What if you can? : Ramesh Shrestha

Stop shopping for one year

The global consumer economy has turned the entire planet into a giant market place and the eight billion people into customers devoid of rational thinking – all these for the benefit of the few. We the people have done everything in our control with money and will power to ruin our only home - Planet Earth. We are responsible for breaking ecological balance which has caused the extinction of innumerable species of flora and fauna, melting of ice caps and serious changes in weather patterns globally. We are also constantly at war with each other including preparing for a potential nuclear winter. But for now, let us focus on ecological imbalance. It is the result of our reckless consumption habits.

It is possible

The world economy is fueled by the spending habits of the top- and middle-class population. According to Pew Research 2021 data, 6.8% of the population belong to the high-income group, 31.8% belong to the middle-income group, 51% belong to the low-income group and 10.4% belong to the poor. The middle-income group is the largest consumer group. In terms of number, in 2020 there were 3.5 billion middle-class people. In 2020 they spent $44 trillion representing 68% of global consumer spending. By 2030, 700 million more people are expected to join the middle-class group.

As has been proven time and again the warming of the atmosphere is attributed to excessive generation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) which are the byproducts of industries that produce consumable for us, we the people. If we could control our spending habits, especially by the middle-class population, the industries will slow down which in turn will reduce the release of greenhouse gases which in turn will slow down warming of the atmosphere. The lower income group is already living with the basic minimum and cannot ask much. Their daily consumption will not add a significant amount of GHGs in the atmosphere. It is the high income and middle-income groups with substantial disposable income contributing to the excessive release of GHGs into the atmosphere. The recommendations coming out of the annual COP meetings are simply a façade. It is the people who can make a difference in controlling the GHGs by adjusting to their lifestyle choices while the COP participants can continue their meaningless dialogues.

Dear middle class

It is safe to assume that people belonging to the middle-income group have almost everything they need such as a well-furnished home, mode of transport(s), all kinds of domestic appliances, personal gadgets, clothes and dresses for all occasions, a network of energy, internet and all electronic and electrical devices. That leaves the need for daily supply of foods, medicine and personal beauty products. The industries are largely under the control of the high-income group and are the ones that produce all what people consume and control the markets of all consumables. The household appliances and personal items people own can last a few years. But people are being influenced by the social marketing that allures them to buy every new model of accessories and appliances in the market. There is no need to replace perfectly functioning devices just because the new product has one less button or of different design or colour. Although it is ideal, the idea of repair and reuse has disappeared from people’s habits long ago. It is partly because of the unreasonably hiked price of spare parts; it is another ploy to improve sales. There are ‘Sale’ signs hung in stores on every occasion with signs like ‘buy two get one free’ or ‘buy one at full price get one at half price’, etc. New models of fancy items such as smartphones are released annually with minor modifications. People have unconsciously become slaves to such advertising campaigns. We are failing ourselves, failing nature and failing the future generations as we are exhausting natural resources and turning mother nature into a giant landfill for incombustible garbage with our consumption habit.

Can we limit our shopping to just basic daily essentials only such as food, medicine and replacing broken appliances, which cannot be repaired.

Two sets of problems

First, people are spending their hard-earned resources on consumer goods that they can live without or not needed. A lot of GHGs are produced during the manufacturing of consumer goods. Second, all combustible materials that we dump in the landfills, when rot produces additional GHGs while the non- combustible materials remain on the ground for hundreds of years. We really have to escape from living in this bubble created by the consumerism economy. If billions of people in the middle-income group think seriously about their daily spending habits and be thoughtful about their resources it could greatly contribute to the welfare of the environment as well as their own peace of mind in deciding what is essential for our daily needs.

The culture of materialism and individualism fueled by the intrusive social media is destroying the inner core of human values. Our modified artificial habit driven by technology & social marketing is annihilating our natural environment, our own peace of mind and even human dignity, especially of the younger generations all in the name of freedom. You must have heard of the saying - when a sweet talker tells you to go to hell, he says in such a way that you actually want to go to hell. This is the motto of social media marketing, believe it or not; we fall for it.

Can we limit our shopping to just basic daily essentials only such as food, medicine and replacing broken appliances, which cannot be repaired.

We can do it

We all survived during COVID pandemic lockdown as we were involuntarily forced to buy just the daily essentials. One positive lesson of this market shut down was for people to understand what are the basic needs for a healthy living. Replace soft drinks with water. Stop buying processed foods. These activities not just contribute to reducing GHGs but also contribute to our health as all processed foods have preservatives, taste enhancing chemicals, synthetic food colouring agents, etc. On 17th January 2025 the FDA banned food colouring agent Red No.3 which has been linked to children’s cognitive function negatively and cancer in lab rats. We have to tame our habit of desire for more, more of everything. It requires a collective effort with everyone’s participation. It is all about our lifestyle. It will have implications on the tax revenue on the governments’ coffers but it can be adjusted by realigning public spending, preventing leakages and putting an end to other wasteful expenditures of which there are many. The idea is to replicate our living experience during COVID for one year and then another year and so on.

Can we limit our shopping to just basic daily essentials only such as food, medicine and replacing broken appliances, which cannot be repaired.

Majority of the politicians, leaders in various hubs and people influencing the mass lack integrity, motivated by profits - sorry no offence directed! Their greed and lack of honesty is fueling the disintegration of the environment. The environment can be saved only by the mass movement of people everywhere. The biggest task is to control materialism and consumerism as it is impacting people’s health, wealth (lack of saving among many), environment, and depleting natural resources for future generations. Advances in technology which is applied in every aspect of our society cannot be stopped. But we can ignore social media and tame our consumption habits.

Can we limit our shopping to just basic daily essentials only such as food, medicine and replacing broken appliances, which cannot be repaired.

What have we become

Technology has increased connectivity between technology and people but has cremated connectivity between people and communities superbly facilitated by social media marketing. Modern markets have created greed and unhappy people everywhere, especially among the low-income class as they cannot afford what they want – not what they need. This also has negative impacts on people’s mental health due to the feeling of deficiency. We need to build strong bonds between people and communities and learn to ignore markets trying to sell happiness through material culture. People standing in que from 2AM in the morning to buy a new smartphone is simply insane an behaviour. People belong to families and communities not markets.

Can we limit our shopping to just basic daily essentials only such as food, medicine and replacing broken appliances, which cannot be repaired. We can do it.



Read more articles by Ramesh here.
Or contact Ramesh at ramesh.chauni@gmail.com
Labels: Ramesh