Friday, August 07, 2020
Materialism and the Environment
Has the Covid-19 pandemic created pent-up desires in Americans to buy things? Once we are again free to roam the malls will an explosion of consumption exceed even what went before? Or, will the austerity induced by staying cooped up at home awaken in us an awareness that we can do very well with less? Increasing materialism was a major concern among the chattering class in America during the 1950’s and 60’s. The post-WWII economic boom fueled in part by the GI Bill was in full swing and Americans were in a mood to spend. In 1950 there were 25 million registered vehicles in America with no federal highway system on which to drive them. The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 changed that, resulting in a system of freeways extending over 48,000 miles today. The number of registered vehicles rose to 67 million in 1958 and to over 273 million today. The number of vehicles per family rose from 0.58 in 1950 to 2.0 today. Thirty five percent of families now own three or more vehicles.
The proliferation of cars, of course, is but one indicator of our runaway materialism. Ask anyone over the age of sixty to compare what they have now to what their family had when they were children and you will be presented a long list of items. More clothes, more food, more cars, more toys, more gadgets, and for many, more homes. Our consumption expenditures have risen from about $1,100 annually per capita in 1947 to just over $44,000 in 2020. What seems to be lost on most of us is that virtually every item you own comes with an environmental price tag. Most of the materials used to construct them began life in a large hole in the ground. Our consumption of natural resources has more than tripled over the past 40 years and is projected to more than double by 2050 if present trends continue. We extract 25 tons of raw materials per capita, far more than other developed nations and eight times that of African nations. Clearly, America’s rate of consumption is not sustainable.
Probably the most over-looked natural resource required for a modern society to prosper is sand and gravel. Without sand and gravel there is no concrete which would essentially halt construction of modern cities and highways. Without sand there is no glass. Sand is the most widely used natural resource after water. As demand has exploded, sand has become an increasingly scarce resource around the world. In India, for example, “sand mafias” control the industry through illegal means including violence. In Morocco, sand mafias invade coastal beaches and remove all the sand. Here, sand is legally mined from stream channels and buried sand deposits, causing severe damage to ecosytems and water supplies. Most sand today is dredged from the ocean floor, disrupting marine habitat, ocean currents, and often increasing erosion of nearby shores.
Mining of all types is destructive by nature and a major polluter of surface and subsurface water. Our consumption of copper has doubled since 1975. Consumption of gypsum used in the manufacture of Portland cement and plaster, among other things, has nearly tripled since 1975. This production requires massive excavations that devastate millions of acres of land, often in or near some of our most cherished landscapes. The United States produces 16% of the world’s mining waste, most of which is piled on the ground, often in stream valleys near operating mines, where it pollutes surface and ground water for decades.
We can no longer afford to consume in ignorance. We can no longer ignore the impact of our spending on the environment and those inhabiting it. The day of reckoning is approaching far sooner than previously imagined, hastened by ongoing climate change. Gone are the days of feel good environmentalism that does not address the systemic problems of government and an economy driven by rampant consumerism. Government needs to enact and enforce strict controls on resource extraction and citizens need to pay attention and elect officials that will do so. We need to scale back our consumption and profligate spending that requires ever-expanding exploitation of natural resources. More is not better, it is destroying us.
