[pf] Dying of Consumption

by Tom Wheeler

28 December 2000 14:44 UTC

Published on Thursday, December 28, 2000 in the Guardian of London

Dying of Consumption

The more we consume, the happier we will be. Or so we like to believe. But
for the planet, it's disastrous.

by George Monbiot

The modern industrial economy works like this: resources are dug from a hole
in the ground on one side of the planet, used for a few weeks, then dumped
in a hole on the other side of the planet. This is known as the "creation of
value". The creation of value improves our quality of life. Improvements in
our quality of life make us happier. The more we transfer from hole to hole,
the happier we become.
Unfortunately, we are not yet transferring enough. According to the
Worldwatch Institute, we have used more goods and services since 1950 than
in all the rest of human history. But we still don't seem to be happy.
Indeed, over the same period, 25-year-olds in Britain have become 10 times
more likely to be afflicted by depression.

One in four British adults now suffers from a chronic lack of sleep, and one
fifth of schoolchildren have psychological problems. Over the past 13 years,
mental health insurance claims have risen by 36%. American studies suggest
that between 40% and 60% of the population suffers from mental illness in
any one year. The World Health Organisation predicts that by 2010 depression
will become the second commonest disease in the developed world. Unless we
start consuming in earnest, we'll never experience real joy.

At this time of year the rate of consumption rises dramatically. To make
ourselves happier, we move resources from one hole to another as quickly as
possible. My local authority reports that the amount of rubbish people take
to the dump increases by 12% in December and January. Curiously, however,
the incidence of depression also seems to rise. Calls to the Samaritans
increase by 8% between Christmas and New Year's Day. But the figures are
misleading. The more depressed we are, the more we spend on antidepressants
and alcohol. The more we spend, as any economist will explain to you, the
happier we become.

A few Christmases ago, I was given a kettle, which now leaks. I could mend
it, but one of the screws has a star-shaped slot with a spike in the middle,
which is designed to prevent repairs, as no available tool will fit it. My
kettle was for Christmas, not just for life. So I will throw it away, and
help to build an earthly paradise by buying a new one.

>From the dumps and incinerators in which our broken presents, our
uncomposted Christmas trees and unrecyclable packaging are deposited,
goodwill spreads inexorably. Among other benefits, the disposal of rubbish
supports the medical profession. Babies born within three kilometres of
toxic landfill sites, according to research published in the Lancet, are
more likely to suffer from abnormalities than babies born elsewhere.
Incinerators release dioxins and heavy metals, which cause cancer, birth
defects and endometriosis. This creates jobs and increases the flow of money
in the economy, adding to the sum of human happiness.

Though the UN's figures seek to suggest otherwise, British people are surely
happier than people in poorer lands, because more of our needs are met.
Indeed, advertisers help us to answer needs we never knew we had, by
revealing that our lives are less satisfactory than we thought. When I was
18, male face creams came on to the market. Until that point, we boys had no
idea that our skin was ageing prematurely. Since then, men have been
introduced to many of the improvements that women have enjoyed for so long.
We have discovered that we are uglier, spottier, fatter and more inadequate
than we could ever have imagined. And, by moving more resources between
holes in the ground, we can do something about it.

The consumer society serves the poor better than anyone else, as it both
exposes the grottiness of their lives and kindly provides the means with
which they can escape from it. In some cases, as a report by the National
Association of Citizens' Advice Bureaux revealed earlier this month, the
interest on their happiness rises to as much as 1,800% a year, spreading
good cheer among the many thousands of people the loan recovery business
employs. As the banks and manufacturers, shops and economists remind us, our
quest for happiness is boundless.

As always, and particularly at this time of year, someone tries to spoil the
fun. And, predictably enough, the greens are moaning that the planet is
dying of consumption. People, they say, are being pushed off their lands by
the digging of holes, the felling of forests and the growing of cash crops;
eco-systems are being poisoned and resources exhausted; the Earth is
overheating, because so much energy is required to move its components from
one hole to another. But I would ask them this: isn't the death of the
planet a price worth paying for the happiness we now enjoy?

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2000


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"Our first work must be the annihilation of everything
as it now exists."  -  Mikhail Bakunin

"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed,
debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own."  -  No.6

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