Following this is a "Rall" comic strip out of a Pittsburgh, PA, newspaper from 2003. It is a nice accompaniment to my following thoughts about what irks me about most major news media.
Often the conversation on network and cable television, radio (even NPR) etc. is related to how much we as a society are spending. Are we spending enough? Are we consuming enough? Are we building enough? Are there enough construction jobs? Is the stock market high enough? Were enough cars bought? How much did retail spending climb? Are investors scared? Did the stock market go down? etc.
This is a model that is not sustainable. Yes, of course I understand that populations will grow and therefore so will consumption. But the way we consume is what I have a problem with. I am not happy with how most of the system currently works in industrialized nations.
A society built on an inherent need to consume needlessly more and more, is not sustainable. Especially when a majority of those products are not being consumed in a way that makes sense. For example, the demand for beef across the world causes valuable rain-forests to be cut down to make room for grazing land. At the same time in other places, many cows are raised using hormones and kept in mercilessly tight spaces. It is a funnel of corporate, industrialized consumption built to enrich those at the top.
What can I do? Support companies that have proven fair-trade practices, eat produce from local farmer's markets, ride my bike and carpool, invest in solar and wind energy, buy from my local small businesses, use cloth grocery bags, buy bulk foods instead of packaged products. Check out more links after the strip for more ideas.
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