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Category Archives: overconsumption

Staggering Technology Waste

June 12, 2012 – 5:35 pm

According to Chuck Burr in his book Culturequake, the waste associated with our lifestyle – and our techie gadgets – it astonishing! Each American generates about one ton of municipal landfill waste per year and about the same quantity of hazardous waste.

Electronic devices represent less than 4 percent of total solid waste, but they make up 70 percent of all hazardous waste. For every pound of electronics in your pocket or on your desk, approximately 8,000 pounds of waste is created somewhere in the world.

More than ever I want to buy cautiously, use what I have as long as possible, and recycle every shred I can. What a mess we’re leaving behind as we consume, consume, consume.

Energy Saving Blind Spot

May 4, 2011 – 8:03 pm

Yesterday I was volunteering at a museum program for 4th graders and I was waiting with another woman while the kids were being welcomed by the director of the program. I closed the door as I entered the building we were assigned to, saying something about trying not to waste energy. She replied that she understood and that she was pretty vigilant about energy, too. Then she added that at home she doesn’t pay the electric bill so what does it matter?

Then we both went outside a moment later and as she followed me out she left the door wide open. I decided I’d said enough and let it be, but thought this tiny moment illustrated the sad state of conservation awareness and practice.

I mentioned saving energy, got agreement and dismissal within seconds of each other, and decided not to make a bigger issue of it. Maybe I should have risked alienating her. Maybe we all should stick our necks out more often.

By susanwclark | Also posted in peak oil, sustainability | Comments (0)

Clueless Experts

April 9, 2011 – 8:30 pm

My husband was recently asked to meet with some visitors from another country about his work in sustainability. He was provided some background about these visitors (their Ph.D., areas of expertise, etc.) and was given the following as one thing they were interested in: “sustainable resource exploitation”

There is so much wrong with that phrase and what it implies about values and world view that it’s hard to know where to start. Sticking the word sustainable in front of other words doesn’t conjure a magical change – it just muddles the communication and helps make the ‘s’ word useless. The word ‘resource’ is often used to describe almost any part of the earth, as though the whole planet is ours to chop down, dig up, melt, burn, cut, or otherwise shape to our current uses, in an effort to make more and more money. The word exploit implies a two-ended relationship, with benefit only for the exploiter and not to the exploited. I don’t get the sense that one would choose this word if what they meant was “gentle, no-waste, environmentally friendly, non-toxic use.” No, that isn’t exploitation.

Fracking is exploitation, mining, off-shore oil drilling, and clear cutting forests are exploitation. So is monocultural conventional agriculture. So is nuclear power generation. Exploitation leaves behind a destructive footprint that sometimes lasts forever.

So these experts were like a lot of people, ready to pursue the current version of the good life, hanging the word green on their cars, but flying across oceans for vacations, buying the latest fashions, and living large at the expense of the rest of the biosphere.

By susanwclark | Also posted in overpopulation, sustainability | Comments (0)

Global Dimming

January 20, 2011 – 1:33 am

My husband and I used to videotape programs we thought worth keeping and now are faced with piles of them, some of poor quality or dated and others real gems. We are looking at them to sort into the ‘keepers’ and ‘tossers’ (or recyclers if someone will take them) and we ran onto one called Global Dimming.

PBS ran this program about discoveries by several scientists that show that particulate air pollution is acting like a sun shade, combatting the effect of global warming. Their conclusion is that if we take steps to reduce air pollution, like from jets, cars, power plants, and manufacturing smokestacks, we might reduce the cooling these pollutants provide and trigger a kickback effect, making global warming jump even faster. Sometimes it seems like we can’t win for losing, but I’m still sticking to my resolution to finish projects. I’m also driving less, consuming less, out of debt, eating and buying locally, recycling like mad, and wishing I could do more.

By susanwclark | Also posted in sustainability | Comments (0)

What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire

January 14, 2011 – 11:23 pm

I just finished watching What a Way to Go, a 2007 documentary written by TSBennett and produced by Sally Erickson. The title gives a good idea of what you’re in for, and I assume if you’re reading this blog you’ve already absorbed some of the bad news lurking in our near future – BUT, this movie gives a long, clear look at most of them (and lists those they skipped over lightly).

A deleted scene (which I’m glad I saw) explained that estimates for global temperature rise now are actually higher than what scientists found happened during the previous mass extinction (during which 95% of all life was wiped out). This has somewhat reduced my plans for writing about gardening in hard times, since the times look like they may be harder than I had imagined – much harder than most people imagine, if this piece of info turns out to be right.

Bless those far-sighted Mayans, eh?

Here are some of my notes on What a Way to Go:

Chinese Proverb: If we don’t change our direction, we’re likely to arrive where we’re headed.

This culture is killing everything and we’re in deep denial about it. The scam of progress…We are less able to provide for ourselves, less able to think for ourselves…

Quote from Woody Allen (paraphrased slightly due to memory glitch): Extinction or utter despair and hopelessness: hope we have the wisdom to choose correctly.

We are headed toward the smackdown at the end of the universe. The dominant culture can’t change – it has to be replaced.

Check out the website at www.whatawaytogomovie.com

For me the ending was too metaphorical to be useful. I’ve already done much of what I know to do and don’t currently see how I – or even a lot of us – will manage to pull down the dominant culture and rebuild with something better in anything like the time we have. We’re all embedded – to some degree – in the system’s economy, laws, corporations, taxes, etc. Our economy is built on growth and even if millions of us found ways to reduce our footprints to the level of the average Banglashi (a suggestion I’ve read), we would then have much more massive failures of banks, mortgages, businesses, and governments than we do now. Fine. Maybe that’s what needs to happen, but I look at the suffering of people living in their cars and I wonder… The movie suggests building a boat, which may be handy when oceans rise, but that isn’t a very complete solution. Wish I had a better one.

By susanwclark | Also posted in overpopulation, peak oil, sustainability | Comments (2)

Chris Jordan – Am I the Last to Know?

January 13, 2011 – 6:37 pm

Over three years ago Seattle artist Chris Jordan was featured on Bill Moyers Journal (see https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09212007/profile4.html) and I’ve just watched it this week. He’s done remarkable pieces that take us to a new view of the global consumer lifestyle and it isn’t easy to look at – amazing and inspiring though.

The thing is, he’s been featured in the NY Times, Grist, Orion, and a zillion other places and I’ve been really slow to find and appreciate his work. Go look at it. Images of a moment’s use of plastic bags, aluminum cans, or electricity are just a few topics he’s taken on. I think he has found a way to communicate to us how vast our waste and consumption is and I thank him for it.

By susanwclark | Also posted in overpopulation, sustainability | Comments (0)

Depression Explained (with help from the National Institute of Mental Health)

December 13, 2010 – 6:03 pm

Depression (short for Major Depressive Disorder) affects about 14.8 million adults in the US, it strikes women more than men, and the median age of onset is 32. Put that together with the insulting ads that suggest we should give our loved one a new car — or maybe we should give each other new cars – and you’ll see at least part of the cause.

By the age of 32 a person will have seen zillions of ads in print and television, on billboards, and on items of clothing – their own and unknown passersby: ads all designed to make the viewer feel inadequate. Why else would you need the product, if not to bring you up to some illusive standard of fashion, sexiness, or up-to-dateness?

So you try this product, that job, and the next love partner.

By the age of 32 I imagine that people will have experienced the thrill of being hired for what looked like a great job and dating a person who appeared to be the person of their dreams – perhaps neither measured up. Maybe they have had children who turned out not to be a constant fountain of love, but smell bad, scream, and need attention from their exhausted parent. Ditto the spouse.

So by 32 you’ve seen all the products guaranteed to make you all you want to be – rich, good-looking, upwardly mobile and so on – and you may have slammed your head into the wall of reality. Jobs often suck, you’re not making enough money, maybe sex isn’t always thrilling, babies don’t seem to complete your life in a deeply meaningful way, and a new car siphons large payments out of your bank account every month.

Ironically, if someone DOES win the jackpot, it appears that the rich, sexy, and successful are often as unsatisfied as the rest of us, but with more money to get depressed with.

So we’ve lost our optimism but the ads keep coming. How could we not be depressed? We will never be a Victoria’s Secret model or even look good in their underwear. We will never be on American Idol, never win the lottery, and never really feel good enough unless we can throw off the phony commercially promoted expectations and embrace ourselves as we are: perfectly imperfect.

My husband responded this way when I told him I was blogging about the cause of depression: maybe we’re depressed because we see that the world is going into the crapper.

So, plenty of reason to become depressed and plenty of prescriptions that may help you while making mega-profits for the drug companies. For me, happiness and satisfaction has come from de-coupling from the consumer society as much as possible, getting out of debt, letting go of destructive work environments, and putting my two cents in about making things better. I wish you well this holiday season in finding something truly joyous in your life, rather than the Lexus, Rolex, or gaudy jewelry being promoted on TV. Happy Holidays!

By susanwclark | Also posted in sustainability | Comments (0)

We Can’t Stand Reality – Empire of Illusion #2

April 30, 2010 – 7:46 pm

Here’s more from my notes on author Chris Hedges latest book Empire of Illusion. In it he sites Daniel Boorstin’s book “The Image: A Guide to Pseudo Events in America” with the following: We live in a world where fantasy has displaced reality.

Reality is shunned as negative, a barrier to success. Reality is complex and boring compared to the hype and glitz we are pummeled with. We are comforted by cliche’s and empty inspirational messages like “American is the greatest country on earth,” “the future will be prosperous,” and “we are blessed by God.”

The flight into illusion sweeps away the core values of the open society, and corrodes the ability to think for oneself, to dissent, to sustain a free society. “Life is a state of permanent amnesia, a world in search of new forms of escapism and quick, sensual gratification.”

Hedges finds the America of today so diminished from just a couple of decades ago that it is nearly unrecognizable. The phrase ‘consent of the governed’ is now an empty saying. I’ll post more on the facets of illusion practiced in the U.S., including professional wrestling, pornography, politics, higher education, and his grim conclusions.

By susanwclark | Also posted in life, sustainability, thoughts | Comments (2)

Check out this book – what IS the worst that could happen?

March 9, 2010 – 11:25 pm

What’s the Worst That Could Happen?

A Rational Response to the Climate Change Debate by Greg Craven

Author Greg Craven is what he calls a green realist; he’s also a science teacher and a father of two. He sees the climate change debate stuck trying to answer the wrong questions.

Rather than asking “Is it going to happen?” or “Is it really caused by us?” we should be asking “What if we don’t do anything and it really does cause big problems?” Could you live with that? Can any of us?

The genesis of the book came as he thought about climate change, imagining a time when he would feel driven to protect his children’s drinking water at gunpoint. That’s a place he’d rather not be, so he began talking, writing, and teaching differently, pointing out that climate change is a security issue, not about saving the world, but about saving US!

In his book he teaches the use of tools that help improve thinking, one of which is called a Magical Grid Machine. He uses it to step his students and readers through a “what if” process that leads, in this case, to a clear decision to work as if global warming is a problem because it’s better than not acting and finding out too late that it is.

My favorite part of the book is the graphic that shows modern prosperity being held up by a structure built of modern medical care, abundant natural resources, a credit-based financial system, cheap energy, and high-yield agriculture. All of that is underpinned by a stable, predictable climate, like a house built on a cliff and held up by one big beam. This picture is worth more than a thousand words!

Go grab this book! The light tone and injection of fun belies the grim seriousness of the topic and his ultimate call to action. Thanks for the inspiring book, Greg.

By susanwclark | Also posted in overpopulation, peak oil, sustainability | Comments (0)

India’s Success Has Dark Side

May 6, 2009 – 6:00 pm

I recently heard an NPR program about India’s rising middle class and it led me to ponder how India’s economic growth will impact global sustainability. Albert Bartlett has written pursuasviely about how any growth rate is unsustainable – we simply can’t keep growing our populations, GNPs, and energy use – so it seems that the ‘need’ for growth will overwhelm attempts to conserve and live more frugally.

From one standpoint the 7% annual growth of India’s economy is good, allowing millions of Indian citizens to get jobs, earn money, and buy the affluent lifestyle the Western nations have enjoyed for decades (OK, not everyone in the West has become affluent and some of us are actively not enjoying watching friends and family consume so avidly.)

The report said that India needed a 9% growth rate to produce jobs for the 9 million young people entering the workforce every year. Yikes! We have helped to create a consumption monster without a conscience. It just sucks up resources and spits out debt and pollution. I have dim hopes that we can come up with a more eco-responsible model for quality of life anytime soon. Even though “green” has become popular in the US, I don’t see much truly systemic change and the expectation that we will “restart the economy” sounds like we expect to go back the same old same old.

NPR noted that the affluence that has come to India has made no improvement in the life of the farmers and rural population. About 25% of harvests rot on the farm due to lack of refrigeration. I’ll bet there are solar refrigeration units that could help solve this problem but it takes someone with money, vision, and awareness to initiate rural improvements. The US hasn’t done so well on this front either.

The model of success we helped promote focuses on profits, excessive consumption, and city lifestyles. I guess the Western lifestyle hasn’t really changed, so why should I expect that developing countries would aim at something with less bling and cha-ching?

By susanwclark | Also posted in farming, sustainability | Comments (0)

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Susan W. Clark – Writing for a Sustainable Future