Do individual consumer choices make a difference in creating a more sustainable society?

Yes

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by Lana Evans

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In my household alone, there are five people. My garbage has to be taken out daily. Years ago, my former husband went on a TV dinner kick. The kids and I joined in. I tolerated about six weeks of this before I decided that, as convenient as these box and tray meals were, I was really disturbed to see how much waste we produced. Back then, two to three bags of garbage were taken out of my house on a daily basis; that included plastic bottles and several cans. I could have just bought a giant garbage can, but instead put a stop to it. And some of us lost a pound or two after that.

But those frozen meals were more affordable than fresh produce. I guess this is because real food isn't as popular as junk food. That's unfortunate, because many Americans can't even afford health care. Yet, with the physical ills brought on by the modern lifestyle, there is a great demand for health care. As a result, emergency rooms are often filled with people who are really just needing to see a nonemergency doctor. They can't pay at the time of the visit, so they just opt to receive a bill for many times what they would have paid for a doctor visit. (I can see how desperation leads to this, especially when you're in pain. It's kind of like getting an instant loan from a check cashing center; you promise to pay back a whole lot more than you would have to had you not been so desperate in the first place.)

Furthermore, most of those employed by the industries and distributors of all these junk products earn minimum wage, or close to it. Individual consumer choices add up. They are what the stores base their shipments on. They are what keep the industries going.

We live in industrial times. Never in history has there been so many consumers. Consumers absolutely rule. They rule through their choices. The choices have led to a lot of social and environmental ills. Aside from shallow conveniences, most of our choices don't benefit our society. But they could. Sadly, the very choices that are infused with the modern American way of life only keep us in the position to follow the very trends that cause inequality between classes and environmental uncertainty. Half of what is considered either cool or just highly acceptable is slowly injuring both our environment and our society. Every other commercial wants to sell you something that will either add to all the waste we already produce, decline your health in the long run and addict you in the process, or put more money into the pockets of the wrong people.

Everyone knows that you can judge a society by the kind of trash it leaves behind. Archaeologists know this; they dig up even the garbage that ancient people have left. Often they can find hints to who they were as well as what happened to them. Everything we do leaves a print; every consumer choice makes a difference.

So, if we can look back to see how things were in a particular society, then can't we also see how things will be? Individual consumer choices make an impact. That impact can be desirable or undesirable. They aren't just a bunch of invisible phantoms who are making all these consumer choices; they are consumers. Just think of the population of all these consumers; there are more of us than just about any other animal species on the planet.

But, as civilized, intelligent creatures, we are capable of making civilized, intelligent choices. What should be outdated ideals are still lingering. We should know better by now than to indulge in unhealthy, non progressive choices. We can't be part of "we' without being an individual. Whatever is done by the "we" is first done by each one, separately. Each individual added up equals "we". Whomever is one of us is all of us. At least in this case.

This is why those marketing researchers who poll the general public are not selective about who they will poll; unless they are trying to reflect the demographics of the area. But any female who walks by will do if they are interviewing females; same for males, Blacks, Whites, and so on. And they often get pretty accurate marketing information as a result. They call me randomly all the time. They are prepared with multiple choice questions to ask me because they don't know me as an individual, but as a consumer, As such, most of my responses can be anticipated enough for them to approach me with an already narrowed down list. They know that my individual consumer choice is part of the group consumer choice.

So, to those who fancy themselves as so separate and unique, all the way down to consumer choices, I'm sure you are unique; but in a world of consumerism, you are just part of the collective. Funny, how we're all assimilated for the sake of material gain. Yet, society is far from where it wants to be. We're just the batteries that power the current system, rather than individuals.

We're all involved. We're all responsible. Through better choices, we can update our expectations for society. Or, we can just cling to the old and outdated and follow the crowd. But currently, we all contribute to the status quo; one person at a time. No individual consumer choice goes without making an impact on society and the environment; one way or the other.

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