Consumer Society

"Our enormously productive economy… demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption… We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing rate." 
- Victor Lebow, 1955

Since the industrial revolution in the early 1800s, humans have been on a consuming spree. "Since 1950 alone, the world's people have consumed more goods and services than the combined total of all humans who ever walked the planet before us." And there have been benefits from this, like unparalleled economic growth and better quality of life in industrial countries (life expectancy is longer, we have (more than) adequate food, running water, shelter, electricity, and transportation.) In the 1900s, consumption patterns created huge amounts of environmental damage. To put it simply, every consumer product comes from the Earth and returns to it in one form or another, which is putting enormous strain on the environment.  But we consumers are continually told to keep buying, using, and throwing away. This is easily seen in any commercial, like this Macy's add. As Lebow said, consumption has become a way of life and we are consuming, burning up, wearing out, replacing, and discarding at an ever increasing rate, but now, we are beginning to see its hugely damaging effects. If everyone consumed like Americans we would need 3-5 planets. 75% of global fisheries are fished at or beyond capacity and 80% of planet's original forests are gone. 1/3 of our natural resources are used, only 4% of our forests are left and 40% of our waterways are polluted.