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A New Philosophy for Sustainable Consumerism
Summary
This opinion piece argued for a new philosophy of sustainable consumerism that moves away from demand-driven growth metrics, highlighting microplastic contamination of the food chain and climate change as urgent reasons to restructure the relationship between businesses, governments, and consumers.
With growing awareness of unsustainable practices, communities are forcing businesses and governments to take serious steps towards sustainability. Microplastics enter the food chain and eventually reach humans. The threat of global warming and recurrent climate disasters necessitate immediate action. However, all governments and corporations rely on an ‘increase in demand’ as a growth metric, which prevents them from doing anything meaningful to ensure our planet’s long-term viability. Against the above paradox, this article explores a compromise between sustainability, consumption, and economic growth. It is a theoretical framework for proposing a solution in which businesses can expand in tandem with our planet’s long-term future or a glance through the areas where the Keynesian economy can coexist with environmentalists’ concerns. The proposed framework claims significance in terms of practicality than the perfection of a solution.
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