to the built-in obsolescence of the goods we purchase. Even the assumptions
embedded in economics incorporate consumption: consumers are assumed to have
insatiable wants.
Marketing and advertising have played a strong role in fostering consumption by
creating marketed demand, which essentially is demand that arises as a result of
marketing and advertising. However, the responsibility of consumption has not been
fostered, developed, or perhaps even understood by consumers.
Consumers have become increasingly distanced from the production process of
the goods they are consuming, and as a result, they are not cognizant about the
impact that their consumption demand has on the degradation, exploitation, and
depletion of planetary resources. Instead, what consumers are aware of is price.
Fundamentally, consumers have focused on market price and have delegated the
inclusion of value parameters, including environmental and social costs, to
producers, but producers are incentivized to minimize cost and maximize return.
Externalizing costs are beneficial to producer profit maximization. As a result,
unfortunately, there is a failure in the incentive matching between consumers and
producers. In most cases, due to the externalizing of costs and externalities, market
prices do not reflect the true cost of a good. Individuals can purchase more resources
because not all costs are captured in their production; in essence, reliance on market
prices can enable unsustainable consumption (Venkatesan 2017).
From this perspective, consumption plays a significant role in the sustainability of
the planet. Responsible consumption is requisite, and this can be promoted through
education and the coalescing of the consumer base, where the common ground can
be founded both on the self-interest assumed in economics and the trending cultural
value of holistic assessment.
Consumption choices are based on demand and supply of a good and are
identified with satisfying a need or a want. The impact of consumption decisions
can be significant when there is asymmetry of information; fundamentally, there is a
relationship between economic and environmental outcomes and consumption
choices. Purchases affect labor and environmental resource use. However, most
purchase decisions are made through a market mechanism, where the consumer is
not explicitly made aware of the entire production process, prices are inclusive of
only market costs of production, exclusive of the impact of externalities, and waste is
not a factor in the consumption decision. This limitation in information transparency
often creates a disconnect between the social and environmental justice sensitivities
of a consumer and the realities of their consumption choice in enabling and
maintaining the values that they espouse.
Consumption decisions can have a significant ripple effect throughout a single
economy as well as the finite global resource base. Consider, for example, the life
cycle of milk cartons. Polyethylene lined, printed paper milk cartons have been
created for the transport and preservation of milk from the production to the
consumption stage. However, the components of the carton were not developed
with waste disposal in mind; rather, increasing distribution and sales was the
rationale for the carton. As a result, largely related to the focused basis of its creation,
the milk carton serves a consumption purpose without consideration of the impact to
16
M. Venkatesan
embedded in economics incorporate consumption: consumers are assumed to have
insatiable wants.
Marketing and advertising have played a strong role in fostering consumption by
creating marketed demand, which essentially is demand that arises as a result of
marketing and advertising. However, the responsibility of consumption has not been
fostered, developed, or perhaps even understood by consumers.
Consumers have become increasingly distanced from the production process of
the goods they are consuming, and as a result, they are not cognizant about the
impact that their consumption demand has on the degradation, exploitation, and
depletion of planetary resources. Instead, what consumers are aware of is price.
Fundamentally, consumers have focused on market price and have delegated the
inclusion of value parameters, including environmental and social costs, to
producers, but producers are incentivized to minimize cost and maximize return.
Externalizing costs are beneficial to producer profit maximization. As a result,
unfortunately, there is a failure in the incentive matching between consumers and
producers. In most cases, due to the externalizing of costs and externalities, market
prices do not reflect the true cost of a good. Individuals can purchase more resources
because not all costs are captured in their production; in essence, reliance on market
prices can enable unsustainable consumption (Venkatesan 2017).
From this perspective, consumption plays a significant role in the sustainability of
the planet. Responsible consumption is requisite, and this can be promoted through
education and the coalescing of the consumer base, where the common ground can
be founded both on the self-interest assumed in economics and the trending cultural
value of holistic assessment.
Consumption choices are based on demand and supply of a good and are
identified with satisfying a need or a want. The impact of consumption decisions
can be significant when there is asymmetry of information; fundamentally, there is a
relationship between economic and environmental outcomes and consumption
choices. Purchases affect labor and environmental resource use. However, most
purchase decisions are made through a market mechanism, where the consumer is
not explicitly made aware of the entire production process, prices are inclusive of
only market costs of production, exclusive of the impact of externalities, and waste is
not a factor in the consumption decision. This limitation in information transparency
often creates a disconnect between the social and environmental justice sensitivities
of a consumer and the realities of their consumption choice in enabling and
maintaining the values that they espouse.
Consumption decisions can have a significant ripple effect throughout a single
economy as well as the finite global resource base. Consider, for example, the life
cycle of milk cartons. Polyethylene lined, printed paper milk cartons have been
created for the transport and preservation of milk from the production to the
consumption stage. However, the components of the carton were not developed
with waste disposal in mind; rather, increasing distribution and sales was the
rationale for the carton. As a result, largely related to the focused basis of its creation,
the milk carton serves a consumption purpose without consideration of the impact to
16
M. Venkatesan