Man has created a society, where he can have everything, if he wants to have everything. Materials goods of all sorts are very cheap. Anyone not willing to constantly toss and buy anew is regarded as an oddity. At the same time, we also blame the individual for his overconsumption. It's an interesting paradox.

Food

When most people think of obesity, they think of our country's fatting waistlines that are more and more common. Somehow it's the indivdual's faul for not passing on that extra pastry at the dounut shop, or going out and drinking too much. Or maybe that individual spent too much time playing with his computer and not enough time in the woods.

Certainly the big corporations of our day bare some responsibility. We live in a society that encourages a high level of consumption. Agriculture needs sales, and things with lots of sugar and fat tend to be very cheap. Yet, the health impacts are severe, but are only one part of over-consumption.

Oil

It's all the fault of those people with big pickup trucks and suburban assault vechicles, says the popular press on the issue of overconsumption of oil. The auto industry replies back that if people didn't demand such big cars and trucks, then we wouldn't have an oil crisis. To deny people the trucks they want simply would not be fair.

Of course, that argument totally ignores our addiction to driving anywheres and everywhere, regardless of the miles it would take. It seems okay in our society to live way out in the country, and commute dozens of miles to the city. Or be stuck in traffic as you drive to the store to buy another back of twinkies. If you have a fuel efficent car or a hybrid, your soul seems to be redeemed.

Garbage

The smoldering burn barrel or the overflowing muncipal dump, filled with plastic garbage is another good symbol of our society's obesity. Industry is constantly telling us that it's our fault for not recycling. Others suggest it's our fault for buying such cheap stuff that within a few days is going to be dumped or burnt. It's never the corporations fault for making so much junk in the first place.

Finding more and more places to dump our endless remains of our consumerism is getting harder and harder as nobody wants to live next to a garbage dump or smell the toxins from burning trash. Everybody wants to blame the individual for everything that is wrong in our contemporary society.

Conclusions

We simply consume too much. It's not the fault of the indivdual, insofar as he doesn't have that much control over the environment he lives in. The corporations are constantly telling us it's okay to consume more and more, as long as we do things like recycle or buy something slightly more efficent. The push this junk at us by cheaper and cheaper prices.

The damage is well hidden. Nobody can see the many pollutants we are generating, landfills are usually well hidden, and it's socially acceptable to be fat these days. Professionals take care of our problems, they claim. Yet it's our earth that's doing all the suffering for our overconsumption.