The Ethics of Consumerism
The Ethics of Consumerism
Marius TEODORU
Introduction People have been consuming as far back as man can remember. During time people have increased consumption and began to become somehow addicted to consumption. Reaching today, consumerism began to be more evident somewhere in the fifties in the USA. Companies began to realize that people are needed for them to buy more and more manufactured products. So they started producing more and more forgetting that the environment needs protection. People have forgotten that they have to think about life, and became increasingly “addicted” to shopping. Human thinking began to become one in which everyone believes that money has the most power in the world and can do anything and can handle anything. Nobody thinks about ethical consumerism. No one accepts that there is an ethical way to live and consume things. Ethics is not accepted in the universal opinion. Consumerism has become a way of life for more and more people – just like a new religion. Consumption began to make a difference between people. They think that everyone who has money has power and can do whatever he wants, including environmental remediation. Time passing, people have changed their way of thinking. Everybody wants to buy cheaper products for low prices. Nobody thinks about how these products were produced. Nobody knows that buying cheap clothing, manufactured in poor countries is a vote in the favor of workers exploitation. In a world like this, there must be somebody who leads people to an ethical consumerism. There should be someone who tells people how to spend money in an effective, inexpensive and healthy way and who explains them how the most of the products they buy are produced. Change begins with me. WHAT CAN I DO? I can change my part of doing things. I can change my way of buying and consuming goods. I can protect the environment and the next generation through my actions. I can tell to others how they affect the world. All
Marius TEODORU
Introduction People have been consuming as far back as man can remember. During time people have increased consumption and began to become somehow addicted to consumption. Reaching today, consumerism began to be more evident somewhere in the fifties in the USA. Companies began to realize that people are needed for them to buy more and more manufactured products. So they started producing more and more forgetting that the environment needs protection. People have forgotten that they have to think about life, and became increasingly “addicted” to shopping. Human thinking began to become one in which everyone believes that money has the most power in the world and can do anything and can handle anything. Nobody thinks about ethical consumerism. No one accepts that there is an ethical way to live and consume things. Ethics is not accepted in the universal opinion. Consumerism has become a way of life for more and more people – just like a new religion. Consumption began to make a difference between people. They think that everyone who has money has power and can do whatever he wants, including environmental remediation. Time passing, people have changed their way of thinking. Everybody wants to buy cheaper products for low prices. Nobody thinks about how these products were produced. Nobody knows that buying cheap clothing, manufactured in poor countries is a vote in the favor of workers exploitation. In a world like this, there must be somebody who leads people to an ethical consumerism. There should be someone who tells people how to spend money in an effective, inexpensive and healthy way and who explains them how the most of the products they buy are produced. Change begins with me. WHAT CAN I DO? I can change my part of doing things. I can change my way of buying and consuming goods. I can protect the environment and the next generation through my actions. I can tell to others how they affect the world. All
Bibliography: 1. Barnett, Clarke, Cloke, Malpass, 2005, Clive Barnett, Nick Clarke, Paul Cloke, AliceMalpass: The Political Ethics of Consumerism 2 3. Deaton, Muellbauer, 1980, Angus Deaton, John Muellbauer: Economics and Consumer Behavior, The Press Syndicate of The University of Cambridge 4