Overcoming consumerism

The world is drowning in stuff. The stuff we cram into our closets, store in our garage and acquire in malls, shops, and boutiques.

Stuff that gets thrown out and washes up on shore, and stuff that causes billions of tons of carbon dioxide to spew into the atmosphere every year. But all this stuff isn’t really necessary to live, indeed often we’re less happy because of it. So why do we buy? But more importantly, how do we stop this rampant consumerism fueled by capitalist growth?

Today, we try to answer those questions by carving out possible avenues through which we can end consumerism and craft a more just and ethical way of living well on this planet. Consumerism In the Global North, overconsumption runs rampant.

Whether a brand new Tesla Model S or nice pair of jeans, buying for status, acceptance, desire, or because of an advertisement are all ingrained in our conception of success and mental well being. Under capitalism, we buy the right things as a way for us to seek acceptance from and connection with our peers.

The barrage of ads we encounter every day equate smiles with khakis, suaveness with sunglasses , and even love with headphones. But this drive to purchase that new swiffer wet jet or that new car is not an inherently biological trait. Our quest for more–our relentless overconsumption– is a symptom of capitalism. An economic system reliant on constant growth in order to create profits.

For a business to succeed, outcompete others, and ultimately rake in more profits, it must grow. One of the brainchildren of this profit/growth imperative is advertising. A way to make new and useless products seem fresh, exciting, and even essential. That new iPhone, Bose noise cancelling headphones, and basically all of fast-fashion are the epitome of this phenomenon.

This advertising is not telling you what the company’s products are, but instead, what you could be with their company’s product. In this way, the products of the capitalist profit machine are foisted onto us, the consumers, as life-altering goods that, in reality, change very little of our material circumstances.

In short, capitalism needs to make more and more shit to remain effective, so corporations transform these products through marketing from goods that don’t need to exist into necessities in order to get us to eat up what they’re making.

But more consumption and more income does not equate to more happiness. In fact, this phenomenon is called the Easterlin paradox. Studies reveal that after our basic material needs are met, any additional consumption does little to improve happiness. In addition to its impact on individuals’ self-conception & mental health, capitalist overproduction and subsequent overconsumption especially in the Global North drives massive waste, emissions, and pollution. A country’s rise in emissions correlates strongly with their growth in GDP. Same with energy consumption and production. The capitalist growth model is incompatible with a zero-carbon world.

A fact which has been on display in the failures of decoupling strategies that try to use renewables and techno-fixes like band-aids over a gaping wound. We know that decoupling doesn’t work when we look at South Korea’s emission growth after their green growth initiatives in 2009. And we can see it in the fact that even though renewable capacity is at an all time high, so too is fossil fuel capacity.

We’re emitting more than we ever have. Decoupling strategies just don’t adequately address the overwhelming scientific evidence that recognizes we need drastically reduce emissions quickly if we are to stay below

1.5 degrees celsius of warming. So, if the capitalist growth/profit economy can’t exist alongside a zero-carbon, environmentally ethical one, what other options do we have?

The Degrowth Solution Under the pressures of capitalism and consumerism, certain people are grasping for some form of release valve.

Whether it be minimalism, zero waste, or slow living, those with the privilege to do so are working to carve out some respite from the unhappiness of capitalist alienation.

All of these lifestyle choices correctly recognize the detrimental effect of capitalist consumption on life and environment, but they lack a structural approach that recognizes the importance of both the individual and the system.

This is where degrowth comes in. Degrowth positions itself in an anticapitalist framework that seeks, in the words of Professor of Human Geography, Mark Whitehead, the “downscaling of production and consumption” in a way “that increases human well-being and enhances ecological conditions and equity.”

Essentially, degrowth calls for a realignment of the economy from one based on overconsumption and “obsessive accumulation” to one that produces goods to satisfy real needs like housing, health, education, transport, and arts. At its core, degrowth seeks the dramatic contraction of rich countries to allow for an increase in well-being for poorer countries. Models show that a world population of 10 billion people cannot exist on this planet living the current capitalist North American/European lifestyle. It now takes the Earth one year and eight months to regenerate what we consume in a year, and by we I mean the richest 10% of the world, who are responsible for 50% of carbon emissions. So, degrowth completely reimagines what it means to live well in countries like the United States or Germany.

It means buying less, repairing, reducing meat consumption, and no second homes on an individual level, but ultimately degrowth cannot function as just individual lifestyle choices. Systemic pathways, like subsidising all housing retrofits, shutting down the 100 companies that are responsible for 71% of the worlds emissions, redistributing all food waste, dramatically expanding public transportation methods, localising food production as much as possible, eliminating unnecessary marketing, and a robust emphasis on low carbon, care-oriented jobs like educators, therapists, and in-home care providers, are just some of the many ways to simultaneously improve the well-being of all while drastically reducing the Global North’s consumption levels.

You don’t have to live in a cave. Degrowth doesn’t mean going back to the stone age, but it does mean a drastic reduction in energy and material consumption from the largest historical emitters like the United States. The stark truth is that to both avoid global warming above 1.5 degrees celsius while simultaneously establishing a decent living for the majority of the world, consumption levels of the Global North need to plummet.

One study modelled that countries with the highest per-capita consumers could cut their energy consumption rate by 95% and still live well with a combination of efficiency technologies and alternative lifestyle choices. In addition, they found that a global reduction of energy consumption by 60% is not only feasible, but also could be done in a way that brings a comfortable lifestyle to every single person on this planet. And if you’re thinking that a 60% reduction or even a 95% reduction would mean living in caves, you’d be wrong.

The paper asserts that this contraction means reverting back to 1960s levels of consumption, and that would mean a 1960s lifestyle not just for the U.S., but for everyone on the planet. This new reality would look a lot like what Annie Raser-Rowland describes in her book The Art of Frugal Hedonism. A life for all that centres people and experience in well-being instead of relying on extra stuff to manage our emotional health. It would be an economy based on mutual care and repair. But this economic reality cannot happen under a state capitalist economic model.

Indeed were degrowth to be handed down in policy from the ruling class it would look the same as austerity measures or even the conditions we’re now living through now in the pandemic. Because, under capitalism, no growth means recessions, the consequences of which inevitably fall on the working class and the marginalised. Which is why degrowth is just one piece of the puzzle. Towards Eco-socialist Degrowth: While degrowth does a sufficient job recognizing the inherent destruction of our current capitalist growth/profit system, it needs to be in conversation with eco-socialism.

Eco-socialism cannot work without degrowth, and degrowth cannot function without eco-socialism. A synthesis of the two creates a steadier path away from capitalism. The seizing of the means of production by labourers and the masses, and the subsequent full democratic control of the workplace and the state is essential to implement any measure of degrowth. Reducing consumption must bubble up democratically from the many, otherwise it can quickly fall into draconian measures of economic oppression. Which is why eco-socialism is essential, it allows for the reconstruction of the economy not based on profit and ultimately endless growth, but one based on needs–ultimately handing the working class agency and liberation.

Without a constant need for work in order to live or to “have”, we can actually start “being.” We can start by asking questions like why do we burn 800 million gallons of gas every year in the U.S. just to mow our lawns when we could have an abundance of communal gardens instead? Why does work need to be the thing that defines our life? Why is it so much easier to buy than to repair?

Faced with the realisation that capitalist decoupling is not working as we continue to increase global consumption, an eco-socialist degrowth intervention must happen.

After all, what could be more enticing than a life with more time to be with the people you love and do the things you want to do.