Deconsumption: a passport to widespread poverty!

Terms such as “sustainable development,” “environmental responsibility,” and “degrowth” have long established themselves as standards of environmental awareness. But its overuse has emptied it of its essence and ability to mobilize, relegating it to the status of traditional cliché.

In the face of growing indifference to old slogans, we point to “consumption reduction” as a new rallying cry.

Of course, everyone is free to reconsider their relationship with consumption. Moving away from the cult of possession and giving the two verbs “to be” and “to be” their respective importance can only be beneficial.

mistake

On the other hand, let's not make a “compositional error”!

This is a widely documented logical flaw of extending society beyond what is good for the individual.

However, it is a royal delusion to elevate the level of decomposition of consumption to the rank of supreme societal value by extrapolating individual behavior to the collective scale.

Let's imagine for a moment that a portion of the population clings to this modern asceticism and commits itself to never buying anything new.

First, in the absence of consumption, production declines and job losses multiply, with predictable domino effects on all industries, on supply, distribution and marketing chains, and on stock prices.

After the Great Depression in 1929, we could see the Great Depression in 2029.

Second, without consumption and work, government revenues collapse.

The lack of funding will require cuts in public services that consumption advocates value, especially public transportation.

Finally, since you need something new to get something used, how can you imagine there being enough used goods to meet everyone's needs?

What begins as voluntary poverty soon turns into imposed poverty.

poverty

Therefore, let us be wary of the deconstructionist thesis.

Far from being a panacea that will open the doors to happiness and eco-paradise, this new fad is a harbinger of widespread poverty!