It is not secret to anyone that our economic system, dubbed capitalism but in many ways embodying corporatism, strives for unlimited and unreasonable exponential growth. The fact of the matter is: this isn’t just wasteful but is actually environmentally suicidal. We design for the dump because our evolution has never required us to plan so far ahead, individuals within this system seek to maximize personal profit, and we are slow to react to threats that take decades or centuries to manifest fully. We are easily distracted by the fast paced consumerist lifestyle prescribed to us through TV and not contradicted within the current educational paradigm.
Shouldn’t we as humans transcend our subjective existence, our individual preferences, and treat ourselves, our world, and each other with respect: deciding to treat people as individuals and ignore stereotypes? This knowledge is conscious to many of us, but not truly reflected in our education, business, and work experience.
The answer is not only to raise awareness, but also to act responsibly and decide to use and reuse what you have instead of always buying something new. Is it so unreasonable that we each take responsibility, as a member of humanity, for our position… even to the extent of partaking in civil disobedience. It certainly seems certain that things, as they are now, are unacceptable. This isn’t an excuse to feel bad, or give up, but instead to personally help improve the situation.