Stop buying shit
I know this will piss off people, but here goes anyway.
When your economy encourages people to consume unneeded things that they don't need or even want and to do more of it each year than the year before, just to keep the whole pyramid from collapsing; then, you need a different economy.
People are the problem. Greed is the problem.
As Jimmy Carter said:
"Human identity is no longer defined by what one does but rather by what one owns."
Rich fucks fuel the greed; they don't give a shit. They only care that their pockets become fuller on your dime. Many think that the green movement, environmentalism, and the end of oil and gas will make the world all shiny and new again. Wake the fuck up. It won't.
The takeover of environmentalism by billionaires is the problem. Look deeper into who's controlling many of these alternative energies; you will find many of the same people currently running big oil and gas. Look behind the facade of “green energy” and the destruction caused by the creation of green energy. The merger of capitalism and environmentalism is now complete.
The environmental movement may be the most hypocritical movement currently going. The only natural way to reduce environmental impact is first to stop buying shit. Shit, you don't need it.
We are told we must consume more. As we have seen during the pandemic, even the slightest drop in spending leads to widespread unemployment, bankruptcy and home foreclosures. It is local businesses that take the hit, yet the funny thing that happened on the way to the pandemic. The rich got richer.
What would happen to our economy, our ecology, our products, ourselves if we stopped buying so much shit? Is this an alternative world, one we might actually want to live in?
We consume far too much. We consume resources five times faster than they can regenerate. And despite efforts to "green" our consumption by recycling, increasing energy efficiency, or using solar power, there is no decline in global carbon emissions.
Approaching this paradox head-on, we as consumers are oblivious to the hidden impacts of the goods and services we make and consume. We are victims of a blind spot about the destructive effects of producing, packaging, shipping, distributing, and discarding what we buy because it is no longer needed or it broke. ( Planned obsolescence).
We hear the word extremist a lot. I wonder if we aren't living in an extremist version of capitalism. “Economic growth” is all that really matters, and the earth just a commodity or machine that we own and operate, with no consideration to the true cost.
The problem is growth isn't perpetual.
Everyone says they want to live simpler. Yet, we continue to blindly adopt the "Koolaid-aid "of more and more technology. When really we need to put a stop to rampant technology adoption. To let things rest.
But that is not what we are programmed to do.
#RandOMTHoUGhts: Saturday, June 12, 2021
