“A society in which consumption has to be artificially stimulated in order to keep production going is a society founded on trash and waste, and such a society is a house built upon sand.” - Dorothy L. Sayers (Creed or Chaos)
“Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.” -Aldous Huxley
Our society is shaped by constant technological change, each advance often rendering the previous obsolete.
While much time is spent imagining the possibilities for the future of technology, little is concentrated on what becomes of the last new and improved machine.
Through my research into world consumption and consumerism it is very clear that the issues we face today are not new. Capitalism's insatiable need for continuous growth has fuelled the wastefulness of industry and consumers.
" Today’s consumption is undermining the environmental resource base. It is exacerbating inequalities. And the dynamics of the consumption-poverty-inequality-environment nexus are accelerating. If the trends continue without change — not redistributing from high-income to low-income consumers, not shifting from polluting to cleaner goods and production technologies, not promoting goods that empower poor producers, not shifting priority from consumption for conspicuous display to meeting basic needs — today’s problems of consumption and human development will worsen.
… The real issue is not consumption itself but its patterns and effects.
… Inequalities in consumption are stark. Globally, the 20% of the world’s people in the highest-income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures — the poorest 20% a minuscule 1.3%. More specifically, the richest fifth:
* Consume 45% of all meat and fish, the poorest fifth 5%
* Consume 58% of total energy, the poorest fifth less than 4%
* Have 74% of all telephone lines, the poorest fifth 1.5%
* Consume 84% of all paper, the poorest fifth 1.1%
* Own 87% of the world’s vehicle fleet, the poorest fifth less than 1%
Runaway growth in consumption in the past 50 years is putting strains on the environment never before seen."
— Human Development Report 1998 Overview, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) — Emphasis Added. Figures quoted use data from 1995
