Having had a brief idea of what pollution from consumption entails, today we will share about the extent of pollution caused by consumerism.
“Most of the environmental issues we see today can be linked to consumption,” said Gary Gardner, director of research for Worldwatch.
According to National Geographic, there were approximately 1.7 billion people in the world in the consumer class* in 2004. More than a decade on, the number of people has sure increased tremendously given the massive economic growth enjoyed by the rapidly developing economies – especially China and India.
*Consumer class refers to the group of people whose diet consists of highly processed food, with a desire for more and bigger houses and cars, as well as a lifestyle that is highly devoted to the accumulation of non-essential goods (Mayell, 2004).
With an expanding consumer class, we see a rise in the consumption of luxury goods. While the increased consumption of luxuries helps to improve one’s standard of living, it also adds to the amount of pollution in our environment.
Atmospheric pollution
In terms of production, the expansion of the consumer class leads to a higher demand for consumption goods – both necessities and luxuries. A higher demand meant that more resource input is needed to increase production. With a large amount of energy (often) derived from fossil fuels being used in the production process, it contributes to atmospheric pollution in the form of greenhouse gas emissions, specifically carbon dioxide (CO2).
Indeed, a recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2020) stated that the global average atmospheric CO2 levels today are much higher than at any point in time over the past 800,000 years.
As seen from the graph above, CO2 levels reached a high at 409.8 parts per million (ppm) in 2019. This was the result of the widespread use of fossil fuels for energy where the combustion of these carbon-rich resources emits CO2. With their ‘heat-trapping’ effect, CO2 contributes to atmospheric pollution through its role in enhancing the greenhouse effect.
Aquatic pollution
Post-production, the improper disposal of production waste such as wastewater could lead to aquatic pollution. For instance, in the production of clothes within the fashion industry, many chemicals are used in the manufacturing process – from fibre production, dyeing, bleaching and wet processing. The discharge of this chemical-heavy wastewater (especially those without compliance to discharge regulations) into waterways introduces harmful chemicals to the affected water bodies, causing irreparable damage. Even when wastewater is discharged in compliance with the discharge regulation, chemicals are still present in the wastewater, even in trace levels.
As depicted in the study by Paraschiv, Tudor & Petrariu (2015) on water pollution from the textile industry among the G20 countries, the textile industry contributes between 3% and 33% of water pollution.
Such data reflects how our consumption of necessities such as clothes can contribute to a form of pollution in the environment.
During consumption, the widespread use of plastics as packaging contributes to aquatic pollution too! Every year, about 8 million tons of plastic waste escapes into the oceans from coastal nations (Parker, 2019). In addition to the harmful effects of plastics in its physical form – such as the risk of ingestion by aquatic animals, plastics in their chemical form – with their added additives to make them stronger, more durable, and flexible – can also contribute to pollution through the introduction of toxic chemicals adsorbed on the plastics into the water environment.
More on the use of plastics in various industries will be shared in time to come!
In the coming weeks, we will share more about how consumption under each theme – food, fashion, beauty products, cleaning agents, e-wastes – contributes to pollution, as well as some mitigation we can undertake as consumers to prevent more pollutants from venturing into our beloved environment.
Stay tuned for our next update!
References:
Lindsey, R. (2020, August 14). Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: NOAA Climate.gov. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide
Mayell, H. (2004, January 12). As Consumerism Spreads, Earth Suffers, Study Says. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2004/01/consumerism-earth-suffers/
Nabeerasool, A. (2019, November 14). How is fast fashion polluting our water? Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/how-is-fast-fashion-polluting-our-water/77704/
Paraschiv, D., Tudor, C., & Petrariu, R. (2015). The Textile Industry and Sustainable Development: A Holt–Winters Forecasting Investigation for the Eastern European Area. Sustainability, 7(2), 1280-1291. doi:10.3390/su7021280
Parker, L. (2019, June 07). The world’s plastic pollution crisis explained. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/plastic-pollution/
