Time to Reduce, Recycle and Re-use...

I came across a video by Annie Leonard titled "The story of stuff" on facebook and I was completely taken over by it. It is a very sharp critique on consumerism and the mass production of "stuff". I found myself to be a part of this colossal system of mass production of goods and I was ashamed of how unaware I was of how mass consumerism is hurting lives of people and the environment and how unsustainable this system is. At a high level, the key steps which make up this production system are

• Extraction of raw materials - This step results in the exploitation of the earth and it's resources such as trees, wild-life etc. 
• Production of stuff - Raw materials get used in factories for creating goods for mass consumption. These factories pollute the environment by green house gas emissions, toxic waste generation etc. 
• Consumption of stuff - This step is where consumers (like you and me) come in and drive the entire system by buying and consuming these goods
• Disposal of stuff - The last step (which we think of as throwing stuff into the trash bin) 

One could argue that this system has been in place for a while now, so what is different about it now? The point is that in the last few decades things have fundamentally changed in this demand supply chain. One of them is that big corporations and the governments have systematically created an artificial "want" for stuff through advertising and other means cleverly referred to as planned obsolescence and perceived obsolescence of stuff. This is key because consumer demand is the driver of the "system". The second one is that the price of the stuff is "rigged" and does not reflect the true cost of extraction, production and disposal of the stuff at an environmental level. The last thing is that the scale on which mass production of stuff happens has grown tremendously. I am quite sure that a few decades ago, by and large consumers bought what they needed (not wanted), the price of stuff accurately reflected the true cost of manufacturing it and the production economies were local rather than global (where consumers had to be aware of where stuff came from and how it had to be disposed). And, I think that this latter system, was far more sustainable and environment friendly.

In order to fix this system, what needs to happen is that consumers (who create the demand which drives this system) need to take the reign in their hands. We, as consumers, should reduce, recycle and reuse our stuff as much as we can...we live on a planet with finite resources and it's time to acknowledge that.

Final thought of the day --  We, as a society, give considerable thought to the next generation's well-being and future by planning for it today. Isn't it incredibly short-sighted of us to not view sustaining the earth and it's environment as something that needs to be invested in today?