Kelvin McWater Professor Chilton Composition I 11 March 2018 American Consumerism and Environment In the world today, Americans often see products on social media or television commercials and immediately want to purchase it. Many Americans see items in the mall while they are out shopping and immediately buy it when they may never use it. Americans sometimes purchase items without a single thought about where the product has come from, and what impacts it could have on our ecosystem. The online book “Consumerism Then and Now” notes, “Consumerism appears to have become part and parcel of the very fabric of modern life” (Miles 1). Many people fear that consumerism is becoming too large of a part of American life, as we see from this quote …show more content…
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is a nonprofit organization that has been around since the 1960’s. The EDF has worked on an international scale partnering with many multi-million-dollar companies to help them better their eco foot print. According to the article “Our Partnership with Walmart Brings Big Change” EDF has helped Walmart take small steps toward a good change on a large scale and has provided Walmart with a means to discuss more efficient processes with their suppliers to maximize efficiency and reduce waste (Environmental Defense Fund). It is because of companies like EDF that change happens and international waste is reduced. Walmart is a massive company who has a lot support. If Walmart can start to make small steps toward sustainability, the hope is that other large companies will follow behind them. If major corporations begin to use less materials, and lower their environmental costs, we would have a much better environment. In the United States it may be hard to stop consumerism, but we could at least slow the effects consumerism has on our …show more content…
Consumerism has contributed in overproduction of waste of plastic in marine environments. If we continue to allow overproduction and consumerism to rule the United States the environment will continue to be negatively impacted and will become much worse at an alarming rate, however there are solutions for this. If major corporations can push for more eco-friendly products the waste as well as the cost of waste will be greatly reduced. Many corporations will want to push for change if they have the backing. With the help of international organizations, we can push for a better environment. If we can get a handle on the negative effects of consumerism we could possible turn it into positives in our country. Although consumerism is not always bad its negative repercussions can still be shown throughout our country. As Americans have contributed to this mess we need to be able to work and help fix these issues we have been faced with. Many organizations have already pushed for change, the American people just need to follow in their