story of stuff

When watching the online lecture, my first thought was that I have heard this before. It would surprise me if any adult man or woman in our glorious enlightened western world wouldn’t say that they have heard most of it before.

Why is it then, one may ask, that we haven’t come further still, in our efforts to save the planet? Ignorance, stupidity and egoism, all of these words will probably fit equally well into the explanation of why most of us choose to ignore the fact that the glass bowl we are swimming in is both running out of air and getting more polluted as I speak.

After all, aren’t we all just people in search of luck? Wanting more and more as we get stuck! The wheel of fortune is spinning faster and faster. Hurry up and buy a new toy, you get a free ticket to the lottery and a chance to win indefinite happiness! A car, a boat, a telephone! Maybe this is the time you will make that final turn in the materialistic maze where eternal happiness awaits you, just around the corner!

Are we not aware of the impact that this type of consumption has on our environment?

Of course we are!
We just don’t give a damn!
Or let me put it more gently.

For that particular moment of glory and instant feeling of wellbeing that comes with buying new stuff, or eating tasty food that has been transported around the globe, we all happily ignore the fact that our planet is dying with every tasty little nugget.

In a way, we are all behaving like junkies that neglect our families, friends, and steal from our mothers to get our fix. By the way, that full time heroin junkie is probably contributing less to the damnation of humanity than we are, since he is not consuming nearly as much of our global resources as you and me.