Consumed
Clever marketing can coax consumerism.
To better understand the complex nature of consumerism and the way it impacts the environment, I deconstructed, fused together and reconstructed plastic shopping bags at a size 50% larger.
Consumerism is so out of control that many items purchased are made out of environmentally irresponsible plastic. These plastic "things" are elaborately packaged in layers of plastic. Finally, once the plastic-in-plastic-packaging has been purchased it is placed in a plastic bag so you can carry it
in another layer of plastic
just to get it home.
Plastic bags drive me crazy...
I learned that it is not difficult to live without plastic one-time-use grocery bags. Though it was surprising to me when I first moved to Arcata, CA that they were banned, I was more than happy to adjust. I learned a lot from the experience. I loaded my groceries into the store's ditched produce boxes at first, and then I graduated to large fabric bags, which eventually started to become more fashionable, and therefore, more available!
When I moved from Northern California to St. Louis, Missouri, I was in culture shock. I had to readjust back to the archaic and utterly irresponsible consumption of plastic bags. Even though I refused to use them, I ended up with bags full of them under my kitchen sink. It is much easier to acquire them than to reuse these sneaky plastic bags.
