By Abigail Isherwood
“Isn’t it interesting”, a friend reflected, “that when we only buy what we need, as we have been during the lockdown, the economy crashes”.
Now I’m not an economist, but the comment did get me thinking about how our systems, both nationally and internationally, thrive, and even survive, on overconsumption. Overconsumption which is sold to us through an underlying narrative of “not enough”. Consumers are told repeatedly that we “don’t have enough” or that we “are not enough” in ourselves until we have x. Take Argos’ Spring ad from this year, it ends with the slogan “With Argos, you’re good to go”, implying that without Argos, you’re not. Most of us are aware of the lies of manipulative advertising, but I’m not sure we always join the dots between the “not enough” narrative and damaging global effects of overconsumption. But since this narrative of “not enough” drives our rapid rate of consumption, it also feeds our international, neoliberal systems, which damage our world in many ways. Here are just two examples.
Firstly, overconsumption is destroying the planet. The rate natural resource extraction, the agricultural methods, the mass deforestation, all race to feed the high demands of overconsumption, to the detriment of the environment. Secondly, overconsumption, and the systems that uphold western consumption rates, actively impose racial injustices. Take fast fashion. Women overseas in the Majority World are exploited to maintain the speed at which fast fashion brands produce. Overconsumption demands the exploitation of both people and the planet to meet the superfluous needs of the Minority World. A need fabricated by the fear that we are not enough.
I’m not trying to take the blame away from us, quite the opposite. I think realising the “not enough” narrative that drives us to overconsumption actually leaves us, as consumers, with both greater responsibility and the opportunity to change the system. Along with many other important actions such as educating ourselves, listening more, boycotting, and protesting, we need to take the time and energy to become more self-aware.
Perhaps working on ourselves so we become secure enough in who we are will make us less prone to believe the "I am not enough" lie. In turn, this could slow down our individual rates of consumption as well as make us secure enough to have healthier discussions about racial inequalities and injustices. Because, when we know that we are enough and we are worthy of belonging, we can more easily see others in the same light. We become more resilient and have more resources to have the difficult, uncomfortable but essential conversations about race. And we are no longer in competition with or threatened by others because we are secure in the fact that there is room for all of us to belong. Greater self-awareness and secure self-worth can lead us to become more accepting people and more conscious consumers.
