Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Abject Consumerism

What are things most consumers don't think about most of the time?
  • The working conditions of the laborers who cultivate, raise, mine, refine, forge, build, transport, display, advertise and sell, the goods consumers want.
    • Wages
    • Benefits
    • Hours per shift, week, month or pay period.
    • Physical safety standards
    • Discrimination, favoritism, cronyism, sexual harassment.
  • The impact on the environment where the raw materials are extracted.
    • Erosion, flooding, fertilizer runoff, animal feces runoff, chemical contamination, air pollution, adjacent property values, 
  • The waste generated by what is left over after the goods are consumed.
    • Plastic in the oceans and landfills. chemicals seeping into rivers, aquifers and water tables.
  • The sustainability of the resources from which the goods derive.
    • Over-fishing depleted the main source of food in Somalia, leaving many with no choice but to become pirates.
    • Deforestation of the Amazon and Canada.
    • Depletion of soil nutrients.
    • Drying up water reservoirs and rivers.