The Imperial, Immortal Consumer: Exporting Impacts to Other Countries and Generations

The Imperial, Immortal Consumer:
Exporting Impacts to Other Countries and Generations

No wonder people want to live forever. They bought so much stuff it will take forever to use it all.

I know I hate spending money on something that I don't use. It is always nagging you, in the back of your mind, or taking up space on a shelf or in storage, reminding you that you spent your hard-earned money on it for nothing. You resolve to use it more often, so that you can get your money's worth, and inadvertently become a slave to your stuff instead of your dreams and desires. Living like this is bad enough in a mortal human lifetime; immortality would be a tragedy.

At least when you buy too much food, you can still eat it and get fat, which will shorten your lifespan unless you manage to exercise it all off. I guess food is different than consumer goods.

Meanwhile, the production of such a tremendous amount of stuff draws in resources from all over the globe. Our country sucks up 25% of the world's resources. It is all so unnecessary.

And when we see the impacts of our consumption, we try to stop those impacts--an understandable reaction. Mining, clearcuts, oil production; all are so ugly. But we only have the power to stop it within our own country, so we end up exporting our impacts elsewhere, since our behavior that is driving the problem hasn't changed. The global economy not only allows this vicious imperialism to occur, but it also encourages production to take place elsewhere due to lower wages and costs of business. So we export our jobs along with our impacts, and what do we have left to show for it? Corporations getting richer and richer, 3rd world environments getting trashed, the average consumer getting more and more into debt and drowning in unnecessary stuff, and a shift toward a service economy that pays lower wages and focuses more on selling the stuff that was produced elsewhere.

So what is the solution to this bad situation? Will it keep getting worse, as trade restrictions become less powerful and the WTO becomes more powerful? The key is to get everyone to compete on a level playing field, and as long as there are rich countries and poor countries these problems will continue. Maybe the process I describe above is leveling the playing field. It sure is a destructive way to level it. It seems like we all are being brought down by this bulldozer--except the corporations, of course.

If American producers can't compete anymore, it makes sense to look at the reasons why. If it is because someone else truly does have a competitive advantage, then maybe that is okay. But if it is because of differences in the structure of our economies, or because of subsidized fossil fuels (making trade cheap), then maybe the producers need a little protection.

The best way to fix this, as far as I can tell, is to increase the cost of transportation. Locally produced goods are usually environmentally superior, and people feel good about supporting their local economy. Increasing the cost of transportation is the same as taxing goods more according to the distance they have to travel. Overall, this is a good thing that would have good results. For the stuff that you really can't produce yourself, you'll pay the premium, and otherwise your economy is protected.

How much of an increase in cost would make a difference? I don't know. It would probably be big enough that it would cause drastic changes in our transportation systems and habits. This is not entirely bad either. Might as well start preparing for it now, because the end of the fossil fuel age will cause this change anyway. We aren't going to leave any resources (especially fossil fuels and wilderness) behind for future generations if we can help it. Earth first, we'll rape and pillage the other planets later. Wait, the other planets are uninhabitable and too far away. Darn. I guess we ate all the food and poisoned the farm. Looks like the kids are screwed, honey. Sure wish we didn't have so many...