Addiction to Consumption

Annie Leonard, author of the online film, The Story of Stuff was recently featured in Body + Soul's going greener guide provides some insight into what our addiction to consumer goods will lead to.

"we work longer hours, with less leisure time than our parents and grandparents. Our personal consumer debts-and the clutter in our homes, weighs us down. Our communities are eroded. We don't know our neighbors. We have more TV's but fewer friends. ...Our excessive shopping diminishes, rather than adds to our quality of life."

This really resonates with me. A couple examples of why this addiction is completely insane and hits close to home.

Boats, cars, bikes and stuff: My husband has accumulated lots and lots of toys. So much so that at one time we had 2 motorcycles, 2 boats and 3 cars. Both boats don't work, one sat at his work for months before he finally sold it for next to nothing, while another still takes up space at his friends house. 1 bike was borrowed and subsequentally stolen, the other bike was finally sold. One car sits in the garage yearning to be fixed, 2 cars are driven by myself and my husband. We can't use our garage to store the cars we drive, we can't use the boat to go diving. They have just become a burden to the kind friend who has agreed to let the boat rot in in yard, and a constant reminder of the time we dont' have to fix it. WHY THE HELL DO WE HAVE THINGS WE CAN'T OR DON"T EVEN USE!!!!

Credit Card Debt: You work long hours and you feel you deserve a nice dinner out, our a cute outfit or whatever. Since you don't have the cash in your account you charge it. Until one day you wake up and are drowning in debt. So you work more to pay off the debt you have accumulated to purchase the things you think you deserve for working so hard. The cycle continues.....WHY THE HELL DO WE DO THIS TO OURSELVES???


You can download The Story of Stuff, which explores the hidden costs of our addiction to consumer goods, for free here.