Is Conscious Consumerism Efficient Enough?

Conscious consumerism is a topic that has only really come into play in the last 20 years. This is because as the world has grown the culture of consumerism has been promoted by companies in first-world countries. Consumerism surrounds holidays like Christmas and Black Friday and could be seen with the rise of department stores. Furthermore, conscious consumerism is a way to combat the consumerism culture that has developed. Some may say that we should just promote green energy and restrict the number of emissions that these companies can emit but that would just not be beneficial. Research in South Korea has been done to track situations when emissions were restricted; however, the promotion of that green energy could not keep up with the continuous growth of the country. This then led to a growth, once again, in carbon emissions.
The only way that we have a world that can combat climate change is to combat consumerism. We have to limit the amount that we consume on a daily basis. Whether it be limiting the amount of red meat that we eat or not buying the latest piece of technology or clothing. That being said, it should not just be on the individual to take on this problem. The corporations that led us down the path of consumerism should also be tasked as well with taking on consumerism. These companies can instead of lobbying for more cash subsidies to increase emissions, instead take their capital and start to develop new forms of mass public transportation and energy-efficient means for the general public.
Getting these corporations to be involved is paramount due to the fact that the conscious consumer is not actually efficient at putting their money where their mouth is. People are not educated enough to make efficient decisions regarding their consumer habits. A question that is posed is would you rather buy organic food that is shipped from Spain or locally grown food that is not organic? Which is actually better for the environment and which is the right decision? Most consumers do not know and frankly will not even take the time to check and just buy what they want and this is where my problem with conscious consumers derive from.