Relying less on consumerism culture: one positive lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic
COVID-19 pandemic has upended our day-to-day lives in many profound ways — life has changed significantly for all of us for years to come. In the midst of this health crisis, one outcome that has been a blessing in disguise is the decreased dependency on consumerism as a whole.
As we adjust to the new normal, we have adapted to learning to do things ourselves without relying on external sources. We have become less dependent on restaurants to feed us, for example. We are eating out less, have learned to make our own food from scratch. We are eating healthy, clean and fresh food, relying less on processed foods, and contributing to a cleaner and sustainable environment. Because most of us are still working from home or are commuting to offices fewer days of the week, we are driving less, therefore we are consuming less amount of gas. We are traveling on airplanes infrequently as well. These changes have contributed to less production of carbon in the atmosphere, resulting in reduced pollution and cleaner air. Our decreased carbon footprint as a result of this pandemic will have profound positive outcome on global climate change, and the ecosystem in the future and this is truly a unexpected blessing!
This makes me wonder about the existence of consumerism itself. Why have we created a world where we rely on capitalistic businesses to foster a materialistic culture. Living a simple, healthy and purposeful life does not entail acquiring grander things. We don’t need bigger houses, fancy cars, lavish vacations to feel happy. All we need is a sense of meaning and that comes from spending more time with our families and loved ones, volunteering to help less unfortunate whether physically or virtually, and contributing towards a cause you believe in that is something greater in the world, like rescuing animals from abandoned places, for example. These activities do not require a single dime,and yet provide a strong purpose to the individual and creates a large social impact to the society.
Wouldn’t you want to live in this type of world, where everyone works well together, there is less dependency on having a certain social status, less reliance on consumerism, and above all, no one is held above anyone, and we get to breath clean, fresh air. If we had this kind of utopia, imagine how many positive changes we could bring about, and how much progress we could achieve in diminishing poverty, inequality, in eliminating the abuse of the environment and the ecosystems and its inhabitants.
My wish is if only this were to stay like this forever, if only we as collective human beings understand the deeper impact that we have on the society, if only we could take drastic changes to our day-to-day living beyond pandemic times.. if only.. and the world would be such a wonderful place to call home!
