Excessive Consumerism is a Primary Cause of Environmental Destruction - Book Report/Review Example

TOPIC: Excessive Consumerism is a Primary Cause of Environmental Destruction This essay represents a supportive argument for one of the major themes of the book, “Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic”, in which the authors argue that: the epidemic quest of material goods is a major cause of environmental destruction. One of the basic themes of this book is that materialistic values have replaced the fundamental values upon which this country was founded. These core beliefs have been replaced by a shallow focus on consumerism, monetary wealth and an obsessive compulsion to achieve these goals. According to the authors, a major consequence of this focus is a loss of environmental resources and stability that threatens our planet (deGraaf 84). There is a plethora of evidence presented in this book and elsewhere that environmental sustainability is threatened by the disease of affluenza. The authors cite the alarming statistic that the diversity of consumer products is greater than the extent of biodiversity on the planet (deGraaf 84). The authors introduce the concept of “Affluenza” as a diseased manifestation of social greed defined as a “painful, contagious socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.” (deGraaf 2). Each section of the book illustrates an important component of this rampant “disease”. Part 1 deals with the symptoms of the flu as they represent analogous symptoms of excessive behaviours and effects of out-of-control consumerism. The ravages of this disease are manifest in the destruction of the land, the unrestricted consumption of non-renewable resources and an arrogant notion of self-sufficiency that ignores all signs of impending doom (deGraaf 90). The authors present a “wealth” of evidence to support this contention. The first part of the book explores the evidence that obsessive consumerism has overtaken American society and threatens imminent global expansion to become the predominant focus worldwide. This is reinforced by statistics indicating that the American population leads the world in per capita spending and use of natural resources. For example, the authors comment that Americans spend more on trash bags than people in many countries spend on everything else (de Graaf 85). This wasteful environmental stampede is translated into huge houses (and second homes), huge cars, giant-screen televisions, and huge credit card debt that gives new meaning to the old age ”living beyond one’s means” (de Graaf 85). Wanton consumerism has produced a throw-away society hat disposes of more materials than the environment can assimilate. Larger houses and sprawling cities take precedence over forests and open spaces. The authors cite many compelling statistics that support the effects of consumerism on land use. This contagious disease has spread worldwide, such that rain forests in South America are being relentlessly destroyed and cities in Asia are teeming with overcrowded buildings and streets that have replaced the rural community as the dominant habitat (Reitan). As a result of this epidemic, Nature herself is ill (de Graaf 86). . The “symptoms” of epidemic consumerism reflect many of the effects that this cultural obsession has on the environment and its resources. The consequences of this lifestyle are reflected in graphic images of “bloating” and “congestion” that comprise a metaphor for overcrowded cities and polluted air that result from excessive material baggage accumulated over time that lose their importance as soon as they are acquired (deGraaf 31 ). The “fever” represents the obsessive urge to acquire more and more money and the objectives that only money can buy. The fever then spreads to the land where the effects of environmental destruction and pollution contribute to a global warming that overheats the earth and erupts in scorching uncontrolled fires that sweep across the west with unremitting fury as the contagion spreads across the land (Reitan). The fatigue of illness is drawn from the excessive hours spent working to acquire the financial means to support a bloated, meaningless existence (deGraaf 79) spread to the earth where the natural resources are depleted, the soil is barren and many species languish and often perish in the wake of this enormous fatigue (de Graaf 92). The authors stress that money is the all-consuming focus of our efforts and that spending is the sole enjoyment of the spiritually impoverished individual (deGraaf 40 ). This obsessive wasteful mindset is portrayed by the authors in symbolic terms, as the spiritual ills that afflict society manifest in the bloated, congested ennui of an epidemic social disease. The spiritual ills manifest in the surrounding environment, a victim of a merciless contagion that depletes its resources with a lack of regard that is a testimony to the spiritual indifference of a culture that has lost its connections to the primary source of life. There is much historical evidence cited in this book that supports the contention that the quest for material goods has become an obsession that threatens the very essence of American culture and may even threaten the survival of our planet (deGraaf 93). The effects of this obsessive, selfish greed are manifest everywhere. The rampant environmental destruction witnessed in the latter part of the 20th century represents a permanent record of the planetary effects of global consumerism (James 34). The destruction and overuse of natural resources, the accumulation of toxic material waste and the environmental effects of global warming present a strong indictment of the culture that is responsible for these devastating environmental consequences (deGraaf 92). The death of the songbirds is a plaintive cry for help (deGraaf 88) by a planet tainted by industrial pollutants and material waste. Toxic chemicals have accumulated by the hundreds in animals and humans contributing to the increased incidence of cancer and other diseases that are spreading from a sick, ravaged environment (de Graaf 100). The “dust bowl” of the 1930s represented a dramatic example of how indifference to the land may signal a rebound that threatens human existence. Ignorance and indifference to the land that sustained Midwestern American farmers resulted in a tidal wave of dirt and dust produced by drought and overuse of the soil to cultivate wheat as a cash crop (Reitan). Short term wealth was soon replaced by the bleakness of an eternal night consumed by thick dust that covered everything-there was no escape. Dust pneumonia consumed many lives, killed livestock and destroyed the fertile soils that once yielded a great harvest. Today, a second drought is looming in the Midwest and worldwide countries are creating similar dustbowls as the land is ravaged for short-term gain. On a societal level, the excessive consumerism that threatens our environmental stability threatens also our geopolitical and economic stability as the earth and its resources are the ultimate sources of economic wealth (James 45). This value system thus threatens geopolitical stability as it destroys the very resources that are at the core of America’s strength. It is affluenza that causes industries to pollute fresh waters and the air instead of installing more expensive recycling strategies or containment facilities to protect the surrounding environment from industrial waste. It is affluenza that clears forests and destroys natural habitats to promote urban expansion without regard to environmental conservation. It is affluenza that ignores the signs and warnings of environmental depletion as it spreads relentlessly throughout the global communities. The authors traced the changes in American society that have presaged the emergence of this contagious, rampant “disease” (deGraaf 125) and its destructive effects on the environment. One of the first cultural movements toward our present state occurred in the so-called “Gilded Age” when American society began to expand its desire for material acquisitions. This excessive consumerism led to the emergence of overcrowded, filthy slums in major cities and contributed to the Great Depression, an indictment of the excessive and obsessive consumerism of the 1920s. The post-world war II era has seen a re-emergence of the primacy of obsessive consumerism as the overriding cultural theme of American society, despite the increasing evidence that our country is experiencing the effects of global warming and the permanent loss of our natural resources (Reitan). The extent of environmental damage and resource depletion is sufficiently great that it threatens our nation’s political stability (Donohoe). The third part of this book explores possible solutions to the disease of “affluenza”. The authors stress the importance of recognition or awareness of the extent and significance of this cultural problem and its devastating effects on the environment as the first step in its solution (deGraaf 174). A return to basic values, respect for the beauty an fragility of the environmental world and a philosophical readjustment of the personal definitions of success, meaningful activity and the value of personal relationships may help to overcome the pervasive influence of this damaging disease (Wachtel 79). The authors employ the metaphor of “recovery” to explore the personal reawakening that follows the abandonment of this cultural philosophy of decadent consumerism (deGraaf 244). Unfortunately, recovery from environmental destruction is a very slow process and some effects are permanent. The loss of many animal and plant systems has threatened our environmental balance (deGraaf 99). The loss of rich topsoil and trees will take generations to replenish. The ravages of fires often result in devastating destruction of the ecosystem that will take hundreds of years to re-establish. The permanent loss of non-renewable resources threatens our geo-political stability (Donohoe). Global warming may produce a re-distribution of life forms on our planet as the polar ice caps melt and engulf the land and all its populations. The authors stress that recovery begins with awareness, and there is evidence from the :green” movement and other groups that individuals are beginning to gather resources to fight the disease, stop the epidemic and begin the process of healing our damaged earth. Works Cited DeGraaf, John, David Warin and Thomas Naylor. Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic. Berrett Koehler Publishers, 2005. Donohoe, Martin. “Causes and health consequences of environmental degradation and social injustice.” Social Science and Medicine 56(3) (2003): 573-587. Durning, Alan. How Much Is Enough, New York: Norton, 1992. James, O. Affluenza. London:Vermillion, 1992. Reitan, Paul, and Eric Reitan. “Our unsustainable present-why, and what can we do about it?” Electronic Green Journal 1(9) (1998): 1-6. Wachtel, Paul. The Poverty of Affluence. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 1989. Read More