Alpena First Baptist Church Awana Kids Christmas Caroling, December 16, ...

A Short video of the Alpena, Arkansas First Baptist Church Christmas caroling.

We Overconsume Way Too Much

I believe the economy is important. Without the economy we would have no jobs to go to which help pay the bills and allows us to have a roof over our head. Remember the great depression and how people lived because of no economy? However that was caused because of the overconsumption lifestyle we lived during the roaring 1920s. There are pros and cons to the economy of course, but I still feel it’s very important. However, we as Americans do consume way too much stuff. We are running out of resources too quickly. I agree with what Annie Leonard had to say in the “Story of Stuff” video entirely (Leonard, 2007). She makes a lot of good points. We need to really reconsider our buying habits. We definitely overconsume, which takes away resources that our planet needs to survive and give us life. We should really rethink our strategy. I do believe those of the older generations were more concerned about the environment than we are today, and back in those days there weren’t any environmental agencies. According to a poll on MSNBC, 76% of millennials believe they care more about the environment than their parents. I tried to find articles referring to their grandparents, but couldn’t find any. I personally believe people were more concerned about the environment during our grandparents days though compared to now. They reused everything and stocked up on things and didn’t overconsume. Yes, Watching so much television because we are tired is bad for us. It causes us to overconsume because we see things on the tv we want, but don’t necessarily need. Which causes to work more than we should in order to pay for the junk we don’t need. Yes, the government may be for the people and by the people, but should we really expect them to make laws forcing us to not over consume, protect our environment, and recycle? No. Forcing people to do the right thing makes them not want to even more. But if you give them a choice, most people will do the right thing. This video hit home for me. When I worked a regular job, I was very depressed. I felt like my life had no meaning. I wasn’t happy with my job, only making minimum wage and working part time and not having much to show for it. I was also in my 20s and early 30s holding jobs that I had no chance of a real career in. I felt like a failure to the world, and that I wasn’t even important. I felt like another waste on society. All I would do is go home and work, and I couldn’t do much else to better myself because of that work. A tornado destroyed a grocery store I was working at which allowed me to go back to school in 2012, and ever since I’ve been a part of things. I’m more involved in actitvities going on in my community. I feel much happier as a person, and not like a failure anymore. Having money and overconsuming isn’t important; however being able to be with your family, and friends, and helping out where you can in your community is. I don’t believe or agree with this overconsumption mentality. We need to recycle as much as we can and even re-sell or donate things we don’t use or need anymore, and I do this as much as I can. As far as television goes, I do like to watch it as well, however get rid of anything that shows these ads. I do not subscribe to cable or satellite for shows, therefore I get none of these ads. As a business person, and capitalist though I also understand the business man’s point of view as well. They have to market themself in order to sell their products, or else they go bankrupt and out of business, causing them to not have a job and be homeless. Which is why economy is important. So we need marketing, but we don’t need overconsumption, but than the marketing leads to overconsumption because it causes you to buy buy buy. Maybe if that marketing presented something telling people to re-sell or donate their old item when they buy a new one? Maybe if that marketing even presented something telling people to buy only when absolutely necessary. But will that keep a business in business very long? Remember the old maytag commercials with the bored maytag man? He was bored because nobody bought new washers and dryers because they lasted a long time. I don’t have the answers. I don’t know what will work. I do believe we should rethink our habits, but not cause people to lose their jobs over it as well. References: Leonard, A., Fox, L., & Sachs, J. (2007). The Story of Stuff. Retrieved from http://storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-stuff/ Timm, J. C. (2014, March 03). Millenials: We Care More About The Environment. MSNBC.COM. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/millennials-environment-climate-change