You're educated yea? Then be responsible.

I'm going to present a comparison between today and about 50 years ago, and hope that the comparison allows the readers to choose for themselves what needs to be done. I request readers to read the whole post to get the proper picture about what we're doing as a society.

The fundamental reason why consumerism has become such an issue today is the generation of waste. What consumerism means, is spending money on goods that aren't meant to last. And the reason I picked this topic today is that I came across some shocking facts which question whether our societies have developed or deteriorated. For example, according to greentumble.com,

"It has been estimated that just US$6 billion would provide basic education worldwide. Another $22 billion would give every person on the planet access to clean water, basic health services, and sufficient nutrition. Now, if we look at some areas of spending, we can see that our society has serious problems. It is estimated that every year, Europeans spend $11 billion on ice cream – yes, ice cream! This is nearly double the cost of bringing education to every child on the planet. Building on this figure, around $50 billion is spent on cigarettes in Europe alone, and around $400 billion is spent on narcotic drugs around the world".

The most famous words to come out of Warren Buffet's mouth were, "Don't save what's left after spending. Spend what's left after saving." This relates to the problem we face today, as people effortlessly spend money on goods and services which aren't meant to last. I mean, when you look around, people need bigger and fancier cars that not only cost them more but also often cost the planet more in terms of resources. People want better phones which cost them and the planet more. People can't stick to one mobile phone for 5 years. That number has come down to about a year now. People keep changing their phones almost every year. I mean, there are 5 billion people who own a mobile phone (globally), 4.48 billion people who have access to the internet, but only 4 billion people own a toothbrush. If that isn't concern enough, there's no point in you reading this blog anymore. You may leave this page right now.

People's mindset has changed from spending on what we need to spend as much as we can. Here again, the concept of need and want comes into the picture. While food is necessary, dining at a fast-food centre which you know prepares unhealthy food and generates a lot of waste in packaging and transportation of ingredients from far-away places- that's not necessary. The same applies to the fashion industry as well. Owning clothes for the winter is necessary, but owning clothes made from unsustainable material, animal fur, leather, etc is just unnecessary. The issue is not just constrained to spending on unnecessary things. It doesn't end there. Concerning food, for example, when you grow through your teenage eating all sorts of junk, you accumulate junk in your body during the most vital growth stage. When you accumulate junk during the most vital stage of growth, you're bound to spend your adult life stuffing your body with medicines. Economists are talking about this and it's true. Imagine 1 billion people eating junk food daily. Now when they grow old, the same 1 billion people would require that much of medicine to be produced, which could've been easily avoided. Essentially, the junk food industry creates a market for the medical industry, and this is something which our generation doesn't think about, or know about because the industry is the king-maker.

Now take clothing for example. When you have textile industries polluting a river which runs into a neighbouring ocean, fish would naturally stop coming towards the coastal areas and would divert to more isolated areas far from human interference. That means the fishermen get affected, there are less local fish products, which means you'd have to import fish from some other place, which means that your fish costs are going to go up, affecting the economy since people may not always be able to afford fish. Now all of this would've been avoided if the textile industry were more responsible. And the pressure to be more responsible comes only from consumers. That's why our role as consumers is of utmost importance. If we stop demanding crap like months-old burger patties, cheap clothes which aren't bound to last beyond months, trendy stuff like fidget spinners which suddenly appear in the markets but disappear faster than they arrived and the sort, companies will stop making crap. If we start demanding quality stuff like organically grown real food, clothes that come from sustainable cotton plantations or are made using recycled plastic, products that are meant to last, companies will start creating quality products.

If you observe our Indian culture (especially south), we never had this concept of shopping clothes every month. Only a few times a year, we would buy clothes that were designed to match our climate, our lifestyle, our daily routines. We would gift a saree to women on Diwali, Pongal, birthdays and new year. And still, if you observe the rich heritage of the textile industry in the past, nothing today matches that. That's because the industry has shifted from a model of low-quantity, high-quality products to low-quality, high-quantity products. I mean, when you go to outlets these days, the clothes are no better than the bathroom mats that you'd use at home.

If you take a 50-year-old saree and compare it with today's, you'd immediately notice a significant difference in their weights because textile makers in the olden days used to pay excessive attention to detail, durability and quality of the material. That's gone away today, and people only pay attention to design, aesthetics and appeal. Not a quarter of a shit given to quality and durability. In the past, one bought a couple of clothes a year. Today, that's increased to more than a few times a month.

The snacks industry is another one. 50 years ago, people used to make healthy snacks at home, with love and care. Today, people barely cook. Worldwide, there's an increase in the number of people who prefer to eat food made elsewhere. That isn't a problem as far as they're ready to pay for real, healthy food and not for junk like fast-food. But the problem comes when you choose a chain of restaurants which supply unhealthy junk that was cooked days or even weeks ago and just reheated when you place an order. I mean, is it that easy to cook a pizza? According to BuzzFeed (https://www.buzzfeed.com/laraparker/this-is-how-long-leftover-pizza-actually-lasts), "any food with meat and or cheese that is left out in room temperature for more than two hours can cause foodborne illness. YES, THAT MEANS PIZZA". According to the Food Institute’s analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, millennials alone spend 45 per cent of their budget’s food dollars on eating out.

In comparison to 40 years ago, the average American family now spends half their food budget on restaurant food. In 1977, just under 38 per cent of family food budgets were spent eating outside the home.

One key ingredient in all fast-food is trans-fat. It is no good in any quantity- low or high. Do you know which all foods contain them? Pastries, pizza dough, fried pies, crackers and cookies (sad to hear but it's the truth).

The internet is filled with articles and videos regarding scandals which involve a fast-food restaurant chain. McDonald's, Burger King, you name it. I'm not talking about all these things from the animal rights perspective, because modern humans are too insensitive to such issues anyways, so what's the point in talking about them. I'm talking about these things from a health perspective. I mean, when companies advertise warnings on their products like on cigarettes, soft drinks, etc, why are we still stupid enough to buy poison, consume them, develop a liking towards them and continue it as a practice? Is that modern? Is that real development?

Take a look at the below image. This is what companies themselves advertise, and yet it's what we end up buying. Logically, isn't a child also a human? Then what guarantee can one give to support claims that the effect will only be seen on children? What guarantee can they give to support my claim that the effect would be seen on grown-ups as well, although the intensity may be less? I'd like to clarify again that the main intention is to make people aware and not create some sort of anti-campaigning.

I found this on the Mirinda glass bottle in which I'm growing a money plant.

The takeaway here is that there's a huge problem with consumerism and the false need to feel trendy and cool, and we need to stop our contribution to that problem. We need to choose healthier options- healthier for the planet, healthier for us, healthier for all.

Whatever I've said so far is best explained in these lines which I read today- Isn't it ironic that we thoughtlessly spend so much money on cigarettes, soft drinks, junk food, fast-food, cosmetics, but make sure to ask the doctor whether he/she is sure that the prescribed medicine doesn't have any side-effects? I'd love to challenge you to take a stand today and choose healthier clothes, healthier food, healthier drinks and a healthier lifestyle.

I have a request and it's that you do me a favour. Don't forward this to people you know. Just adopt a healthier lifestyle and lead the change. Stop going with friends to fast-food restaurants all the time. Let people ask why you've stopped fast-food. When they ask you, take the opportunity to enlighten them on the health issues associated with them. Stop buying clothes multiple times a year and when you do, don't mind spending some extra bucks on quality products that you know would last a long time. Buy a jacket for 300 Dhs but keep it for a few years at least. Don't buy cheap winter jackets or sweaters and hoodies every year. When people ask why, tell them that you're being conscious, which is being responsible, which is what you should be given the amount of education you receive. That's the greatest favour you can do to me and yourself.