Review on consumerism

 

For more than a year and a half I have not visited the salons for facial spa/therapy and body massage. I have only visited the hairdresser thrice. This is to limit exposure to close contact services during this Covid pandemic. I can manage my hair quite well, colouring and trimming using a rear mirror. I am not sure however whether my face has more wrinkles or sags a bit more though. Also I have run down the stock of face/body creams usually purchased when the therapists did their cold selling. I have hardly gone to the malls for fashion shopping although I did purchase online just a few pieces of light clothing to help tolerate the extreme hot weather.

I must say I have saved considerable amount of money and also realise much was spent unnecessarily under normal times. I begin to think that the bosses of salons like Jean Yip derived their wealth from our stupidity, follow the crowd mentality as well as our attachment to routine. Honestly I can't understand why I pay so much for hair treatment that doesn't seem to produce much results. The need to wear mask during this pandemic has also dispensed with lipsticks and other cosmetics. I may even find it troublesome to revert to old ways of grooming once all restrictions are lifted and life goes back to normal. Will I even consider not visiting the grooming salons? Looking at a bigger picture however I may still resume all these activities to do my part to spin the economy. I think of my therapists and hair dressers and I have to continue to support them. Will I resume shopping? I don't know because buying unnecessary consumer products is a sheer waste of natural resources and pollutes the earth.

I have always wondered about how the world can grow its economy without higher consumer spending. Given that employment is based on economic growth how can we keep everyone employed while at the same time reduce consumption. 

"Perhaps the question is less whether the economy can survive the death of consumerism, but whether the economic system we have now is one we're willing to sacrifice the planet for'"  as one green society pointed out.

It has always been thought that economic growth is the only way to lift global population out of poverty. Yet we have now witnessed vast inequality and huge income gaps even in countries with high economic growth over the decades.

There is now a "degrowth" movement which believes there is an alternative to the consumer economy. The following are their goals:

(1) Reduce the environmental impact of human activity; (2) Redistribute income and wealth both within and between countries; (3) Promote the transition from a materialistic to a convivial and participatory society..

For this to succeed there needs to be a paradigm shift from values of a consumer economy to one that refocus on intrinsic human values.