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Consumerism In The Us

Decent Essays

Whether we know it or not, consumerism is ruining all of our lives and the world as we know it. As humans, we are always looking for satisfaction and we think worldly items will cure the hunger that we have for pleasure. Consumerism says that purpose, joy and contentment are to be found primarily in the consumption of goods, services and experiences. Basically, consumerism manipulates us to believe that our success is based on how much we have. Consumerism changes the complete purpose of our lives. As Christians, we know that complete satisfaction only comes in Jesus and we know when we are truly satisfied. Consumerism Is a very temporary satisfaction while committing your life to God is a complete eternal satisfaction that can truly be felt. …show more content…

But despite this, Americans are more miserable, depressed and unsatisfied then ever before. So many Americans are being sucked into consumerism and follow it day in and day out. Consumerism goes in a cycle. Fashion trends and commodities are all temptations of consumerism. The endless cycle of trends seems never ending and are intentionally flowing because of consumerism. Countless goods and resources are being wasted and thrown away because of consumerism. Shamefully, the United States is responsible for less than 5% of the world’s population but uses 33% of the entire world’s resources (World Resources Institute). The average person living in the United States also uses 300 shopping bags of raw material every week on average. In John 6:12, Jesus says “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” This verse is a key hint to us that God does not want us wasting his resources that he supplied for us. As Americans, we waste so much food that could be going to people who actually need it. We gorge ourselves on big meals and end up throwing half of it. Steven Miles says “Consumerism appears to have become of the very fabric of modern life. Consumerism is arguably the religion of the late (twentieth …show more content…

Consumerism promotes environmental decay and destruction. The average American produces a whopping 4.5 pounds of trash per day. Most of our trash ends up in a landfill or incinerated, both of which are completely terrible for the environment. Incineration releases harmful chemicals into the air while landfills are also bad for the environment. There is even a trash island that has formed in the ocean because of all the excess trash that we produce! Consumerism also fuels global poverty. As most of us know, most of the goods that consumers buy in the United States are imported from somewhere other than the U.S. All of the billions of goods that are sent to the U.S. are made by someone who is poor in another country. Often times, these people have no choice but to work for miniscule amounts of money because they have no other choice. Companies know this and will build factories in poor countries because they know that people will work for them and that they will work for very little money. Not only do these companies pay very little, but some factories provide horrible working conditions for their “employees.” Some of the biggest companies that are known to fuel global poverty are Nike, Apple, H &M outfitters, etc, the list goes on and on. The Apple factory in China even has suicide nets outside of the windows of the factory because of the amount of people that have committed

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