‘We are literally consuming the Earth that sustains us’

On World Environment Day, humanity finds itself confronting a pandemic and climate change. Writing for Times Evoke, distinguished environmentalist Vandana Shiva outlines how our consumption practices have led us to this point — and how we can still make crucial changes:

The etymological roots of the word ‘consume’ are to destroy by separating into parts which cannot be reunited, to expend by use, or, to do away with completely. It is important to know the full meanings of this everyday word because today, we are literally consuming the Earth and our future. We have separated ourselves from the well-being of our planet, fragmented Earth into parts, each to be mined as material for industrial processing, creating only ever-growing waste and pollution.

Today, it is also clear that new diseases like the coronavirus, and other infectious ailments including SARS, MERS, Zika, Ebola, etc., are being created only because a globalised, industrialised and inefficient food and agriculture model has invaded the ecological habitats of other species. This model is manipulating animals and plants, showing no respect for their integrity — and their health.

The coronavirus health emergency is connected to other emergencies as well. It is linked to the extinction emergency and the disappearance of multiple species from Earth. It is connected to the climate emergency and destructive cyclones like Amphan. All these emergencies are in turn rooted in a mechanistic, militaristic, anthropocentric worldview, wherein humans are considered separate from — and superior to — other beings, whom we can ‘own’.These emergencies are also rooted in an economic model based on the idea of limitless growth — and limitless greed. And we participate in this ‘greed economy’ by becoming ceaseless consumers, keeping the greed machine running with our consumption. If we continue in this way, the end of the Earth’s capacity to support human life is certain.

We will undoubtedly join all our fellow beings who have now gone extinct. But how could a species that, in its anthropocentric arrogance, thinks it is more intelligent than all others create the conditions of its own extinction? The answer is clear — we have been made utterly impervious to the destruction of the ecological conditions which our own species needs to live.

This has been accomplished by multiple constructs that accompany fossil fuel industrialism, including one that reduces us to being only ‘consumers’. Turned into perpetual consumers, we participate in a ‘throwaway’ culture — throw away packaging, throw away clothing, even throw away people. Let’s take just one industry.

Fast fashion is the practice of wearing clothes that express thoughtlessness — a deep indifference to the ecological costs to the Earth, an indifference to the condition of those working in farms and factories to make our clothes, an indifference to our own unique identities. Fast fashion makes me a clone of millions of other consumers, wearing the same throwaway clothing, irrespective of the culture and the climate to which I belong. We become mannequins in an assembly line. The assembly line must churn faster and faster to sell more — and waste more.

Therefore, new goods are purchased even when the old ones are wearable. Fast fashion’s quick response model and new supply chain practices accelerate the speed of it all. In recent years, the fashion cycle has in fact steadily decreased as fast fashion retailers sell clothing that is expected to be disposed of after being worn only a few times. Quick-changing stocks and low prices encourage consumers to buy far more frequently. The result — excessive stock and ‘un-trendy’ clothes end up in landfills, further polluting the Earth.

This also applies to industrial food, fast food and what I term ‘fake food’. When you consume organic food, for instance, one unit of energy input gives you about 10 units of energy in return. This food is good for the planet’s health and your health. In contrast, industrial agriculture uses 10 units of energy to produce one unit of nutritionally empty food. And when this is industrially processed, it uses about 100 units and can give chronic diseases too.

Now, the current situation offers us a valuable moment to think. The pandemic lockdowns have taught us that we can do with less — we actually need only our essentials and not multiple brands. With this in mind, we can expand our consciousness to rethink our entire consumption patterns now. We can make choices that heal our planet while healing our own bodies and minds. We can think of ourselves as being Earth’s citizens instead of just consumers.

We can recall our own innovative capacities — and we can even help to regenerate the Earth, while it still supports our existence.