Conscious Consumption

I’ve been thinking about my consumption choices lately. Growing wealth inequality and corporate anti-consumer behavior have led me to develop a framework that helps me guide my spending decisions.

I was spurred to write something after reading Unconscious Consumption at Rob’s Gemini Capsule. Rob writes about a pervasive “might as well use it” attitude toward resource consumption and points out that seemingly inconsequential choices do, in fact, have a cost. Like many others, I try to conserve energy, but I still need to live and that involves using some energy and, I must admit, buying stuff.

How I spend my money is just as important as my use of other resources. I’m fortunate to be able to give to charitable causes, but how can I spend my money in a way that addresses the problems I see in the world? Problems like wealth concentration, Walmartization, erosion of the middle class, a decaying quality of life for my countrymen, and the social divisions that result. It’s not hard to imagine that buying disposable products from another country through a profit-driven marketplace like Amazon doesn’t help this situation. Unfortunately, this has become the default for many of us. How do we change that? How do we resist these trends?

We change our behavior.

Values-Based Consumption

Values-based consumption means considering the effect of our buying choices beyond how much we’ll spend and how soon we’ll get it. It asks us to take a moment to think about what’s important to us and how our choices do and don’t align with our values. Amazon in particular has done a lot of work to eliminate that moment of thought. The Amazon app is in our pockets at all times. We can tap an Amazon Dash button the moment we’re low on laundry detergent. An Amazon Echo will let you spend your money using your voice alone. It’s so convenient! But this convenience was engineered by an entity that doesn’t necessarily value the same things we do. I’m picking on Amazon here because they are the best at this, not because they are the only ones doing it.

My Framework

I prefer to engage in direct, domestic, and ethical consumerism.

• Direct: I prefer to do business directly with individual producers.
• Domestic: I prefer to do business with organizations that produce products domestically and hire domestic labor.
• Ethical: I prefer to do business with privately held companies over profit-driven corporations.

In short, I want my consumption behavior to contribute to the dignity and self-sufficency of individual people and to support the quality of the environment we live in.

I needed a mental checklist that I could quickly process when I wanted or needed to buy something.

Here’s what I came up with:

1. Can I make do without it, get it for free, or make it myself?
2. Can I buy it from an individual as close to me as possible?
3. Can I buy it from a privately-held company that produces their own products and uses domestic labor?

Beyond these three, I have to use my judgement. For example, spending money with an individual producer via eBay may be preferable to dealing with a local company engaged in anti-consumer or anti-labor behavior. Often, the choice is not difficult and, over time, this process becomes second-nature.

• I still buy laundry detergent at Target (though I could make my own).
• I get most of my groceries from Target and Cub Foods and the rest at my local corner store.
• I buy coffee from a local roaster.
• I prefer to buy music directly from artists over using streaming services.

Sometimes it’s more complicated. I buy beer from two places: the corner store and a nearby brewpub. Beer at the brewpub is roughly twice the price by volume compared to microbrews stocked by our corner store. I considered buying all my beer from the brewpub. I could call the extra spend a donation in support of local business and local workers. On the other hand, I do really like some of the microbrews at the corner store. In the end, I strike a balance that I’m happy with.

Outcomes are not always optimal. Sometimes I need something very specific that is not available elsewhere and Amazon is the only choice. I can’t always afford the relatively high cost of domestically produced goods and that’s okay. I’ve got to live my life, after all. I have to decide for myself what I’m willing to tolerate in support of my values.

Taking a moment to think about our choices may not be easy or natural, but it is important if we want to have a conscious effect on the world around us. Buying from big-box retailers and online marketplaces has become the unconscious default for many of us. Unfortunately, this tends to concentrate wealth in the hands of a few while depriving many others of a dignified livelihood. If we express our values through our behavior and choices, those things will become valued by others. To change our behavior in the face of a seemingly-foregone conclusion requires optimism and resolve, but it is certainly within our ability to do so.