Soda bottles, newspapers, plastic containers, and countless other disposed, obsolete articles overflow from the 10,000 landfills that contain our trash in the United States. Although the sheer amount of all this garbage is startling enough, buried beneath all these layers of refuse lies something even more appalling than the rubbish that covers it: the greed of American consumerism.
Through consumption, the average American creates roughly 4 ½ pounds of garbage daily. After we throw away an item such as a plastic bottle, we will probably never think of it again. Our society has a “throw-away” philosophy that dominates our actions. Products are made with the acceptance and intention for them to be thrown away. Studies have shown that only 1% of the items we buy will still be serving useful functions six months after their purchase. The other 99% of these items are thrown away as trash. However, just as that bottle will not decompose for another several thousand years, the effects of our consumption and disposal are long-lasting as well. Take the plastic bottle, for example. Our choices to buy it affects not only ourselves, but also the environment from which the resources to make it were obtained, the people who lived in that environment, the people who worked to produce the bottle, and the environment and people in the place where we dispose of it.
Through my experiences in Belize this semester, I have been compelled and convicted to think about my own consumption. Although I have always been a proponent of the three R’s (reduce, reuse, and recycle), I am ashamed to say that in much of what I buy and use, I am unconscious of the long-term effects of my choices. My naivety does not negate the fact, however, that these choices do indeed have consequences, ones that are as dirty and deep as the layers of trash in an American landfill.
Unconscious consumption leads first of all to degradation of the environment. The regions of the earth’s highest biodiversity are those around the equator, including places like the country of Belize. As demand for products increases, resources are harvested from the land at unsustainable rates. Take for example the sugar cane industry in Northern Belize. We visited a farmer named Alfonso during our last Sustainable Community Development course, and he told us about the drastic loss of soil fertility over the past few years. As farmers have harvested more and more cane over the years at the demands of consumers, soil nutrients have been depleted, topsoil has been lost, and ultimately the land is now less productive. In the production of other food items too, the land suffers. When some varieties of coffee are grown, rainforests are cut down to make room for the crops. As this deforestation occurs, the soil loses nutrients and water that would be held in by the trees, and other plants and animals lose their habitat and are at risk of endangerment. As I drink my sugar-filled coffee cooler from Caribou coffee, are my caffeine addiction and sweet tooth satisfied at the expense of the environment somewhere?
During our time in Belize, any plastic that we obtained from water bottles, straws, wrappers, etc, we had to collect to take home with us. Creation Care Study Program requires that students do this because when garbage is thrown away here, it is incinerated at the garbage dump. When plastic is burned it releases toxic chemicals that leach into the ground with other liquids and infiltrate the air we breathe. The closest dump to our campus is only a few miles away. On occasion, we can smell the fumes as the breeze blows them across the hills to our farm. When we drive by the dump on our way into town, the image is startling. Dirty smoke hovers over piles of burning trash and vultures fly ravenously above, swooping down on occasion to scavenge among the scraps. The piles are not ablaze, rather, they simmer slowly, releasing their filthy fumes into the air like a slow but deadly gas leak. Back home, our disposal of plastic is not any better. Even if it is buried, it will remain in the ground for thousands of years before it begins to decompose. Recycling is a much better option, but the best would be to seek alternatives to plastics altogether. An article called “Polymers are Forever,” by Alan Weisman, contains several sobering facts about plastics. Because of its slow decomposition, all the plastic that has been created since its invention in the 1940’s – except for the plastic that has been burned - still exists! This amount of this plastic is staggering: over 1 billion tons. Virtually every packaged product we buy contains some kind of plastic, but there is not room in our landfills to contain it all as it slowly decomposes. Our plastic waste is spilling over into other parts of the environment, such as our oceans. Trapped by ocean currents, plastic garbage swirls around in the world’s oceans in aggregations called gyre. One of these, in the Pacific is the size of Africa – 10 million square miles. If, as a consumer, I demand products that are wrapped in plastic, such as the plastic cup that I get my fancy Caribou drink in, then is my choice contributing to environmental degradation?
Unconscious consumption leads not only to environmental degradation but also to a loss of livelihood, health, and dignity for people living in places where products are made. The regions of the world’s highest biodiversity hold the world’s most resources. These regions also contain the highest concentrations of the world’s poverty. This resource/poverty parallel is not a coincidence. Consumer demand drives greedy producers to exploit lands filled with resources at the expense of the poor within them. James 2: 6 says, “But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the one who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?” Historically, the poor have been exploited by the greed of the rich, but they are also often forced to exploit their own land in order to survive and provide for their families. We watched a movie in marine ecology that discussed overfishing in the world’s oceans. Philippine waters used to be known as regions of high productivity for the fishing industry. Today, high diversity and yield have decreased as demand has caused overexploitation. Poor fishermen have been forced to extreme measures to catch the few fish that remain. Old techniques no longer work, thus many trawl the bottoms, destroying reef habitats, or use cyanide gas to stun the fish. Such environmental degradation, in the end, only cycles back to leave the poor fisherman in greater poverty. The fisherman does what he deems necessary to feed his family in the present, but in the future, fish will not inhabit a destroyed reef, and the fisherman will have to go to even further lengths to make a catch.
Oil consumption is another startling example of how demand and greed often overlook the well-being of people involved. During our second Sustainable Community Development Course, we read an article called “Curse of the Black Gold,” by Tom O’Neill. This article discusses the oil crisis in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, a region from which the United States obtains 40% of its oil supply. The poor here were promised a better way of life as a result of oil extraction, but the combined effects of political unrest, corporate greed, and environmental destruction have led to a way of life for them that is even worse than before. In the past 50 years, life expectancy for Nigerians in the Delta has dropped to 40 years, and in this same amount of time, more oil has been spilled in the Delta than all the oil that was spilled by BP in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. As I fill my car with fuel and as I eat imported food products like fish, is my consumption contributing to a loss in dignity for those involved in their place of origin?
There are countless other examples of how consumption contributes to environmental degradation and a loss of human dignity – far too many to mention. The examples I have mentioned are disturbing, but it can be easy to distance ourselves from consequences that affect people far away from us. However, it is important to remember that our unconscious consumption also leads to idolatry and greed within our own hearts. All the advertisements we are exposed to in the media promise us increased happiness with each purchase of a product. However, despite these promises, national happiness plummeted in the 1950’s during the very same time our consumption peaked. If we purchase products to increase our happiness, then we quickly come to define our identity by our possessions.
Unconscious consumption and associated redefinition of our identity with possessions, thus is incredibly harmful to our relationship with God. Even those in the U.S. who might be considered lower class are significantly richer than the majority of people in third world countries. However, in our abundance of things, we begin to place our trust in them and slowly release our grasp on God in the process. Psalm 135:15-18 says this: “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.” Our possessions can become like idols to us, causing us to become as lifeless and uncaring as they are. I know that I have been guilty of this in my own consumption. Though I have eyes to see and ears to hear, I have been unaware, and maybe even uncaring, about how the consequences of my choices are so intimately linked to the suffering of others.
Our unconscious consumption choices have many buried consequences, affecting not only ourselves, but also our relationship with God, with others, and with creation. A prevalent topic of discussion in all our classes in Belize was the concept of Biblical Shalom. This concept of Shalom addresses all of these interconnected relationships and, as a result, has re-shaped my thoughts about consumption. At its heart, Shalom is about peace in our relationships with God, with ourselves, with others, and with creation. The parts of this peace are an absence of hostility and conflict, a pursuit of justice, and a pursuit of delight. As Christians, we live with the hope that God will one day reconcile all things to himself (Col. 1:20), thus as we live in God’s growing kingdom in the present, we should pursue this peace in everything we do.
We should care about how our choices affect creation because God has called us “to serve and preserve” it as faithful stewards (Gen. 2:15; 1 Cor. 4:1-2). Our actions need to reflect the fact that Christ will one day return and we will be held accountable. If God called creation “good” (Gen. 1), if he has included it in his plan of redemption (Col. 1:20), and if it serves to display his glory (Rom. 1:20; Ps. 148; Prov. 8), then we should care very much about its conservation. God has given us much to care for – the whole earth! As faithful stewards anticipating our trustees return, we must prove faithful.
We should care also about how our choices affect other people in this world. In John 15:12, Jesus says to his followers, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” What does Jesus’ love look like, and how do we translate that love to those around us? Earlier on in John 15:9, Jesus explains the depth of his love for us: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” I cannot even begin to grasp such magnitude! Jesus is saying that as much as God loves him, he loves us. And as much as he loves us, we are to love one another.
Now that I have seen and learned about these things here in Belize, I am responsible. As James 2:14-17 says, “What good is it my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Faith working on my newfound knowledge and understanding of these topics should propel me into action.
In our first God and Nature course, our Professor Sylivia Keesmat gave us a list of questions to ask ourselves when making choices as consumers. I intend to put them into practice immediately. They are as follows:
1. In the making of this product, was Shalom threatened? Were animals, people, or the land damaged? Was community threatened? Was justice done?
2. In my use of this product, will Shalom be threatened? Will animals, people, or the land be damaged? Will community be threatened? Will Justice be done?
3. In my disposal of this product, will Shalom be threatened? Will animals, people, or the land be damaged? Will community be threatened? Will justice be done?
In answering these questions in regards to my own consumption, I will choose to buy more foods that are locally grown, such as from a CSA, where I know the people and processes behind their production. I also plan to plant a garden in my backyard and start composting, to produce food outside of dependency on questionable environmental and ethical practices. (I also wanted to start raising chickens, but my parents vetoed that idea J Haha). I will choose to buy items such as fair trade, rainforest certified coffee that ensures sustainable harvesting and fair wages for the farmers who produce it. I will choose to buy products with minimal plastic and recycle as much as possible those that do contain it. I will choose to purchase clothing from thrift stores or make my own clothing so as not to support the unfair labor practices of clothing production in other countries. In my electronic purchases, I will do research to ensure that no conflict minerals were used in their production. In my fuel purchases, I will attempt to support gas companies that care about the rights of the people in regions where the oil is extracted, and I will choose to reduce my dependency on a vehicle by walking or biking when possible. In general, I will try to be more educated about the hidden costs of my consumption, but overall, I would also like to use these questions to reduce my consumption altogether. I don’t want to hold onto any possession so tightly that no room is left for me to grasp God and trust him.
Along with my own personal choices, I want to be an advocate for change among my family and my friends. In the past I have led Bible studies on my college campus, and if God leads me to do it, I will gladly do it again and create studies that involve the lessons I’ve learned during my semester here. In addition, I have a passion for writing and could perhaps compile my time here into devotionals or stories to share with people.
Can my choices as a consumer really make any difference in the large scheme of things? If I choose to refrain from buying one less plastic bottle of shampoo, if I buy one less bar of chocolate produced through slave labor, if I buy one less bag of unfairly traded coffee beans, will the world be a better place? Statistically speaking – no. However, perhaps for the part of creation and the people directly involved with those choices the answer will be yes.
Looking at the amount of environmental degradation in this world and the number of people who are suffering, it is easy to be overwhelmed and burdened to a point of calloused indifference. I am encouraged though, because God does not call us to tackle these issues on our own. All of our individual actions are founded on principles that He supplies for us, and they join with the actions of Christians all around the world who are also striving to bring glory to God’s kingdom. In The Prayer of Oscar Romero, Bishop Ken Untener writes: “We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something. . . We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, no master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.”
These words remind me of what Peter says in his first letter: “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (2:4-5). We are living in a kingdom that is under construction. The cornerstone is Christ himself, the foundation on which we are all being laid, as individual bricks in the building of the kingdom. We can only see the bricks that surround us and feel the bricks beneath us that support and show us of past progress. We cannot yet see the complete building nor fully understand our place in it. However, we know that all the bricks are adding up according to the Master Builder’s perfect plan. I can choose to be a conscious consumer as an individual brick without worrying about the structural integrity of the whole. Even if my actions don’t seem to make a big difference, I want to be laid according to the blueprint that is in the Master Builder’s control.
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