The word consumerism means the consumption of resources by the people. It is a process and habit of the chronic purchasing of new goods and services, with scant attention to the true need, durability, origin of the product or the environmental impacts during manufacture and disposal.
Modern societies that are based on using large amounts of goods, especially those that are manufactured for one time use, are extremely wasteful. The current consumption patterns are depleting non-renewable resources, poisoning and degrading ecosystems, and altering the natural processes on which life depends.
People in the industrialized countries make up 205 of the world population but consume 80% of the world’s resources and produce 80% of wastes. This is due to a pattern of economic development that ensures that people go on consuming even more than they actually need.
India is rapidly moving into this unsustainable pattern of economic growth and development. It is seen that today’s consumption patterns are not only depleting natural resources at a rapid rate, but also widening the inequalities in consumption in different societies. Money is not the only way to measure the cost of an item that we use.
When one adds up all the raw material and energy that goes into the manufacture of goods or the services provided by nature that one uses during a day’s activities, the toll on the environment is large. When this cost is multiplied over a lifespan, the amount is staggering. If one considered the over-utilization in each family, city or a country, the impacts are incredibly high.
The new generation grows up without knowing what quality goods are. Friendship and family relations are promoted only as a vehicle of giving and taking gifts. Mother’s day, Father’s day, Valentine day, Brothers’ day, Sisters’ day and Akshaya Thrithya are celebrated as a part of consumerism.