Planet under Pressure

ECOLOGICAL LESSONS
What determines our actions?
Why am I telling you this? First, the
ecological problems of the present day,
and climate change too, are ultimately
due to the fact that expansive luxury
consumption unleashes its destructive
power especially when it becomes mass
consumption. It goes practically without
saying that the owners of the SeaXplorer
75 are doing more than their fair share
to destroy the environment. But the damage
caused by the hundreds of thousands
of tourists on a shoestring budget who
are following in the footsteps of the
wealthy is several times worse. Second,
the stories in Bild and the FAZ are being
told because they profess expanded
global reach as good news – as something
we should strive to reproduce.
That is the more important aspect in
the following thoughts and reflections.
It is precisely in this way that “imperial
modes of living” – as the political scientists
Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen
have termed such global consumption
– are propagated as being worth striving
for. In media, advertising, business, and
The underlying issue
immediately becomes
clearer if we replace
the word “growth”
with the term “increased
consumption.”
It is precisely this
pattern of permanent
growth in global
consumption that is
bringing the 20th
century model of
civilization into such
difficulty in the 21st
century.
politics alike, increased global consumption
is still seen as desirable and is both
subsidized and promoted accordingly.
To this day, the majority of people view
cruising the seas, monstrously oversized
SUVs, enormous flat-screen TVs, and spacious
country-house kitchens in which
no meals are ever cooked neither as
a nightmare nor as an anachronism.
In fact, the opposite is true: For most
people, it evokes a spontaneous sense
of “I want that too.”
And that is ultimately the point. According
to standard theories of economics
and politics, growth is not simply an
economic necessity, it is essential to
maintain a stable society. The underlying
issue immediately becomes clearer
if we replace the word “growth” with
the term “increased consumption.” It
is precisely this pattern of permanent
growth in global consumption that is
bringing the 20th century model of
civilization into such difficulty in the
21st century.
If we look into how we encourage citizens
in hyperconsumerist societies such
as Germany to act with a sustainable
and environmentally friendly mindset,
we must account for the fact that one’s
own efforts will stand in stark contrast
– or even be completely negated – by
stories such as those described above.
After all, stories of global reach, such
as the one about the explorer ships, are
everywhere – simply glance at the travel
section in any magazine or newspaper
and the constant background noise that
is online advertising. Faced with such
excess, it appears quite audacious to
present frugality as some sort of alluring
counterpoint.
Striving for improvement by establishing
a conscience is misguided, too. Consciousness
is only loosely linked to our
actions, as we can easily see if we correlate
concerns about the environment
and the climate with the rapid increase
in our consumption of this very environment.
The spread of environmental
consciousness has been accompanied by
continuous GDP growth. In other words,
more materials have been extracted and
processed at a greater energy cost, more
goods have been handled and transported
around the world, and more emissions
and waste have been generated. These
flagrant contradictions have been made
socially acceptable by explaining that
greater prosperity is a prerequisite for
reducing environmental impact and by
allowing products to become “greener.”
In the end, an enormous hybrid SUV appears
just as eco-friendly as a cruise ship
powered by natural gas. All this ignores
the fact that the only way to make such
products sustainable is to not have them
at all. But that is how capitalism works:
It is capable of gently swallowing up
any aspect of society that was originally
critical of it. Even environmental consciousness
can be commodified.
Any remaining concerns that may arise
when we as individuals do things that
we know to be wrong are astoundingly
easy to cope with. People can go >>
Global Goals Yearbook 2020
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