Whether or not overpopulation is the stem of the problem, over consumption is a huge problem, especially in developed nations. My favourite example.... the show Man vs. Food on the travel network. (http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Man_V_Food)
I despise this show, it makes me want to write hate mail after hate mail after hate mail. The entire basis of the show is there is one guy who travels around the US and other countries and gets challenged to eating massive amounts of food. So pretty much, one man gets to be the biggest glutton he possibly can, and over consume as much as he can, while there are billions of starving people in the world. He seriously eats enough food to feed at least 5 normal North American people a meal. The money and resources used by this show alone could probably solve world hunger when u consider the money for travelling, staff, food, other resources.... it is ridiculous and it really proves how messed up this world is that there is a need for this show to even exist. With obesity rates in North America sky rocketing it is also very apparent that over consumption is a problem. And this show is just contributing to the problem that much more.
Over consumption (related to my life directly) first became ridiculously obvious to me when I worked for the Town of Okotoks. I was in charge of educating the Town on the new bylaw of only 2 bags of garbage per week and ensuring that people were abiding to it. For my family (4 of us) this garbage limit would have never been a problem, but it didn’t affect us since we lived in Calgary and Calgary does not have garbage limit, which is outrageous! So after looking at peoples garbage every day I began to notice more when people in Calgary had around 10 bags a garbage sitting out beside their 2 escalades waiting to be picked up every week.. I don’t understand how that is possible. Calgary has a recycling program... you don’t even have to sort it and then bin itself is huge! How can a household still produce that much garbage? Its an exact demonstration of overconsumption.
These days there are millions of products that people don’t need, but they still buy. Mostly because they want to be “better” in society because people think that things make you seem successful, like nice cars, lots of toys, lots of clothes...etc. For example, my mom is a bit bored now that all me and my sister have moved out so she keeps getting these ideas for renovating parts of our house. Our house is only 5 years old!!! It definitely doesn’t need any renovations. I ask her why she wants the renovations... “I hate the backsplash in our kitchen” is how she responds. I am somewhat of a minimalist, so to me this is just stupid that she wants to spend money and use resources on something that is fine just the way it is. I totally believe that if it isn’t broken..dont fix it! But everyone, including my mom, strives to consume in this society and it will continue until people change their attitude or there is nothing left to consume. Overconsumption is the problem.. and it doesn’t seem like it will get solved any time soon.
On the topic of overpopulation, here is an interesting video I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZVOU5bfHrM
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