Pointless Consumption

"In 2007, the journalist Adam Welz records, 13 rhinos were killed by poachers in South Africa. This year, so far, 585 have been shot. No one is entirely sure why. But one answer is that very rich people in Vietnam are now sprinkling ground rhino horn on their food or snorting it like cocaine to display their wealth. It’s grotesque, but it scarcely differs from what almost everyone in industrialised nations is doing: trashing the living world through pointless consumption. 

"This boom has not happened by accident. Our lives have been corralled and shaped in order to encourage it. World trade rules force countries to participate in the festival of junk. Governments cut taxes, deregulate business, manipulate interest rates to stimulate spending. But seldom do the engineers of these policies stop and ask “spending on what?”. When every conceivable want and need has been met (among those who have disposable money), growth depends on selling the utterly useless. The solemnity of the state, its might and majesty, are harnessed to the task of delivering Terry the Swearing Turtle to our doors."

Full article:  http://www.monbiot.com/2012/12/10/the-gift-of-death/


'The festival of junk'.  That might be funny if it wasn't so sadly true.

I have so much more that I want to say about this, but don't have the time right now.  I came across this article this morning, and just had to share the bit above.

I think that slowly, people are becoming more aware of what their habits are doing to the earth.  I've been doing what I can, but feel inspired to do even more.  It's just a matter of creating new habits.