Jesus told us not to "lay up treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven" (Matthew 6:19-20). Unfortunately, it is the treasures on earth that make the modern world go round. America, a capitalist society, is being controlled by her corporations. These corporations have created an linear process in a circular world, not accounting for their actions, and have desolated Earth's resources and endangered her future.

The linear process, according to www.thestoryofstuff.com, is as follows: Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption and Disposal. Major corporations are the mastermind behind this process and as economically beneficial as it may seem at first glance, dangers lie behind this cycle.

Extraction:
We're hurting the planet. Corporations have moved to third world countries and have deprived them of their resources and somehow justifying their actions.  Over half of the world's forests are gone. In the Amazon alone, we are losing seven football fields a minute. In the United States, we have less than 4 percent of our original forests.

Production:
Corporations then hire the poor people [whose environment we have used up and destroyed], pay them little money and expose them to dangerous toxins. Corporations attempt to skimp out on health care, benefits, and proper working conditions in order to create a cheaper product. In fact, there are around 100,000 synthetic chemicals used in the production industry every day. Only a handful have been tested for safety. These chemicals have found their way into our bodies to the point that the food at the highest level of the food chain with the highest levels of toxic containments is breast milk. Babies, who have done little to nothing to harm the environment are exposed to toxins because of these corporations, who insist on making everything with toxins and thus polluting not only the world, but our bodies as well.

Distribution:
When we buy something, we are not paying what we should be paying. We aren't paying for all the externalized costs. The plastic was probably from China, the metal from South Africa. The product is made cheap because corporations skimp out on protecting the workers from these places. All the transportation, all the toxins in the worker's bodies, all the dangerous labor. You as a customer are not paying for that. Thus, the 15 year old who assembled your product is left with a small paycheck, the men at the mining fields exposed to dangerous toxins- all because companies want to minimize the cost for you.

Consumption:
We're all familiar with this part. What we're not familiar with, is that companies purposely design products so that people will get rid of them soon and buy a new one. They design the product well enough that the customer trusts the company, but not well enough for the customer to be satisfied for a long period of time. Companies purposely design products this way so we're constantly shopping. Advertisers make us feel worthless and persuade us to constantly shop. It's an endless cycle.  We strive to make more money so we can buy more stuff. Ironically, happiness levels have declined. The government encourages this because it helps the economy. After 911, President Bush did not tell the U.S. to mourn or grieve, but to shop. Shopping helps the economy. The economy grows, we're all happy. Right?

Disposal:
99% of all the stuff we buy, within six months, end up in the trash. The trash goes to landfills, and we are left with literally mountains of trash. Some of the trash in landfills are actually biodegradable, but the trash is compacted so tightly, there is no oxygen available for decomposition. Instead of green lush forests, we are now left with forests of trash and waste. Some trash goes into the oceans, polluting the water and killing marine life. Some of the waste goes into the air. Burning the trash releases greenhouse gases. Now we have not only ruined the land, but have changed the seasons, the weather, and the regular pattern of things.

Many people blame the government for not enacting more policies. In a capitalist society, regulation in America is difficult because Americans feel that regulation violates their freedoms. It's not that the government is not trying, it's the people who are not trying. God entrusted us- you and me, with this responsibility. It's our duty to protect the earth. It's our time to act, it's our time to realize that consumption is not always the best thing. It's our time to stop the vicious cycle. 

Comments (1)

wei_clarissa wrote on October 02, 2008

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