Consumption bells: spending the world for Christmas

Christmas is the time of the year where cash registers are jingling, purses are emptying, and credit cards are being swiped furiously. Most of us are concerned with finding bargains, items to delight our loved ones, or the chance to simply cross someone off our buying list. How often do we stop and consider the ethics of our shopping? I am not wanting to be a social activist flavoured Scrooge, but how my spending impacts on the rest of the world this Christmas is a niggling thought in the back of my mind. Sadly the thought bravely emerged after I completed my silly season shopping.

So what is ethical shopping? Put simply, ethical shopping is doing our best to purchase in a way that does not negatively impact on others or the planet. Most of us don’t think much about how or where our items are made. We are more driven by brand names and budgets than our conscience. The cheap must have summer fashion essentials are more often than not cheap because someone else has been paid unfairly to make them, or they are made in terrible working conditions, with materials produced cheaply without regard for environmental concerns. Even if we don’t pay much, be assured that someone somewhere does. Perhaps with health. Sacrificing education. Loss of freedom. Environmental degradation. Not convinced? Check out the “Story of Stuff”. This short animation has the potential to be life changing, if only we could defeat our own apathy for more than five minutes. It shows how my bargain buy has really cost people, communities and environments around the world far more than can be justified by my need to spend money on something that will probably be donated or tossed in less than a year. According to the Ethical Consumer Guide, about “80% of all saleable products end up as waste, on average, within just 6 months”. Furthermore:

“The real issue is not consumption itself but its patterns and effects. Inequalities in consumption are stark. Globally, the 20% of the world's people in the highest-income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures - the poorest 20% a minuscule 1.3%. .... We consume a variety of resources and products today having moved beyond basic needs to include luxury items and technological innovations to try to improve efficiency. ... Much of the world cannot and do not consume at the levels that the wealthier in the world do. Indeed, the above U.N. statistics highlight that very sharply. In fact, the inequality structured within the system is such that .. "some one has to pay" for the way the wealthier in the world consume.”

Someone has to pay. For me to buy stuff I will probably throw out before I begin next year’s Christmas list.

How we spend is part of an intricate web of environmental, justice and ethical concerns. I suggest that it is also a spiritual matter. Our spending patterns are dictated by the small list of things we need, and the much larger list of desires that fulfill our yearning to belong, to feel fulfilled and esteemed. Therein is the trap - consumption provides a temporary fix of these things, but does not ultimately satisfy. We become trapped into repeatedly changing to the “grey/red/purple is the new black”. We despise items we once coveted and subsequentialy purchased. Consumerism has overtaken religion - truly the “opiate of the people” as coined by Marx. Even churches run the risk of becoming bastions of consumerism. Although if we consider Jesus cracking the whip in the temple, this is not a new phenomenon.

So what to do? Ban Christmas? A few years ago there was a campaign called “buy nothing Christmas”. Sure, that would beat the cues for parking and cash registers. But there is something joyously human and delightful about giving gifts that lead to smiles from our loved ones. And it is possible to spend with a deliberate awareness of the need to choose ethically and responsibly when we shop. As a rule we don’t grow or make things ourselves any more, so purchase we must. But we can choose to buy products that are fairly traded, ethically produced. The list of items and shops meeting these criteria is small, but readily found online. Simply buying what we need and not buying into the fleetingly fashionable “must haves” alone will make a difference. Do your research into companies that take their ethical responsibilities seriously, and buy their products rather than their cheaper exploitative counterparts. Make a gift, or trade in presents for your presence. Together we can all make a difference.