Now that the world has become sophisticated these days you are not a customer anymore -
you are a consumer.
consume /Pronunciation [kuhn-soom] verb, -sumed, sum.ing - verb (used with object)
- to destroy or expend by use; use up.
- to eat or drink up; devour.
- to destroy, as by decomposition or burning: Fire consumed the forest.
- to spend (money, time, etc.) wastefully.
- to absorb; engross: consumed with curiosity. - verb (used with object)
- to undergo destruction; waste away.
- to use or use up consumer goods.
Origin: 1350-1400; Middle English Synonyms: exhaust, deplete, squander, and dissipate.
Ref; Dictionary.com Unabridged (v1.1) Based on Random House Unabridged Dictionary,
© Random House, Inc 2006
This slight shift in jargon from customer to consumer is one of the telltale signs that indicates
that something has changed in the way we purchase goods and services.
What happened? When and how did you change from being a customer to become a
consumer?
Did you even realise that you had stopped being a customer? Do you think that by changing to a
consumer,it means that you have started to consume? From the dictionary definition (above) this
implies that there is nothing left after you have used the consumer product that you bought. So do
you want to be a consumer and be forced to consume natural resources, whether you intended to
or not?
Sometime last century, instead of a product being robust or getting repaired, the manufacture
of modern products switched to being planned to become obsolete. Household products
became consumer products. It was a deliberate economic strategy by manufacturers and
you were offered another one when your consumer product wore out or was superseded by
the next model or fashion. Consuming was the defining characteristic of the 20th century
market economy. It was different to other forms of trade, such as (say) the subsistence
economy of small Pacific Islands or the regulated economy of Communist Soviet Russia.
The throw away society was easy – just consume it and throw it away. We all did it.
It seems embarrassing now and it could spell doom for consumerism - but the market
economy is a resilient type of economy. It rests on an assumption:
'The customer is always right'.
You know that you are the customer - or at least you used to be.
Do you want to be a customer again? Do you want to be empowered so you can stop being
a consumer in future? Instead of throwing products away, you could buy and use a product
and then pass it on for re-use, recycling and re-manufacturing of its materials and embodied
energy. It would save resources from being dumped in a landfill. You would become a
customer again - if you choose to.
Here are some of the reasons why consuming resources, energy and water is not realistic,
or normal, or sustainable. All natural resources on our planet are limited and finite. It is a law
of science that energy and matter cannot be created or destroyed on our planet, Earth. What
you see is what you get. There is no Earth factory making any more energy or matter than the
amount that we already have. Also Nature works in cycles rather than in straight lines. We talk
about the water cycle or the carbon cycle. Have you heard anyone talk about a 'water straight
line' or a 'carbon straight line'?
Although we buy and throw products away in a straight line process, you will be relieved to
know that you are not breaking the laws of science. This is because in reality, consuming
materials is not physically possible. All materials end up somewhere, even when they are
thrown away. When the Earth's population was small we could go forth and subdue the Earth
by consuming its resources without much noticeable pollution or waste. But now that we have
soared to 6.6 billion of us, the accumulated pollution and waste has fouled our nest. So
subduing and consuming the Earth cannot continue because it is not sustainable. Consuming
is the opposite of sustainability.
So next time you buy a product, think about it for a moment. There is information on how to be
sustainable in your procurement of goods and services on the website of the product
standards-setting body for ecolabelling in Australia at: www.qreenprocurernent.orq.au
Become a customer again!
Suzanne Little is the Executive Director, Good Environmental Choice Australia,
and a NSW Division Committee Member,.EIANZ
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