WorldRecordChaseBlog.com

Consumerism

I will stand for what I believe in. Today is a good example.

 

I went to a shopping centre to get some items for attempting world records. When I began asking for paper cups out of the trash and explained that I wanted to limit how much waste I produce, I met contemporary consumerism head-on. My logic is that to limit my wastage, if I use thrown away cups, I am having less of an ecological footprint.

 

Shop staff sniggered at me. Bear in mind I need 15 cups, and they’re usually sold in packs of 100. Why buy so many when I need so few? One manager asked me for a sponsorship proposal!

 

I needed other items too, and everywhere I went managers and staff told me to “…do it the easy way and just buy new ones – then throw away what you don’t want”. This attitude should make you angry as it does me: the human population’s demand for use-and-throw-away items is massive.

 

A network of trucks, container ships, rail carriages and cargo aircraft bring use-and-throw-away things into our neighbourhoods constantly. And we buy them. But have you thought of where it comes from?

 

It largely originates from great big mining pits in scenic lands that we can see from aircraft, factories churning out so much smoke that people cough up discoloured phlegm miles away, and processing facilities which have covered up once-beautiful landscapes… just so we can buy it and waste it. Even a kid can work out this is stupid if you live on the only suitable planet we’re aware of.

 

Thankfully, I did eventually find a coffee shop which saw the sense in my using discarded cups, and that’s the sort of business management we need.

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