How Consumers Can Overcome the Struggles of Conscious Consumerism
The trend that has developed over the last 15 years is to “go green” and currently this statement has evolved into a full-fledged movement. Individuals and businesses alike have taken a serious stance on the current environmental issues. However, as these stances have been taken consumers are met with the current issues of how to consume in today’s day and age. Is conscious consumerism really the way to go? Will it be effective enough to combat the world’s current climate issues? Some may say that conscious consumerism is currently the most effective way to combat climate change; however, due to the capitalist nature of consumerism, corporations are taking advantage of consumers. I believe that we need to take a look at consumers and see how to further their knowledge of conscious consumerism to make them better consumers.
The idea of “is this really good for the environment” is not just true of mass-produced products but can also be thought of in the sense that is this organic food better than this locally sourced food? A major trend of conscious consumerism is buying organic products in grocery stores. But is buying organic foods from a faraway location better than buying products from a locally sourced farm? In retrospect, organic farms are better for the environment as the farms can not have grown the produce on soil that has had no prohibited substances applied for three years prior to harvest. This being said, it leads to less runoff and a better ecosystem surrounding the crops. However, buyers of these organic foods may not take into account the “food miles” that have come from the shipping of the organic products to their stores. The cost to the environment that the food miles may have accumulated from the emissions or other sources of waste products may out way the benefits of buying organic. Instead of taking that risk, some may say to purchase locally sourced food instead. Local farmers can supply fresh and seasonal foods, that may still have prohibited substances used while growing, but can still be good for the environment as these farmers are not practicing the monoculture of large commercial farms. (Trimarchi) The question can be stated again, even though organic might be better for the environment does the costs of obtaining it outweigh the benefits of just buying local? What this discussion reveals is that as many of the new conscious consumers are joining this growing movement some might have not done thorough research into what constitutes conscious consumerism.
Why aren’t consumers informed? Is it their fault? It is not necessarily the consumer’s fault in this regard. Large corporations are taking advantage of these newer movements to capitalize on the newly popularized markets and by doing so, consumers are being misled into buying goods that might not befit their morals. So these consumers have a choice to either buy the products that these corporations are producing and trust that they are what they say or start doing some research and find out for themselves whether or not they are actually beneficial for the environment. Many of these corporations are just mass-producing goods to supply to consumers for basic necessities and are not meant to last. Furthermore, the current culture surrounding consumerism has led consumers to look to buy what they want and not what they just need. People would rather buy name-brand products than just go to a farmers market to get the same product, minus all of the emissions that have followed the product since the start of the production. That being said, however, corporations also have to be looked at for the faults of the consumer. Are these large corporations being restricted from just slapping a green label on their goods for the benefit of new consumers looking for green goods?
How are we regulating these companies to help the consumer find environmentally conscious goods? We are going to look at the agricultural industry and in which “the organic label on meat products is enforced by the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). The AMS oversees the National Organic Program (NOP), which works with third-party organizations to certify that the farm and beef meet the national organic standards.” (Robinson) What these councils do is place the regulations on the companies to ensure that their food is able to have the label of organic, grass-fed, etc. However, these regulations that are placed are still vague and can be manipulated by corporations to just get the tag that they are seeking. The largest companies in the industry, like Tyson Farms, which still practice many non environmentally friendly practices can still achieve the tag of grass-fed. These regulations need to be on a tighter watch and even make the requirements to achieve a tag like organic harder to achieve. This is also where the part of the consumer comes into play to cipher through these misleading labels to find a product that will actually fit what they are looking for.
How can consumers make the right choice? To start getting corporations to move away from the cradle to grave mindset that most corporations are currently practicing and look to instead move to a cradle to cradle mindset. As these large corporations look for opportunities to develop into a more circular economy it can start to alleviate the stress that some conscious consumers may have. Knowing that the company that you are buying your mainstream goods from is manufacturing your goods with the intent for them to last will bring back the trust of a consumer (Wong). Furthermore, it will even allow those who are not intentionally trying to practice conscious consumerism to inadvertently practice it as well. I have personally seen how a stand mixer that my grandparent gifted my parents for their wedding helped bake all of my birthday cakes and lasted 25 plus years. While my grandparents went through multiple stand mixers of their own as they were not built to last like the older generations were. The companies are the ones that need to take their conscious production into consideration. Nevertheless, we can not take the consumer side for granted either.
We must promote an atmosphere of knowledge surrounding what truly is conscious for the environment. Consumers will have to do their research and not be lazy when it comes to shopping for new goods. For instance, if a new product comes out and you want to purchase it, which can be fine if you take the right measures, you must recycle or repurpose the old product and not just throw it away. Recycling and using old products is key. A consumer may go out and buy that organic food but if it is not used then what was the purpose of even buying it in the first place?
