Are you wearing a t-shirt right now? Do you have a cell phone in your pocket? Do you have books in your backpack? You probably answered yes; of course, I’m wearing a t-shirt, I have a cell phone, and there are books in my backpack. They’re simple questions with satisfying, straightforward answers. If I asked you to tell me they came from, how they were made, or even how they impact your health, it wouldn’t be nearly as simple or straightforward as you may expect. Take a moment to ponder where the cotton in your t-shirt was sourced. If you’re as experienced as I was before I began this project, I’d guess you don’t have an answer to that. Where the materials in your things come from, how much energy is needed to produce them, and a handful of other processes make up the system that is consumption, or the way we function as a society that buys things. This flawed system is primarily influenced by something called consumer culture. The concept of consumer culture is easily one of the most environmentally threatening habits we’ve adopted, contributing massively to fossil fuel depletion, pollution, deforestation, and a plethora of illness and injury on a global scale, just to name a few. The future of the planet and life as we know it is in serious jeopardy as of right now, which is why it’s crucial that you have the answers.

So what even is consumer culture? I’ve already made it out to be the worst evil imaginable, but I haven’t gone much more in-depth than that. Consumer culture, as I understand it, is a lifestyle and economical mindset whose effects can be seen everywhere in the world, but has the most impact, shockingly enough, on third world or developing countries. It has two parts, the first being our disturbingly unhealthy investment in material objects and how we develop that codependency. The second part is the often unspoken but dire consequences of these habits. A specific definition from Kimberlee Leonard of Chron.com is as follows: “Consumer culture is a theory in marketing strategic planning that considers the relationship consumers have with certain products or services.” More simply put, it manifests as the opposite of minimalism; and it is a dirty game for two: the buyer and the seller. To better understand what consumer culture is, we have to talk about the first part of consumer culture: where it begins, so to speak.

The seller, or the big shot companies and manufacturers, take measures to ensure that people want and will continue to want to buy their products. They depend on consumers to fuel their profits, so they will ensure customer loyalty no matter what the cost. These measures often include and begin with what is known as targeted advertising. You may or may not have heard of this before, but in short, targeted advertising is a strategy often used by companies to catch the attention of a specific group of valuable consumers, such as teenagers. An example of this would be Apple, whose iPhones are packaged in a way that would appeal to a minimalistic person- well thought out, neat, and simple- which makes the product more desirable. It seems like a purchase that would support a minimalist lifestyle- but it is not intended to; rather it is encouraging the exact opposite concept by building the idea that you need it. Advertisers also use specific language to promote goods- making a product seem more personally relevant and therefore necessary (Lent). This can be utilized alongside the FOMO strategy - Fear Of Missing Out. It is in our nature to want to be part of a community, and this is taken advantage of as a marketing strategy by exposing our fear of lacking this community feeling. We want to avoid missing out on something better, missing out on what everyone else has, and this greatly influences the likelihood that we will purchase a product (Lent). A final method of attracting long-term customers is displayed in social media like Instagram- a service that creates a “momentary need and instant solution”. To be a little more clear, the momentary needs are along the lines of wanting attention, wanting to be popular, and wanting to be liked. The solution, of course, is that thumbs up button, the notification, the growing numbers attached to your profile. These minuscule affirmations trigger a temporary endorphin release in the brain, which feels good, so naturally, we come back for more. And the more we use it, the more we want it- like an addiction. Not only does this method make said apps and services more popular and successful, driving up profit, but it also acts as a platform for targeted advertising.

Aside from targeted advertising, companies sustain the “demand” in supply-and-demand through perceived obsolescence. Perceived obsolescence is the practice of convincing a customer that they need a different version of something they already own- a newer, allegedly better product. It is the practice of Oftentimes, this excellent, “improved” product really has no significant superiority over the one which they already own. Companies simply make it seem this way so that more people will feel the need, rather than just the desire to buy a new product. Some PRoducts are even designed to function poorly and need repairs often to help encourage people to get the newest model as soon as it hits the shelves. This is largely the case with electronics, specifically cell phones in this day and age. There always seems to be a new iPhone, screaming relentlessly from its attractive packaging about how it’s better than the one your parents bought you six months ago. Because we always feel the need to have it newer, nicer, and better, we dispose of a lot of things, which is one of the biggest impacts of consumer culture and will be covered more in-depth later.

Right now you’re probably thinking, “Okay, okay we get it. Companies make us want their stuff, we buy it, life goes on.” What’s wrong with being indulgent? Surprisingly enough, everything. While the only thing you may see wrong with this picture is a touch of mind manipulation being used for marketing, there is an astonishing amount of dirty work going down behind the scenes, and the marketing is just the beginning. This brings us to the aftermath of consumer culture. Since big companies and manufacturers often cater to government and law enforcement with necessary goods, they have a scary amount of power, giving them the luxury of keeping a lot of information about their operations under wraps. Once they get their customers hooked, they then have to meet the demand and keep them coming back to keep business healthy. As long as they aren’t required to disclose important information, such as which toxic chemicals they’re releasing and how they’re treating their laborers, they can get away with just about anything to achieve success- which has some pretty serious consequences. These consequences include, but are not limited to, physical health hazards, illness and disease, mistreatment and abuse, environmental destruction, and pollution. But how? How could standing in line at Best Buy to purchase an InstaPot in every color of the rainbow possibly do that? I’m glad you asked.

To make anything at all in this world, like the products we so desperately long for, you need materials. You also need a way to get your materials, people or machines to turn your materials into things, and a way to get your things to the people who want them. These ideas are all part of a five-step system of consumption, a system that is arguably most heavily influenced by the habits of consumer culture. The way large companies operate is largely dependent on making profit and supplying goods to customers at very little price, so internal affairs tend to get sloppy and affect every part of the five-step system I mentioned earlier. Now, what exactly is this system? Allow me to enlighten you. This system is divided into five parts, each part being a step in the process required to make something, such as a purse or a laptop. The five parts are extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal.

 Extraction is the removal and collection of naturally found materials - and it is not a pretty thing. Extraction includes cutting down trees, drilling and mining for minerals, and often the collection of fossil fuels, which you likely already know are a very finite material. More often than not, extraction is carried out quite irresponsibly, and we end up abusing critical resources. The amount of materials we extract to make our things is quickly going to surpass how much is at our disposal. To give you an idea of just how quickly and carelessly we are harvesting some of our natural resources, you should consider that every day, we lose enough trees from deforestation to fill an area twice the size of Paris (Leonard). Extraction processes we have adopted have high potential to damage the surrounding environment- plants, animals, and people, whether it manifests in the destruction of important ecosystems or the release of ungodly amounts of toxic materials.

The next step of the five-step system, production, has just as many environmental disgraces as extraction. Production is how something is physically made, once the necessary materials are at hand. This means combining toxic synthetic chemicals with natural resources, running large factories with tons of energy use, and even human rights abuses against those who do a lot of the physical labor required. Such violations include constant exposure to life-threatening chemicals and long work hours which aren’t justified by impressive wages. Factories in which production takes place are often responsible for the disruption of their host communities- the areas in which they live as a whole. This often manifests as toxic waste being dumped in extremely public places, contaminating water, food, and air. Just like extraction, factory operations destroy ecosystems and pollutes local communities, who are often already at a disadvantage in terms of economic and public strength.

Distribution happens after the horrendously mistreated workers have labored endlessly to make our stuff- it brings it from the factories to us. This requires communication and transportation, the most significant of which being via aircraft and trucks. This adds even more energy use to these already needy products, which only increases once the goods make to their retailer destination, such as WalMart. Simply by existing, gigantic retails stores such as this have a huge footprint on the environment, including ecosystem disruption and energy use. Internal affairs of these distributors are an entirely separate matter, with store managers reportedly deleting work hours from employee’s logs to reduce costs and specialized training for supervisors to shut down so much as an attempt at a worker’s union. (Leonard, 125)

 Once the planet and unwilling communities have taken significant blows from extraction, production, and distribution, it’s time for us to reap the benefits in the next step, which is consumption. Local air and water have been polluted, children's bodies have been invaded by illness, workers have been ruthlessly neglected, and natural resources have been grossly overused. But for what? So you can have the iPhone 27x pro mini plus, of course. By welcoming our newly obtained and prized possessions into our lives, we also invite toxic chemicals into our homes and subject ourselves to the idea that our happiness is directly proportional to the number of things we have. If that isn’t enough, the amount of money we spend to damage our self-image and have toxic chemicals all over our house is baffling: consumer spending on a household level topped $24 trillion in 2005 (Leonard, 147).

What’s even more shocking, if at all possible, is what happens to the things we buy after we buy them: disposal. We spend so much time working to be able to afford whichever gadget is cool this week, and some of us place so much faith in the illusion that we can be happier once we have it, only to throw it away. Our compulsive disposal habits are largely influenced by perceived obsolescence, which I explained earlier. As soon as the things we so desperately wanted and worked so hard to attain aren’t trendy, aren’t socially valuable, we get rid of them. We trash our perfectly functional goods to buy “even better ones”. I suppose I should backtrack and mention that “throwing away” is not an appropriate term to use. There is no “away.” Our garbage, which includes medical waste and industrial waste, which are often highly toxic, are exported and dumped in convenient locations, where they essentially sit and rot. During this process, hazardous by-products are released into the air and water, and waste of all sorts breaks down (physically) and becomes a destructive force in delicate ecosystems.

So now we know at least the basic behind the scenes work of our stuff- how it’s made and where it comes from, and how those work with one another. As consumers of these products, we are also exposed to numerous health and safety hazards. Many of our goods are made from plastics, including the infamous PVC, or polyvinyl chloride. This is one of many plastics that need additional synthetic ingredients to complete the product, in addition to the natural resources. These chemicals are intended to increase the uses of the product, such as making it more pliable. However, the chemicals don’t bond to the molecules in the PVC, which means over time, they will seep out of or transfer over to other materials and can end up in our air, water, and food. Even dust samples from houses that were tested contained high levels of chemicals specific to the plastic material. The chemicals that we welcome into our homes with our brand new stuff is known for causing reproductive issues and are suspected to cause cancer, yet it can be found anywhere from our rain jackets to the packaging of our food. This applies to many other products with toxic chemicals in them.

The second major effect these habits have on us comes from our attachment issues. With people coming from every angle telling us we need this or we should have that, it can be a little overwhelming to know what we need vs. what we want. The money-above-all-else mindset I mentioned earlier is forced upon us when these companies make us think we need something, and before long, we start to believe it. Objects such as shoes, cell phones, and even clothes from a certain label become status symbols, and we find ourselves anxious about not having the latest gadget because we won’t “fit in”. Eventually, we equate our stuff with happiness. If this thing makes me seem like other people, if it makes people like me and makes me seem attractive, it’s going to make me happy. Because of this, material objects are often used as a crutch for self-esteem: if only I can get that next iPhone, those new shoes, I’d be a little happier (Jarrett).

So our bad habits come back to haunt us… that’s not surprising, but they do have numerous negative effects in places we may not even know about. As described earlier when I walked through the system of consumption, it takes a lot of people, resources, and equipment to make things. This may seem quite ordinary, of course, work has to be put in to get the result. But how these processes are executed is downright disgusting. For example, the placement of factories to produce goods will undoubtedly disrupt the community in which it lives, often ruining homes and forests, polluting nearby air, water, and wildlife, and releasing hazardous byproducts upon the community. Many of these factories are intentionally relocated across the globe, to weaker areas where people don’t have the means or power to protect themselves from corporate forces. Aside from local homes, environment, and health being sacrificed, the workers who do manual labor are mistreated. They experience a wide range of injustices, such as human rights violations, sexual misconduct, and ridiculous exposure to dangerous materials and equipment. “The mineworkers work in deep open pits where the air is thick with dust from dry drilling, and safety equipment is nonexistent. There is no drinking water provided, no shade to rest in, no toilets, no first aid kits, and no worker’s compensation for accidents.” (Leonard).

I’ve already covered a lot of pretty significant damage that our consumption habits are imposing on the globe- but why does it matter? Take a look at all of this from a big-picture perspective, not only from where you stand now, but where you will be in the future. what will the Earth look like by the time you’ve graduated high school, and then maybe college? How about 15 or 20 years from now? 50? A lot of what we’re currently practicing as consumers suggests that this image will not be a pleasant one. If you think about it, really think about it, what we’ve got here is beyond amazing. We have an enormous, diverse, and utterly gorgeous planet beneath our feet, with an endless amount of opportunities and adventures awaiting us in the wilderness. As far as we know, this is unique to us, and we are unique to the universe. I don’t know about you, but this planet is my only home, and I love it. I don’t want to see it torn to shreds and permanently tainted by toxicity and filth. I always want to be able to find myself among seemingly endless mountain ranges, in serene forests which foster solitude and enjoy a complete sense of freedom to wander while being connected to the planet. Nature is a refuge from the chaos of daily life for me, and I don’t want that taken from me. The changes required to help protect our delicate and stunning planet may prove to be difficult, but they would undoubtedly be worthy of our effort.

I’m hoping that as you sit here, probably fidgeting uncomfortable, relieved to have reached the end of this essay of ungodly length, that you’ve learned a thing or two. Researching this topic taught me many things about the way our society functions and the kind of damage our planet is suffering as a result, and a lot of what I learned were things I’d never even considered before. It has been both fascinating and horrifying to educate myself a little further on such an important yes vastly overlooked subject. Although it may only be on a surface level, I now have an understanding of how I am contributing to the destruction of this planet that I so desperately want to conserve and cherish, and knowledge is power. I can take this information and run with it, and I hope that many of you do as well. There are solutions to this issue, big and small, complex and simple, some of which have been adopted and some of which are still being developed. I didn’t feel qualified to cover the potential solutions, as this required quite a bit more research that I just couldn’t cram into less than 10 pages. However, I sincerely hope that you, my dear reader, have been inspired to educate yourself a little further as to what you can do on an individual level. We may have already walked a mile in the wrong direction, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start now with a single step in the right one.