Case 1
Colleen Case
Dr. Stogner
UCWR 110-046
9 November 2012
Excessive Consumerism Today Excessive consumerism is a growing problem in today's society. So many of our actions are driven by the desire to consume. Our whole lives revolve around getting the latest thing and working to no end to achieve it. Then, once we have the means of obtaining it, we spend even more time trying to decide which features we want or don't want. In this way, we find ourselves in a situation in which we serve the economy instead of it serving us. Colin Beavan and Robert Reich both offer their interpretation of the issue in relation to sustainability and freedom of choice, respectively. In No Impact Man, Beavan reveals the environmental issues associated with increased consumerism and attempts to find a way to counter the effects by discontinuing purchase of anything new. In Reich's "The Choice Fetish", he discusses how the sheer number of options available to us can limit our personal freedom because so much of our time is spent mulling over these insignificant choices. He uses the example of buying a computer, something many people do in their lifetime, and shows how incredibly overwhelming the process can be with all of the features to choose from in order to make the final product "personalized". In No Impact Man and "The Choice Fetish", Beavan and Reich show their readers the causes and effects of increased consumerism in a variety of areas. Because of these causes and their negative effects, Beavan and Reich suggest that their readers consider carefully the significance of the choices that they make. Case 2 First, the authors discuss the causes of increased consumerism. In order to deal with the problem, it is helpful to know where this excessive consumerism comes from. Beavan says that it arises out of the notion that serving the economy is the patriotic thing to do in America. (Beavan 141) He says that because we live by the notion that we need a bigger GDP, we are in a constant struggle to keep the economy going. This requires a lot of input from industry, which is constantly depleting our planet’s natural resources that support us. Beavan sums it up by describing a vicious circle—“We work our butts off so we can get the stuff, but the making of the stuff destroys the planet, which makes us more depressed, so we think we need more stuff to cheer us up, so we work even harder” (Beavan 142). Reich, on the other hand, says that consumerism comes from a combination of different factors. First, he says, “Blame it partly on digital technology” (Reich 16). He shows how advancing technology has gradually multiplied our choices over time, starting with black cars and straight shoes. Now there are twenty million customized shoes at Nordstrom, hundreds of television channels, and a billion web pages available to us, all because of technology. (Reich 17). Increasing middle-class prosperity is also a culprit of excessive consumerism. People today think that this prosperity “equates wealth with the ability to get exactly what you want” (Reich 17). Therefore, we should be able to have what we want when we want it. Reich also believes that excessive consumerism arises out of “a deepening cynicism about uniform public services” (Reich 17). Public institutions provide a reference point, but people today need to be able to have exactly what they want, and it must be tailored to their individual desires (Reich 18). Although the authors claim that our propensity to consume comes from differing sources,
Case 3 it is undeniable that in our society, consumption is king. It is nearly impossible to avoid this kind of culture, as Beavan demonstrated through his experiment. Consumption at this scale is also difficult to ignore especially because it’s in our nature to want what’s best for ourselves, and Reich says that because of the choices available to us, we have the ability to that. Essentially, avoiding consumer culture would require dedication to nonconformity, because to do so in today’s society would be considered "un-American". After showing where consumerism comes from, Beavan and Reich can show its effects. Showing these adverse effects clues the readers in to the goals of each reading—that consumption is neither a sustainable nor a healthy behavior. Beavan says that consumption depletes our planet’s resources. We as Americans have a mentality that we can have anything we want as long as we have the money to pay for it. However, there are some things that money cannot save us from. For example, Beavan talks about the water crisis that we are currently facing. He predicts that water will be a scarce resource in the near future. To begin with, the rich may be able to afford to have more water, but once it’s completely gone, it’s gone for everyone. (Beavan 197). Consumerism has led us to believe that we can buy our way out of anything, but that hardly the case. Beavan also talks about people becoming “slaves to consumerism”. He refers to a hedonic treadmill in which we have to keep buying the newest things in order to constantly get our “fix” (Beavan 26). In his experiment, he counteracts this by attempting to buy no new products. As a result, he is forced to be more creative about meeting his needs. Because Beavan was able to reduce his consumption somewhat, he wasn’t constantly working and worrying about how he was going to be able to afford his next take-out meal. Beavan describes it as liberating to
Case 4 be able to spend time with his family and not have to worry about working all the time so that he can buy things that would give the illusion that he and his family are happy. Reich argues the point that consumerism simply isn’t healthy. He says that it turns us into selfish beings because all of the choices that we are offered allow us to personalize everything so that we can please ourselves (Reich 16). All of these options create a situation in which we find ourselves spending more time trying to make a decision rather than actually enjoying the purchase, and “the consumer actually becomes a day laborer, breathlessly toiling to make sense of it all” (Reich 17). He also makes the assertion that the vast numbers of choices that are available to us stress us out even more and can overwhelm us until we “drown in a rising tide of inconsequential options” (18). Because of increased consumerism and the distractions that come with it, people simply can’t enjoy life as much. Both authors show the negative effects of increased consumerism. Beavan shows how it is affecting our planet and our relationships with others. The way that we consume simply isn’t sustainable. Reich points out that consumerism prevents us from living fulfilling lives. We become too caught up in getting exactly what we want as quickly and as easily as possible that we end up making things more difficult for ourselves. Overall, the bottom line is that the adverse effects of consumerism far outweigh the supposed benefits. Because consumerism has all of these negative impacts, Beavan and Reich each persuade their readers not to waste their lives by being sucked into consumerism. Beavan discusses thoroughly how much more important life became when he didn’t spend so much time caught up in the culture of consumerism. He was able to do something important with his time, even if it is
Case 5 a simple as bonding with his family. Beavan also changed himself for the better by volunteering to clean up his community. Because he felt like he was doing something important rather than just buying stuff all the time, he could say that he had made genuine progress, rather than just continuing in the same direction he had been (Beavan 187). Similarly, Reich says that so many choices in our everyday lives prevent us from seeing the scale of importance of the decisions we make. Because we make so many decisions all the time, we forget to pay special attention to the things that really matter, “such as what we stand for, to what and to whom we’re going to commit our lives, what we want by way of a community and a society” (Reich 18). He also says that these choices are classifying us according to wealth, education, age and health. Reich argues that this is not the way humans were meant to live. We are meant to have freedom, yes, but “too many small choices only divert our attention from these bigger ones, robbing us of the time and energy we need to exercise true freedom” (Reich 18). Both authors are trying to emphasize the point that our choices say a lot about who we are, and that is reflected in our lifestyle of consumption. Beavan and Reich want their readers to think about consumption in relation to our purpose as human beings. By reminding us that we have a higher purpose, consumerism seems incredibly insignificant compared to the other things we should be worrying about, like our health, our families, and the well being of others and our environment. Each of these authors present their views on consumerism differently, but the overarching goal in both readings is to first highlight the causes—service to the economy, technology, prosperity, and distrust of public institutions. Then, they describe the unhealthy effects, such as
Case 6 resource depletion and general unhappiness. Finally, the authors warn about the risks of increasing consumerism in today’s society, which detracts from our fulfillment. Because the authors are able to accomplish these goals, they can show how humans have been wasting their time worrying about something so insignificant as consumerism.

Works Cited 1. Beavan, Colin. No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life In the Process. New York: Picador, 2009. Print. 2. Reich, Robert B. “The Choice Fetish: Blessings and Curses of a Market Idol.” Writing Responsibly: Communities in Conversation. Ed. Victoria Anderson. Southlake, TX: Fountainhead, 2012. 15-18. Print.