As individual consumers, we often feel insignificant, using this fact to comfort ourselves in our indulgent consumption habits. In 2008, a Walmart employee was trampled to death by Black Friday shoppers in New York. The extent of many consumers behaviours have proven to be distasteful and unnecessarily excessive.
Today’s posts targets directly at the role of individual consumption behaviours. Before putting the blame on organisations or business for the environmental degradation, household individuals are responsible for 50 – 60% of environmental impacts on the planet (Jacobs, 2016). According to a study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, four-fifths of environmental impacts of consumerism traces back down to the supply chain, and not from transportation or taking long showers (Ivanova et al., 2015). Individuals often lack accurate information and knowledge about their environmental footprint, especially impacts from secondary sources down the supply chain.
Consumerism has been slowly eroding our planet and its time for individuals to face the reality that despite being only a single person out of 7.5 billion people, our actions do play a part in creating a change, and we have the power the power to decide the fate of the earth.
References
Bradshaw, A. (2019, November 29). Mass consumerism is destroying our planet. This Black Friday, let’s take a stand. The Guardian. Retrieved from:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/29/mass-consumerism-black-friday-climate-catastrophe-consumption-shopping
Ivanova, D., Stadler, K., Steen‐Olsen, K., Wood, R., Vita, G., Tukker, A. & Hertwich, E.G. (2016). Environmental Impact Assessment of Household Consumption. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 20, 526-536.
Jacobs, S. (2016, February 24). Consumerism plays a huge role in climate change. Grist. Retrieved from: https://grist.org/living/consumerism-plays-a-huge-role-in-climate-change/
The Guardian. Wal-Mart worker killed in Black Friday shopping stampede. (2008, November 29). Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/29/wal-mart-blackfriday-shoppersstampede