Responsible Consumption as a Moral Imperative
By Sarah Davidson

"The cash register is the daily voting booth in democratic capitalism." -Paul Hawken, The Ecology of Commerce

On December 21 of 1999, I attended the winter solstice celebration at First Universalist Church in Minneapolis. I'm not usually one for ceremony, but I enjoyed this. The readings showed a genuine honor, in the spirit of the pagan tradition, of darkness, light, and the seasons. We stood facing each direction, paying homage to what each one had to give us. There were beautiful dancers and a meditation with amazing live percussion.

Then they passed out glow sticks. We cracked them all at once, and the room was illuminated with the glow of hundreds of neon lights, dancing like bar signs in the hands of everyone as we sang "Here Comes the Sun."

Holding hands, we left the sanctuary, chanting in a very playfully solemn, UU sort of way. The line led down the stairs into the social hall, where there was a fun but failed attempt at a circle dance. Afterwards, people wandered over to the refreshment table, laughing and breathless, to grab a polyurethane cup of cold water.

As we drove home, I reflected on the evening. I wondered if other people had noticed the irony in our combination of praising the earth, and tossing styrofoam and neon plastic sticks into the trash, on the way out to our cars. I have no doubt that I probably wouldn't have noticed anything before this fall, when I began to study sustainability in a mentorship program through my school district. Since then, I have found there is more than I ever could have imagined to be learned about the connections between the environment, the economy and society.

Why do we consume irresponsibly?

The first thing people need to understand is how and why we consume so "irresponsibly." To put it simply, we as Americans have many ideas about our way of life imbedded in us so completely that we don't even know they are there. In spite of the common, but often tacit perception among Unitarian Universalists, that we are rather more enlightened than most about the pitfalls of our culture, we have as much to do with it as everyone else.

In traditional Unitarian fashion, I will start by saying that there is no point in making anyone feel guilty about the situation. We have had virtually no control over the factors that got us in this mess. Some of these factors have existed for thousands of years, many have only been around for the past few centuries, and some are only now beginning to take their effect.

If you study tribal cultures and their religions, you will find an interesting thing. For these people, the secular and the sacred were and are not thought of as two distinct ideas. Whether they were in the middle of a ceremony or cooking dinner, they were in the same frame of mind so far as ethics, tradition and responsibility were concerned. Part of this frame of mind was the idea of interdependence. They thought, (and still do) of everything as a part of the community in which they lived, and as connected in a very real way to everything else. They could tell what impacts their actions had on things around them, and they knew how much they could take in order to sustain the surroundings they lived in so that they could do the same the next year. They behaved in harmony with the world around them, because they saw themselves as part of it.

We, too, are acting in a perfectly normal way, according to how our world works. That's where the problem comes in. This isn't normal, nor should we perceive it to be. We have never been taught to see the full effects and consequences of our actions. We have learned that the laws of the Earth for some reason don't apply to humans, and now are surprised to find ourselves at odds with the environment.

Instead of connecting, we separate everything. (Individualism-what's more American than that?) For us, sacred and secular are two very different ideas, and each follows different rules. Therefore we can take responsibility for what we want, and leave the rest for people in a different place or different time who have no choice but to accept it.

In our world, it is much harder to recognize the interconnectedness that used to be so much a part of people's lives. Consumers have no direct contact with the business and industrial practices that are the cause of most of America's wastefulness. According to Donella Meadows, for each ton of consumer waste we create, five tons of waste were created at the manufacturing stage, and twenty additional tons of waste were created at the site of initial resource extraction. These are consequences that we rarely see; thus, we do not recognize them.

Our economy also distances us from the results of our actions. In the U.S., we measure the prosperity of our country with the Gross National Product, which measures how much we produce, not how efficiently we produced, nor what short or long term affects that production had on the environment and society. This does nothing to promote responsible business practices. Also, the prices of what we buy do not reflect the full environmental and social costs that were created during production, and that will be created in its use and disposal.

As globalization detaches us more and more from the consequences of our actions, it becomes even harder to recognize and care about the consequences of our way of living. At things stand now, huge multinational companies can increase profits by harming the environment, having low labor standards, and staying distanced from the interests of local communities. They can override regulations by either moving to another country or arguing that regulation goes against free trade.

Why should Unitarian Universalists make it a point to be responsible consumers?

The Unitarian Universalist community has been a major factor in making many important changes in the lives of others. It has the opportunity to help take responsibility for the greatest challenge we now face. Life will continue with or without us, but we as humans must decide whether or not we want to be a part of it.

It doesn't take much time interpreting the "Principles and Purposes" of the Unitarian Universalist Association to see that many of them can be related to the issue of consumption. Although not all UUs necessarily subscribe to all of these principles, the values and ideas they "affirm and promote" are similar to those of most Unitarian Universalists, so I will refer to some of these:

"The inherent worth and dignity of every person" - Our consumption habits have a direct impact on countless people, including those on the other side of the world, and those who will be here in the future.

"The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all" - Whether or not we choose to buy goods from corporations that encourage social inequity, such as businesses that use child labor, tells the people in charge of these companies what we think of their practices.

"The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large" - In America, we are relatively free to buy what we want. This means we have the responsibility to make sure we use this freedom to reflect what we believe is important.

"Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part" - All services and products come initially from this web, and what we purchase reflects what value we place on it.

It's obvious that this issue, in theory at least, is important to us. But if we want these values to be more than just catch phrases for whenever people say "Uni-what?!" we need to show that we apply them to our everyday lives.

When you buy a product from a company, you are effectively telling the producers that you like the way they do business. We have every right to expect companies to improve communities, rather than exploiting them, and to become more efficient, mimicking natural systems (resource product resource product . . . ), rather than using linear processes (resource product waste). The technology and ideas are here, waiting to be implemented. But in most cases, businesses won't change until they have to, or until it becomes financially beneficial for them to do so.

How do we do this?

Probably the most effective thing you can do to become a responsible consumer is to educate yourself. Find out what companies and products have a positive impact on (or are at least less detrimental to) the environment and the quality of life of their employees and consumers.

Once you start becoming informed, you can begin to make a real difference. Pass the knowledge on, to friends, family, legislators, store managers, companies. Let them know that you care about the effects your buying patterns have on the rest of the world.

There are plenty of little things you can do to change your purchasing habits to reflect responsible consumption patterns. Some ideas:

Shop at locally owned chains and stores. This promotes diversity in your community, and keeps money within the local economy.

Buy used. This increases the life-cycle of a product and decreases waste.

Purchase from companies with records of having high labor standards.

Get out of your car! An estimated 18% of contributions to global warming come from transportation. When feasible, walk, bike, take a bus, or carpool. This reduces the burning of fossil fuels, along with congestion and stress.

Go for quality over quantity. The more durable and well made a product is, the less likely it is to break and the longer it will last.

What to eat? When grocery shopping, look for foods that are organic, locally grown and produced, and have little (and recyclable) packaging. This reduces waste through decreased transportation and use of plastics, hormones and pesticides. Also, consider eating less meat or becoming vegetarian or vegan. According to Pantzar, Raijas and Eeiskanen, an average diet in the U.S. (two-thirds of energy coming from animal products) requires 51 units of energy a year. In that same amount of time, a vegetarian diet (including dairy products) would require 29 units, and a vegan diet only 15.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that what you buy is one of the most direct ways your morals can be reflected in your everyday life. Realize that everything you consume came from the Earth at one point, took energy from the Earth to be made into a product, and will eventually go back to it in some form. After you get used to doing this, you will start to think of other things you can do. For example, out of habit I rarely get my purchases put in bags anymore, I bring my own.

Also, remember that you can't change everything at once. Sometimes the price of responsibly produced merchandise is more than many can afford. Just buy what you need, don't buy what isn't necessary or going to make your life better.

I would like to be able to come back to First Universalist Church's winter solstice celebration in twenty years and see that my cynical views have no place there. It will happen eventually. The question is only how soon. People are going to start changing the way they think and act, in order to sustain their quality of life for the future.

Responsible consumption will become a necessity for the survival of our species. Unitarian Universalists have a chance to become part of this movement now, and set an example for others, as they have done in the past. Out of respect to those who came before us, and taught us how to lead, and out of respect for the people who will be here in the future, if we let them, we should begin to practice responsible consumption as a moral imperative.

Formatted for the web by Kasey Melski.