Tag: Consumption

Climate Change Policies and Wealth Redistribution

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“Which is precisely why, when climate change deniers claim that global warming is a plot to redistribute wealth, it’s not (only) because they are paranoid. It’s also because they are paying attention” (Klein 2014: 93).

In the chapter “Hot Money” of her book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, Klein lays out the necessity of changing the way we measure a country’s success (currently, GDP) and reducing consumption (a component used to measure GDP) in the wealthiest of countries in order to reduce emissions. “Consuming less, however, means changing how much energy we actually use: how often we drive, how often we fly, whether our food has to be flown to get to us, whether the goods we buy are built to last or to be replaced in two years, how large our homes are” (Klein 2014: 90). But she points out that this shouldn’t be the sole responsibility of the consumer (“urbanites who like going to farmers’ markets on Saturday afternoons and wearing up-cycled clothing” (Klein 2014: 91)), but that there need to be policies in place that support fair low-carbon alternatives to our current high-carbon activities. And this doesn’t mean drive an electric car, this means take the bus or bike instead.

She points out that this is the top most well-off 20% of our society who need to be making these changes, as they are the ones who emit the most carbon. “We would need to return to a lifestyle similar to the one we had in the 1970’s,” she writes, showing that it is not a complete backwards jump into the Stone Age as some climate change deniers argue.

The concept of wealth redistribution has been trending recently (at least in my mind and world!). For a comprehensive look at wealth and income inequality in the U.S., take a look at the Pew Research Centers’s data. If you don’t have time to look, some of the headers for this page are: “The wealth divide among upper-income families and middle- and lower-income families is sharp and rising,” “The richest are getting richer faster,” and “Income inequality in the U.S has increased since 1980 and is greater than in peer countries.”

Much of Klein’s book outlines reasons why today’s economic system is harming the natural world and causing climate change (hence the name Capitalism vs. the Climate). Even though the book is 7 years old at this point, many of the arguments are still relevant and I highly suggest reading it if you have any interest in the existential threat that is climate change (or even if you don’t, it’s a good book to read no matter your interests).

References:

Horowitz, J.M., Igielnik, R., and Kochhar, R. 9 Jan., 2020. “Trends in income and wealth inequality.” Pew Research Center.
Klein, Naomi. 2014. This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Microplastic Textile Pollution

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“Throw a polyester sweater in the washing machine and it’ll come out nice and clean, but also not quite its whole self. As it rinses, millions of synthetic fibers will shake loose and wash out with the waste water, which then flows to a treatment plant. Each year, a single facility might pump 21 billion of these microfibers out to sea, where they swirl in currents, settle in sediments, and end up as fish food, with untold ecological consequences” (Simon 2021).

Our relationship with clothing has gone awry. Why would we clothe ourselves in plastics when we could have cotton, wool, hemp, linen, or other natural fibers? According to Rebecca Burgess and Courtney White, two fashion activists, polyester is found in 60% of today’s clothing, alongside other synthetics like rayon and nylon (Burgess & White 2019). Our clothes are even dyed with oil-based materials such as azo dyes which are known to be carcinogenic. Wastewater runoff from dye factories pollutes watersheds. There is a slew of problems linked to textile manufacturing, only one of which is the amount of microplastics that end up in the ocean after washing machine cycles.

“Now, what to do about this omnipresent pollutant? It’s not likely that humanity will instantly phase out clothing made of synthetic material. But we as consumers can demand that brands abandon fast fashion—cheaply made synthetic clothing that easily shreds into microfibers. Governments can also legislate that washing machine manufacturers add fiber-trapping filters to their products” (Simon 2021). Burgess suggests moving away from synthetic clothes to those that adhere to the soil-to-soil model, a.k.a, all natural materias that can be composted after use. Even clothes that are branded as green because they are made from recycled synthetics pose a problem. In a For the Wild conversation between Ayana Young and Rebecca Burgess, Young brings up this issue: “I’d like to get back to the greenwashing of fashion, and over the past couple of decades the ecological impacts of industrialization and globalization have become glaringly clear. Certainly in the past decade the fashion industry has been confronted by its own impacts, yet we’ve not seen any scaling down, only new implementations of so-called ‘techno-fixes’ and ‘green solutions’ in order to maintain profit. And I’m thinking about the burgeoning sector of so-called ‘green fashion’ through the refashioning of our plastic waste into wearable fabrics. And while there’s certainly some form of ingenuity and trying to address our waste problem, these quick fixes also perpetuate the ubiquity of plastic” (Young 2020). Burgess responds by saying that there is no need for new materials within the textile industry, and in fact, natural materials such as wool and cotton are going underused because of the proliferation of synthetics.

Burgess says that one step is halving our consumption and doubling our use time of clothing. If you’re buying synthetics (it’s hard not to, especially for certain items like jackets or shoes), go for quality over quantity. Another step: wash your clothes less. Ultimately, the goal is to move away from synthetics and back to locally produced natural materials, a change that necessitates massive infrastructure changes, but that also starts with consumer demand.

References:

Burgess, Rebecca & White, Courtney. 2019. Fibershed: Growing a Movement of Farmers, Fashion Activists, and Makers for a New Textile Economy. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.
Simon, M. (2021, Jan. 12). The Arctic Ocean Is Teaming With Microfibers From Clothes. Wired. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/the-arctic-ocean-is-teeming-with-microfibers-from-clothes/?utm_source=onsite-share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=wired.
Young, A. (Director). (2020, Sep. 16). Rebecca Burgess on Soil to Soil Fiber Systems. [Audio Podcast]. Retrieved from https://forthewild.world/listen/rebecca-burgess-on-soil-to-soil-fiber-systems-200.

The Dying of the Coral and Green Consumerism

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“In the lagoon, before when I was young, we went to swim and it was full of coral, full, full, full of pretty ones. Now, there aren’t any more. Now, there aren’t any more…. Before we had many urchins, now you find much, much less…. When you dive now, you see out there that the corals are no longer there. They are dead. We don’t understand. The only analysis that we have had is maybe that this comes from global warming. This is what we think, ours is not the opinion of a scientist, because we do not understand why.” – Louise Tehina Teikipupuni of Hapatoni

In the Marquesas, as in many other places around the world, the corals are bleaching. I talked to many divers on the island of Tahuata who reported the same, that the colors on the bottom of the ocean were dimmer than before. The Marquesas Islands are fortunate to not be low-lying atolls like their neighbors the Tuamotus, so their whole existence isn’t threatened by rising sea levels, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t affected by the changes a warming world has brought. Bleaching coral, disappearing species, and the mysterious toxin known as ciguatera are all changes Marquesans have been facing.

In these times of environmental unpredictability, with large groups of youth protesting worldwide, I join them in asking everybody out there to do what they can to fight against irreversible environmental damage. Not all of us can dedicate our lives to the movement like Greta Thunberg, but even the smallest acts can lead us on the right path. Our world can often seem disconnected from natural resources and cycles, but this isn’t so. Everything we use comes, in some way, from nature. For indigenous scholar Robin Wall Kimmerer, the Earth has endowed us with many beautiful and useful gifts, and these gifts put us into an important relationship of reciprocity with nature that we aren’t currently honoring. Kimmerer writes, “Cities are like the mitochondria in our animal cells–they are consumers, fed by the autotrophs, the photosynthesis of a distant green landscape. We could lament that urban dwellers have little means of exercising direct reciprocity with the land. Yet while city folks may be separated from the sources of what they consume, they can exercise reciprocity through how they spend their money. While the digging of the leeks and the digging of coal may be too far removed to see, we consumers have a potent tool of reciprocity right in our pockets. We can use our dollars as the indirect currency of reciprocity” (Kimmerer 2013: 195). Kimmerer reminds us that even if all we can do is buy one ‘green’ item off of our shopping list, this action still counts.

Although far removed from the tropical islands of the Marquesas as I sit and write this in my Minnesota home, maybe the thoughtful use of my dollars can help the remaining corals stay alive just a bit longer. And so I will buy the vegan shampoo, local vegetables and recycled clothing with thoughts of my friends on Tahuata.

For more information about how to be more environmentally conscience with your consumption patterns, visit Environmental Consumer or simply take Kimmerer’s advice and by trying to imagine the origin of each item you purchase and all the processes it had to take to get to you.

Dead coral piled up on the shoreline in Hapatoni. Photo from May 2018.

References:

Kimmerer, R.W. 2013. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Canada: Milkweed Editions.

Vine Deloria Jr. on the Old Ways

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“Even on the most traditional reservations, the erosion of the old ways is so profound that many people are willing to cast aside ceremonies that stood them in good stead for thousands of years and live in increasing and meaningless secularity. The consumer society is indeed consuming everything in its path. It is fair to say that the overwhelming majority of Indian people today have little understanding or remembrance of the powers once possessed by the spiritual leaders of their communities. What we do today is often simply a ‘walk-through’ of a once-potent ceremony that now has little visible effect on the participants” (Deloria 20016: xvii-xviii).

Vine Deloria was an advocate for Native American spirituality, and in his final book, The World We Used to Live In, he compiles stories that aim to show the power of the spiritual world and our human connection to it. Change in the form of colonialism, globalization, modernity and climate change have affected all societies on the globe, for good or bad, and here in this quote and the rest of his book, Deloria aims to present the past in order that we might understand what we are in danger of losing, or have already lost. He explores stories from a world different from Western society to illustrate the importance of accepting and valuing alternative ways of life.

References:

Deloria, V. Jr. 2006. The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Man. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing.

Migration Spurred by Clothes – Griaule et Ogotemmêli (2/3)

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“[Koguem] described how the desire for clothes was causing a number of young people to leave the country. Every year, he said, the Government deplores, here in the cliffs just as elsewhere, the mass emigration of workers in the prime of life, who go to the Gold Coast to earn money and often live there for years and sometimes die there.
These young people, he said, who go off to the Gold Coast or Bamako or elsewhere, go mainly for clothes. They make money there and spend it all, the day before they come back, on gewgaws, turbans or umbrellas, and peacock about in them on market days or at funerals. Dress helps them to get married. The more clothes a man has, the more elegant he is, and the more women go after him” (Griaule 1965:82).

In the 60s, young Dogon workers from Sudan headed to foreign lands to work hard, earn money, and buy clothes. They did this, because in their culture, clothes are valuable and will help them gain a wife. This goes to show that although many cultures across the world pursue money, this does not mean that everybody spends it in the same way. Globalization and the cash economy has allowed many people to access new commodities, but how they spend their money and what they do with purchased commodities often depends on their cultural backgrounds. In this example of the Dogon, we see consumer choices that are fueled by a strong cultural value – well dressed men are prestigious and catch the eyes of more women. Interested in this idea? I suggest reading works by Richard Wilk (see references for two articles), or perhaps Marshall Sahlins’s (1992) “The Economics of Develop-Man in the Pacific.”

References:

Griaule, M. 1965. Conversations with Ogotemmêli: An Introduction to Dogon Religious Ideas. Oxford, UK: Oxford University press.

Sahlins, M. 1992. The Economics of Develop-Man in the Pacific. Anthropology and Aesthetics, 21, pp. 12-25.

Wilk, R. (2006). ‘But the Young Men Don’t Want to Farm Any More’: Political Ecology and Consumer Culture in Belize. In Biersack, A & J.B. Greenberg, Reimagining political ecology (pp. 149-170). Durham: Duke Univ. Press.

Wilk, R. (2002). “It’s Destroying a Whole Generation”: Television and Moral Discourse in Belize. In K. Askew & R.R. Wilk (eds.), The Anthropology of Media: A reader (pp. 286-298). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Fishing vs. Drinking

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“Here, there are many young people that practice fishing. Over in Vaitahu, they practice drinking!”

I’m visiting the village of small Hapatoni, one of four villages on the island of Tahuata, when Tehei makes this joke about the drinking problems of the people in his village. We are sitting around an outdoor work bench with three women whom I am interviewing for my research on Marquesan fishing practices. Rose is the mother of Franceline and Myrna, both in their thirties. While Myrna has answered most of my questions throughout the interview, Franceline and Rose have chimed in as well, and do so more towards the end. We have been discussing differences between Hapatoni and Vaitahu in terms of fishing practices. Vaitahu is a bigger village, and the main port of the island of Tahuata. It is a twenty minute drive from Vaitahu to Hapatoni. Tehei begins discussing the differences between the two villages with this joke about beer: Although Tehei jokes, making the others laugh, I can’t help to notice the satirical truth in his words.

Rose continues to explain how important fishing is in her village:

“Even the children [fish] here, eh? Sometimes, they take the fishing cane and they go to the beach. Afterwards, they return home with their fish and say, ‘Voila, here’s my fish, it’s 500 francs!”

Here, Rose also deliberately jokes about social novelties: the new prevalence of the cash economy in today’s society. Earlier in the interview, when asked about changes that have occurred to the village, Myrna doesn’t give specifics but rather says,

“We prefer our lives from before rather than our lives today.”

They tell me of new structures such as paved roads and a new port, which makes everything feels less natural. Franceline tells me this is due to ‘la modernisé,’ or modernization, and when I ask what modernization means to them Myrna responds,

“There are new goods that have arrived. For example, before there were no telephones or iPads, but nowadays there are.”

Although they never say it directly, they speak subconsciously about new levels of consumerism and capitalism that have reached their society, due to processes of modernization and globalization. Beer and cash are an important part of this global island. Knowledge transmission is changing too, as Tehei tells me in answer to my next question: “Why do you think that more young people fish here than in Vaitahu,” I ask.

“Because [in Hapatoni] the parents transmit [the knowledge to their children]” he says, as if it were obvious. But I am still wondering about the differences between Hapatoni and Vaitahu.

“But why don’t they do this in Vaitahu?”

“I don’t know,” says Tehei, and Rose instantly agrees, “We don’t know…” Today, Tehei, Myrna, Franceline and Rose are at the pinnacle of change within their society. They prefer life before, but they can’t quite name why it is changing.

Tehei corrects his answer from before and says,

“Yes, yes the parents [in Vaitahu] do transmit [knowledge], but their children don’t listen. They prefer to drink beer rather than to fish.”

It’s not a joke this time, it’s the truth and nobody laughs. Rose accepts his statement by saying, “Voila!” as if we had cracked the code, but questions still remain for me. Why have young people stopped caring about their cultural knowledge systems? How has globalization, capitalism and consumption changed the livelihoods, hopes and desires of modern day Marquesans? And how can it be different from one village to another? The constant beer jokes seemed pointed. Do people see beer as a blockade to the continued transmission of important cultural customs? And if they do, they don’t entirely understand why, nor how to do anything about it.

Myrna finished this discussion and our interview by adding her own joke on beer, again displaying the differences between the mindsets of those from Hapatoni and those from Vaitahu:

“First we fish, then we drink! It’s better this way.”

(This interview taken in May 2018)