emphasis on optimism and the attempt begun to re build the lives of citizens affected by war; and design began to move away from the rigid structure of modernism that had previously over ruled design. There was a new lease of life to begin in this era as the American dream slowly started to become a reality between 1940 and 1970; this was mainly down to the introduction of new materials such as plastics and mass production but most importantly the catalyst of consumption. This new materialistic culture was catered to by design; both feeding into each other by not only satisfying needs by design but translating