Subject: the feeding frenzy of commercialism/consumerism is about to begin : we are entering a season of extravagant /profligate consumption and self- indulgence.
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> The problem is we live in a culture that glorifies consumerism and we don't think that we need to live within a finite budget and a finite carbon footprint.
> We are about to enter a season of rampant consumption and marketing hype.
> Retailers will be gearing up for the big Xmas season.
> We will be bombarded with messages to shop, spend, borrow, and buy,buy,buy--influences wch are difficult to ignore and resist.
> We have to resist the "culture of commercialism" in wch we are immersed. Contrary to societal pressure the ideal holiday is not one surrounded by a glut of consumer goods; rather it is time and activities shared with family members.
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> Don't be fooled by "deals" and "bargains".
> The best way to save money on a "sale" is to not buy it!
> Black Friday should be rebranded as
> " buy-nothing-day"!
> Don't buy into the buying and consumption frenzy this holiday season.
> We each need to reduce our carbon footprint.
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> > > *************** > >
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> warning to humanity--a second edition:
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> http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/14/health/scientists-warn-humanity/index.html
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> The letter essentially says that if there is not a groundswell of public pressure to change human behavior, the planet will sustain "substantial and irreversible" harm.
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> we need to decrease our consumption and decrease our population
this post is highly heretical (and a little screwgy). Most people aspire to improve their standard of living.
ReplyDelete70% of the national GDP is due to consumer spending. Many retailers make half their annual income during the December "consumption frenzy". If people acted in the way you are proposing and curbed spending, the economy would nose dive! Any initiative aimed at reducing consumption will depress the economy.
This goes against the dominant political rhetoric wch says we have to grow the economy. Any "leader" who advocates slowing economic and population growth will be laughed at!
DeleteYes, it is hard advice...but necessary. The planet cannot sustain unlimited demands upon its natural resources. The cause of sustainability requires us to change the prevailing economic system. The current paradigm is destroying the environment, causing social disorder,and immense suffering. We need to make fundamental changes in the way we live. We each have an obligation to live more simply a.d get by on less; i.e. reducing our carbon footprint.
ReplyDeleteIf we decide not to change we will be responsible for great suffering. Here's a look into our future...if we don't change course now: "2050 degrees of change" cbc.ca/podcast http://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/2050-degrees-of-change
Episode 2 - Snow and Ice
http://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/2050-degrees-of-change/episode/12878876
ReplyDeleterelationship between selfishness and ennvironmental degradation
shortsighted selfish pursuit of personal gain is destroying the natural environment
Selfish people do not see beyond the gratification of their own immediate desires. In the process of pursueing their lust for profit and personal gain/gratification they pillage and poison the earth, their home. They care only about themselves and their immediate gratification. They do not care about future generations or about all the other animals that depend upon the earth for their life support. They do not see that by polluting the air,the water,and the soil...they are sawing off the branch they themselves are sitting on. If we destroy nature we destroy ourselves. They are in effect destroying themselves and creating great suffering for life on the planet.
"Individualism" legitimizes and encourages selfishness and greed. The misguided glorification of the individual and the delusional belief in the individual as a separate entity is a denial of tbe interconnectedness of all things....and is having a negative impact on the planet. The problems we see in the world today are a result of thinking we are separate/isolated from our neighbors (and from our environment) and only unrelated "individuals".
This is a false identity!
No man is an island sufficient unto himself. No man lives in isolation. Every individual is a member of a community and an ecosystem. Man's identity must expand beyond himself to embrace the global community of creatures and the planet itself upon wch we all depend for our survival. When our actions are exclusively motivated by narrow short-sighted self interest at the expense of others or the health of tbe environment we end up in the longterm harming ourselves.
In the Dalai Lama's words :
"If you try to subdue your selfish motives and develope more kindness and compassion for others,ultimately you yourself will benefit more. So sometimes I say the "wise selfish person" should practice this way. Foolish selfish people are always thinking of themselves,and the result is negative. Wise selfish people think of others,help others as much as they can,and the result is that they too receive benefit." --Dalai Lama
Selfishness is fueling tbe destruction of the environment and threatening all life on earth.
The health of our planet and our very survival is at stake.
Man's effort to successfully navigate his way into the future by the ideology of individualism has been a miserable failure.
The parts are not greater than the whole.
The path to survival is a path of cooperation, not competition.
A radical change in our heart, mind, and vision is essential for our very survival!
We must change our outlook on life and embrace a greater identity tbat includes all humanity and all of nature.
To change the world we must change our values:
right values create right thoughts; right thoughts create right actions
X-mas has become far too commercialized--a time of pagan materialism and self-indulgent
gluttony ... instead of a period of givi.g, sharing, cari.g, and spending time with family
All those consumer products will end up in the landfill. We should consider the impact of making and disposing of all those purchases on the environment.
By consuming less we help protect the environment.
are you the Grinch who stole Xmas?
ReplyDeleteXmas has always been about consumption!
I'm not trying to kill Christmas;
ReplyDeletejust rehabilitate it!
It is not my wish to dampen the joy,
the magic,and the spirit of Xmas (generosity, goodwill, and inclusivity).
soliloqy of Scrooge's nephew Fred (Alfred)on the real meaning of Christmas:
"i believe that Christmas is a good time" its about people opening their shut up hearts; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!"
Christmas, a pagan holiday disquised as a religious holiday, has always been about consumption. It was in honour of the shortest day of the year (winter solstice)and the rebirth of the sun (Saturnalia). And why not justify an excuse for a party with a religious narrative (birth of Messiah) Santa Claus is a capitalist marketing conspiracy intended to stimulate spending--disquised as charitable gift-giving.
I have no problem with combining the celebration of the winter solstice (the return of the Sun)with the birth of the Son
(it is when the earth is darkest that the messiah appears).-- as long as our celebrations do not involve excessive levels of consumption.
ReplyDeleteIn most people's minds there is a disconnect
(out of sight;out of mind) between their consumption and its environmental cost. They do not understand that everything they buy/consume has an environmental impact.
Excessive consumption doesn't just harm oneself by making one obese...it also poisons the planet.
Worse than "the Grinch who stole Xmas"
would be "the Grinch who destroyed the biosphere"...and yet to the extent we are not taking the urgent measures to safeguard our endangered biosphere that is what we are all complicit in!
All that consumption has an immense hidden cost.
The consequences to the environment of all that consumption are coming due...and you can bet your bottom dollar it won't be cheap!
Unlimited economic growth(like unlimited population growth) is not sustainable!
The reality of climate change is not elsewhere in some distant future; it is upon us now!
Unless we change our behaviour and learn to consume less,
climate change will continue to get worse!
Meantime. ..China has recently reversed its "one child per couple" policy with the intent of increasing their population and stimulating economic growth through more domestic spending/consumption.
In China everyone wants a car!
As they become more affluent they want to have all the "stuff" that the affluent people have. But the planet cannot withstand
7 billion people having all that "stuff".
The planet and its atmosphere doesn't heed nor care about the boundaries between nations.
Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course.
It is already overburdened!
Nature is already pushing back with climate change and armed conflicts arising from competition for its limited resources.
Africans now have access to cell phones and digital flatscreen tv's powered by solar-electric, so they can see Western broadcast content and western lifestyles. Now that their eyes have been opened to how those in the outside "developed" world live, they all aspire to the same "standard of living" (level of consumption) as affluent westerners.
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Naomi Klein's "This changes everything" states that addressing climate change requires a fundamental change in our economy.
The capitalist model of unlmited economic growth is not sustainable
To continue to be oblivious
(out of sight;out of mind)
to these facts is to give up hope.
We each have to shoulder the blame and address the cause of the problem...by consuming less.
Unless we change our behaviour and learn to consume less,
climate change will continue to get worse!
Big data algorhythms are used to capture your attention, to influence/to sell you something.
ReplyDeletePeople who don't know how to guard their attention are at the mercy of the world.
They are vulnerable to being "hacked"
The hacking of democracy
Liberalism is threatened (under attack) The resurgance of authoritarianism
Corporations have accumulated enuf personal data on us that they can manipulate us without our knowing that we are being manipulated.
They plant desires and choices in our heads wihout our knowledge and our permission.
If yhey know you better than you know yourself, they can sell you anything--a product,a politician, an entire ideology.
Yuval harari cbc.ca/ideas
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/yuval-harari-hacking-humanity-1.4810248
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/ideas/episode/15592057
Yuval Harari: Hacking Humanity
Sep 5, 2018
Yuval Harari is a global intellectual. And the internationally bestselling author is worried: our brains are getting hacked. Artificial intelligence, biotechnology and ever-sophisticated algorithms are tapping into our values, habits, tastes, desires and the very thought patterns that define us - all to control how we shop, what we read, and whom we vote for. The notion of free will is defunct. And the grand project of liberalism, with its focus on the individual, is worn out. But in this exclusive interview with Paul Kennedy, he explains why he remains cautiously optimistic about humanity's future.
The world wants to sell you somrthing...but to do it thry firdt have to capture your attention.
Guard your attention well! ... by knowing what is worthy of your precious attention!
Deletewe all assume that we are too smart to be baited or entrapped by marketing.
But this is a fa!lse assumption!
The truth is that we are immersed in the consumer culture ( like the proverbial fish in water) and are influenced and manipulated without our conscious awareness.
Corporations are continuously measuring the outcome (effectivenes)of their marketing strategies.
That is, they are contiinuosly monitoring how effective their efforts are to influence us.
They are continually making changes to maximize the effectiveness of their advertizing.
"The richest man is not be who has the most,
ReplyDeletebut he who needs/desires the least"
--unknown author