Everyone wishes to live in a perfect world where everything
is abundant and we can always get what we want. Unfortunately, this world where
we are living is far from perfect and even more unfortunate is that we, humans,
think that it is. Consumerism is now a trend in the society: Weekend sale in
the malls and supermarkets, new fashion style for clothes, shoes and gadgets. People consume stuff like mad without
realizing its long term effect in the planet and on ourselves.
It is said that consumerism is beneficial for
the economy on the long run, but will it be beneficial if in the end all we
have is money while our natural resources are already gone? Too much
consumption leads only to destruction.
Consuming more means extracting more raw materials from our natural
resources. By that, we can pretty much predict what will happen if this trend
continues. Subtracting too much from a number will result in a negative answer
and we don’t want to be in that negative’s place.
The only solution in that
problem is to change our view as a society from consumerism to sustainability.
Sustainability means configuring civilization and human activity so that society, its members and its economies are able to meet their
needs and express their greatest potential in the present, while preserving
biodiversity and natural ecosystems, planning and acting for the ability to
maintain these ideals for future generations. By changing our views and actions we
can preserve what is left while sustaining ourselves. What will you choose:
Consumerism or sustainability, Environment or Ecosystem? I think that there
will surely come a time that our society will be forced to accept that
sustainability is required for us humans to keep on living but I fear that when
that time comes, it will be too late for all of us. Why wait till everything is
gone if we can still preserve what we have now?
Simply stated, there is a lot of money being made and a lot of power being gathered by the people that promote consumerism.
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