Consumerism Essay
Taking the green to the extreme
A lot of consumer groups are starting to show up against capitalism and consumerism. They strive to come out with the message that “less is more”, meaning that buying less is better for the environment. They are taking recycling to another level. The question is, is it possible to make a huge impact? Do we really need to stop consuming to make a difference? And how bad do we need a change?
One of these groups are called freegans. Freegans are people living an anti-consumer lifestyle, they choose to re-use food that is being tossed to the curbside but the food being tossed is edible. A lot of people think that it is obscene to eat food out of a dumpster or curbside and that it is impossible to know how long the food has been out there. They are not necessarily being freegans out of economical issues they are doing it out of principle because they do not wish to fund those big corporations that are spoiling the environment and they also think about the homeless people and give them some of the food they find since they get so much that they cannot take it all home. Their message is being well received, since some stores put the food in way that makes it easy for them to pick and choose and they even wink at them.
Another group is the Compact that are against consumerism. It originated in 2005 at dinner party in San Francisco, where the guests decided to take recycling to another level by going a whole year without making a new purchase but they are allowed to buy used items and are encouraged to borrow and reuse whatever possible. They too think that consumerism is destroying the world and that most of us own more than we need. Their concept is being taken rather seriously and has quickly been spread all across the United States of America. Almost 3.000 people from all over the world has taken part of the concept on Yahoo and the participants think that it has been a rewarding experience.
Quote from John Perry the
A lot of consumer groups are starting to show up against capitalism and consumerism. They strive to come out with the message that “less is more”, meaning that buying less is better for the environment. They are taking recycling to another level. The question is, is it possible to make a huge impact? Do we really need to stop consuming to make a difference? And how bad do we need a change?
One of these groups are called freegans. Freegans are people living an anti-consumer lifestyle, they choose to re-use food that is being tossed to the curbside but the food being tossed is edible. A lot of people think that it is obscene to eat food out of a dumpster or curbside and that it is impossible to know how long the food has been out there. They are not necessarily being freegans out of economical issues they are doing it out of principle because they do not wish to fund those big corporations that are spoiling the environment and they also think about the homeless people and give them some of the food they find since they get so much that they cannot take it all home. Their message is being well received, since some stores put the food in way that makes it easy for them to pick and choose and they even wink at them.
Another group is the Compact that are against consumerism. It originated in 2005 at dinner party in San Francisco, where the guests decided to take recycling to another level by going a whole year without making a new purchase but they are allowed to buy used items and are encouraged to borrow and reuse whatever possible. They too think that consumerism is destroying the world and that most of us own more than we need. Their concept is being taken rather seriously and has quickly been spread all across the United States of America. Almost 3.000 people from all over the world has taken part of the concept on Yahoo and the participants think that it has been a rewarding experience.
Quote from John Perry the