Capitalism and Consumption: Can we really stop climate change?
Defining Consumption
The existing system under which our world currently operates - capitalism - demands many things from us as a society and as individual consumers. One element of capitalism that is pertinent to the problems the world faces today is consumption.
Consumption denotes the form of accumulation that keeps the cogs of capitalism whirring. It drives the consumer to continue to accumulate goods and products, benefiting the producer who subsequently gains capital which is then invested to reap further profits.
However, there are undercurrents to this seemingly simple transactional relationship between the consumer and producer that hold wider, more detrimental effects to the world around us.
The relationship between consumer and producer highlight the way in which capitalism shapes the desires and psyche of us as individuals and members of a capitalist society. As Todd McGowan proposes in his book ‘Capitalism and Desire’, capitalism forces individuals into a state where they constantly desire and seek something new. Thus forming a vicious cycle as the consumer is never truly satisfied with what they currently have and build an insatiable desire for accumulating goods.
Climate Change and Capitalism
The consumerist desire for the latest iPhone or laptop are the antithesis to what the world needs to combat climate change; the most pressing problem of the 21st century. Rather than recycling, repurposing and reusing, what we must do as individuals to slow the warming of our earth, we are being twanged into buying the latest luxury item.
This is exacerbated by the responsibility of stopping climate change being placed upon the consumer by modern society, rather than onto the multi-million pound corporations who exploit cheap labour and operate in unsustainable ways, all whilst amassing a whopping carbon footprint along the way.
A dichotomy subsequently exists in the mind of current-day consumers, whether they should pursue their desire to ‘save the planet’ or indulge in consumerist items being advertised to them. What truly can be done about this?
Crossroads: What will we choose?
I think anyone reading this can agree that we are at a crucial time in our fight to save the world we live upon. The sense of urgency surrounding the agreements made at COP26 highlighted this on a global scale.
Although there have been small victories amidst a much bigger battle, such as the Paris Climate Accords of 2015, or 130 countries agreeing to cut global methane emissions by 30% by 2030, the existence of capitalism and what it demands from us as consumers still persists — and continues to shape the way we think and act — which is ultimately to the detriment of our natural world.
I believe (although this may sound quite radical and simultaneously pessimistic) that as long as we live in a world ruled by capitalism, climate change will continue to be an issue. The power of consumerism is currently stronger than the power to want to change our society, and it is hard to visualise a world where capitalism does not dictate our actions and thoughts.
Until there is a tectonic shift in the way consumption affects us as a society, it is hard to see climate change ceasing to exist, or our planet actually being saved by its inhabitants.
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