The Negative Effects Of Consumerism On The Natural Environment

Every item consumed is derived from some sort of natural resource, whether it’s mined, grown or hunted. As the major consumers continue to live a “comfortable” lifestyle, the world’s ecosystem are beginning to be degraded. This is evident in the depletion of forests around the world. Every year, the loss of forests around the world equates to the size of Panama. (Douglas) Without forests, life on earth is simply impossible, we won’t have any

The book was very in depth and she thoroughly explained her claims through facts and data. Her claims successfully explain the patterns of life on Earth through numerous studies and she explains the dangers of extinction. The author concludes her work with the fact that humans are dependent on Earth’s biological and geochemical systems. Her work will continue to teach future readers the danger of human lifestyles if necessary actions toward sustainability are not taken. If humans continue to live their harmful lifestyles, then they will continue to danger wildlife species, the environment, and their own

This article argues the many different types of negative effects humans can have on theenvironment. Each type of habitat destruction is explained and provided fact to show theamounts of change. This article comes from a trusted

“There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.” Henry Ford

Just what is consumerism, and is it beneficial or detrimental to our economy and society? Basically, consumerism is the ideology that people must buy products and services in order to allow the economy to function correctly, but is this line of thinking accurate? It is entirely possible that consumerism is creating a downward slope, leading us into greed and selfishness; but it is also argued that consumerism is merely a means to stimulate the economy and produce a better society as a whole. There are flaws in the system of course: pollution, greed, wasted materials; but there are also benefits to it, such as, the creation of new jobs, the growth of businesses, and even a show of patriotism. In essence, consumerism is both a positive and a negative force in the modern world, depending on how it is utilized and portrayed, for example: a person with a positive world value would best consider balancing out their life so they are neither needlessly consuming nor being a minimalist to a

Brave New World’s extreme control mechanisms caution readers of how detrimental it can be. The state conditions its citizens to consume to provide economic stability. From the day citizens are born or should I say produced they are conditioned to extensively maximise consumerism. In Brave New World, procedures are performed to produce the ‘perfect’ citizens, each acclimatized exactly how the state wants them. The World State wants an army of consumers as adults, therefore as children, the importance of the individual is diminished to further the interests of the economy. An example of this is the Bokanovsky’s Process. This allows the World State to produce a large number of “identical machines” quickly. The main drive behind this is the fact that a large number of citizens means more are available to work in a factory as this process means that the “whole of a small factory staffed with the products of a single bokanovskified egg.” This process, therefore, becomes "one of the major instruments of social stability." This illustrates how the only worry of the World State is how something maximises consumption. As June Deery stated “the idea of deliberately disabling a future human being… is surely repugnant.” At the eyes of the World State consumerism is their only concern. Everything and anything that would enable them to maximise consumption is implemented without any consideration to the effects it may have on citizens. Post-production, conditioning also establishes the

Americans alone produce 250 million tons of municipal solid waste annually, tripling from 1960 (Weeks). That cannot continue because there is not enough natural resources to be consuming and dumping into landfills. There are many consequences of not becoming concerned for the environment. The depletion of resources and supposedly safe methods of recycling or burying waste are not working. Many engineers and the US EPA acknowledge that the landfills will leak eventually and pollute groundwater (Sheehan). Eliminating forests and other sources are leaving a very fragile eco system. The more humans contribute to global warming; the more natural disasters will be seen. American consumption and lack of reducing and reusing every item not only affects the environment negatively, it also affects the workers of those behind the “Made in China” label. American consumption needs to slow down and readjust the way waste and the environment is handled, and there is a way called zero waste. Success has been seen in individuals and companies that participate and make differences ethically, cites have experienced great success with a zero waste lifestyle.

Looking around at trees, flowers and the grass, I realized that despite my town being a metropolitan city, it had done a commendable effort to make sure that it conserved the environment. I also admired how people were conscious about the environment as they threw all litter in the various litter bins that were placed along the roads. However, I realized that nature was commodified because of the various things made of wood that I came across. The benches in the park, the electrical posts and people’s fences made me feel certain about the commodification of the environment by mankind. Human beings depend on nature in all their doings, the air we breathe, the houses we live in and our furniture come from the environment around us. The environment I observed was revered, though not optimally, through the care and conservation of the grass, trees and other things by the town’s administration and people living here. However, I observe some attempts by human being to control and dominate nature throughout his daily activities, some control was positive and others negative. For instance, I how there were trees and other plants some few miles from the town and it came to my mind that the town was once covered with the same vegetation but now there is barely any form of nature i.e. trees and grass. I also observed how factories released of heavy smoke from factory and

Consumerism is damaging to our society, in our North American society consumerism is often portrayed to be a negative aspect of people’s lives. However, one can also argue positive effects that result from consumerism, or emphasize on the negative effects of consumerism and how it can be a constraining force in one’s own life. Consumerism is an idea of an economic policy that the market is shaped by the choice of the consumer and continues to emerge to shape the world’s mass markets. Some of the negative effects of consumerism that many critics may argue and that will be further emphasized on are the overexploitation of consumerism which has lead to economic poverty, and increase

Humans are highly influenced by visual contents and appearances, they are attracted to appealing images, they are curious by the weird, and they also can be unconsciously manipulated by it. Consumer culture is highly filled by visuals, images and symbolism; a brand can be considered desirable by its outward appearance, a musician or a celebrity is known mostly by their distinct external images, and likewise posters, magazines, and mass media are also extremely populated with visuals. We are clearly depend on visual language and easily swayed by it, it is especially evident in consumption activities that focuses on images and symbolism, and more so in than modern era than in any other. Consuming became part of the modern life, or perhaps it was modernity that was actually brought by consumer culture.

Consumerism is one of the powerful influence in our society daily affects our life. The term “consumerism” no longer about the protection or promotion of the interests of consumers, but instead the idea that to be happier, better and more successful people we must have more stuff. Today we live in a time when there is little to no understanding of how the goods we consume and take for granted came into being. Without this we lack the knowledge to understand the true costs of our consumption, and the power to act. As a result, we have become disconnected from ourselves – the origin of our health, wealth and all the ‘things’ we depend on.

Americans are known for their overindulgence in everything: fancy cars, enormous houses, bountiful amounts of food, and ultramodern smartphones. The common mindset of the average American is to want more and more. Many people no longer work for a sense of self-satisfaction, rather they work to obtain an excessive amount of material goods to feel good about themselves and maintain their status in society. All of this exemplifies consumerism. According to Merriam Webster, consumerism is defined as “the theory that an increasing consumption of goods is economically desirable; also : a preoccupation with and inclination toward the buying of consumer goods.” It has persuaded American society into believing that more is better, which has

The decline of the environment due to natural and human exertion is known as the degradation of the environment. The natural weather occurrences such as heavy rain, flooding, storms, earthquakes, volcanoes etc. are not administered under human control. These meteorological phenomenon’s wreak devastation on the environment from time to time causing the land to become unsuitable to cultivate. On this subject matter, the human population does not contain the power to stop the wrath of Mother Nature. Rather, we are forced to sit back and watch. Nevertheless, humans engage in a crucial role towards the degradation of the environment in which we live in. Unavoidably, the degradation of the environment is a rising and utmost worldwide subject. I accept that the root cause to environmental degradation is the excessive use of resources on our land utilized by the processes under capitalism. As Jensen wrote in Endgame, “The global industrial economy is the engine for massive environmental degradation and massive human and (nonhuman) impoverishment.

Richard Hamilton, the pioneer of pop art, could recognize the powerful influence of the popular culture, consumption trend and the media. His artworks successfully captured such recognition and led the innovation of the visual image. After the devastating effect of World War II, American pop art introduced to Europe nations and it became their part of European postwar culture.

" By inhabiting every corner of the planet, razing forests, and burning fossil fuels, people are changing the world so fast that many other species can 't cope"(Kolbert 1). This statement tells of a bitter truth that has affected the world since the advent of the evolved mankind, through various self-serving activities such as logging, mining, burning fossil fuels and continuously polluting both land and water. People have ensured through this and other wreckless means that other species that inhabit the world have poor living conditions and in some extreme cases that they have gone extinct. Mankind has led to the irreparable destruction of both the flora and Fauna of the world and it is only right that he work towards repairing what he