A False Necessity: The Truth Behind Conscious Consumerism
Conscious consumerism is a trend that has grown increasingly popular in the last few years. It is a term that refers to shopping in a way that makes one believe they are making a positive social, environmental, or political impact. Unfortunately, it is often just that; a belief. One that makes an individual feel good about their actions rather than causing meaningful change in any of the aspects above. While it is optimistic to think that simple day to day acts of conscious consumerism make a significant difference in the state of our environment, they only distract from actual ways to make meaningful change all while only catering to a certain, elite, group of people.
It is no secret that eco-friendly alternatives are also the more expensive ones and are therefore accessible only to a limited group of people that are able to afford them. Shopping at an all organic supermarket, or buying clothes from a local eco-friendly store is more often than not the more expensive option. Not everyone has the luxury to shop for such alternatives as “You need a fair amount of disposable income to afford ethical and sustainable consumption options”. On top of being elitist, conscious consumerism is also very time consuming and inconvenient. This is another factor that makes conscious consumerism so exclusionary as not everyone has the luxury to refuse the majority of products that are being sold and spend hours researching more expensive alternatives.
The time and money required to be a conscious consumer may be worth the sacrifice if it actually made a difference in improving our environment. However, as Brown, professor of environmental science and policy at Clark University, explains, “consumption is the backbone of the American economy — which means individual conscious consumerism is basically bound to fail.” Plastic water bottles are the perfect example of this. At this point, it would be safe to say that the majority of people know that plastic is bad for the environment. Yet, the consumption of plastic water bottles has only increased. Capitalism is so controlled that it is difficult for people to truly make sustainable purchasing choices. It is also difficult to stand out of the crowd and not do what everyone else is doing. There is also the social side of being a conscious consumer that is, as one can imagine, not so bright. Whether it is shopping with friends or going out to a birthday dinner, there are times when making sustainable choices is nearly impossible unless you avoid social gatherings.
Even if a person thinks they are making all the right choices when it comes to buying products, there are so many harmful things that are unavoidable in our day to day life. So while someone might be buying organic dairy products, they are also inevitably using products with palm oil which is the leading factor in rainforest destruction. Most of the food and products we buy come wrapped in plastic that is not recyclable. Oftentimes, products are advertised as sustainable while they might contain harmful chemicals so for one to truly ensure they are buying sustainable products they would need to spend time researching the labels. Or maybe even get a degree in chemistry.
Sadly, the reality is that conscious consumerism has simply become a way for many people to make themselves feel good about their lifestyle as well as something to hide behind when the issue is brought up. It is a way to avoid taking steps towards real political change because if a person gets called out for not caring about the environment they can rely on the fact that every now and then, they make sustainable shopping choices. It is an excuse not to go to protests or participate in lobbying because they are already doing enough buying eco-friendly products. The difference, however, is that going to a protest can result in some sort of meaningful change.
Eco-friendly shopping choices that are made every now and then bring about no real change while creating an illusion of doing so, thus sidetracking people from pursuing other ways of taking action. According to Alden Wicker, author of the Conscious Consumerism is a Lie article, “A 2012 study compared footprints of “green” consumers who try to make eco-friendly choices to the footprints of regular consumers. And they found no meaningful difference between the two.” It is for this reason that “moral” purchasing choices cannot be a substitute for taking steps towards real systematic change even though, unfortunately, many consider it one. Buying shampoo that is more environmentally friendly is not the same as participating in political action such as protesting or lobbying. And unlike buying the more expensive eco-friendly shampoo bottle, protests and other forms of political action are something everyone can participate in.
It would be unfair to expect people to spend money, time, and energy on buying eco-friendly products when there is no data that actually shows it makes any sort of significant difference. While it would be hopeful to think that even the smallest acts of conscious consumerism, such as buying an eco-friendly shirt or going to a local food place instead of Mcdonalds, make all the difference when it comes to saving our environment, the reality is that they don’t. In fact, they only distract from actual ways to make the kind of change that makes a difference. For this reason, it would be much more effective to focus our energy and resources into making systematic change through meaningful political action.
