Our obsession with economic growth is deadly | All Hail The Planet

We are surrounded by stuff. We buy and buy and buy - it’s the foundation of how our economies run, how they grow.
But all this buying, all this economic "growing", is devastating people and our planet. We are in a dangerous spiral of out-of-control resource use.
In the third episode of All Hail The Planet - a series delving into the social, economic and political forces undermining meaningful global action on climate change - Ali Rae speaks with economic anthropologist Jason Hickel, economic sociologist Juliet Schor, and development economist Ndongo Samba Sylla.
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[@bambampepe]

We consume so much because we are so empty inside. Before discussing ecological destruction and economic inequality lets discuss why our souls are so sick. Unhappy people are perfect consumers, never satisfied. Happy people are not consumerists. Forget the ecological problem. Unless we "fix" our inner permanent voids, emptiness and dissatisfaction we will continue buying conmpulsively and in the run destroying ourselves, our fellow humans, animals and the planet. But it all starts with a sick soul.

[@emilysnyder4857]

Decades ago I stopped celebrating Christmas for spiritual reasons. My family decided not to give gifts. This was a challenge socially in my culture and I had lots of social pressure to engage in it. Every organization has its own gift exchange. As I was trying to separate from it I became increasingly aware that the Holiday was entirely an economic construct in modern times. I had a job in retail sales once that was commission based. I once had to work the day after Christmas and did 9k in returns in one day. I was in the hole till August with any commission because that many people didn't like the gift someone went to the trouble of buying and instead returned it. I was disgusted with humanity that day. Why do we do this year after year? Why don't we just buy things as we need them? It's a religious system built in that socially enforces the idea that material things have more value than people.

[@janedaniel4646]

I'm not even kidding when I say that the market crash and high inflation have me really stressed out and worried about retirement. I've been in the red for a while now and although people say these crisis has it perks, I'm losing my mind but I get it, Investing is a long-term game, so I try to focus on the long term.

[@worshipthecomedygodseoeunk4010]

"poor countries are developing rich countries, not the other way around" people acknowledge its an unequal exchange, but they never acknowledge who is really depending on who

[@shanesorensen7878]

I want to change I am sick of western myth of growth.

[@dedhampster4730]

Im from the US. I grew up as a typical consumer from a poor household and we never "had enough" and always wanted. As an adult i have worked hard to achieve financial security and realized that that in a lot of ways my wants and "needs" were going to keep me poor. I haven't gone so far as to give up toilet paper, but i use squares of tshirt for papertowels and wash them. I am very crafty and all our furniture is either made or i have sourced from trash/thrift/hand-me-downs and refinished. I drive a cheap KIA when i could afford a used BMW now. We actually dont need a lot to live well and i use my growing wealth (personal savings and investments) to support several nieces and nephews who are growing up on welfare like i did. I am teaching them the dangers of consumption and the patience of money management.

[@fabiodeoliveiraribeiro1602]

We are not just consuming things. What we are really consuming is our civilization's time on Earth. But Earth time is geological. In the life of the planet, our extinction will only be a small event (and not the most important or cataclysmic one).

[@dominick8847]

Hitler hated capitalism also, and he called the Jew the Capitalist.

[@CmonNowTellme]

It is capitalism system that pushes consumerism culture. In every country's economy and growth of GPD is measured by retail industries. For instance, you will hear we are in recession because retail sales are dow x%. Thus, we should pump out stimulus money to keep the engine of consumerism going.

[@aaronhunt1925]

Wow, I'm so glad we have the royal family of Qatar around to tell us that we need to stop economic growth to save the environment from the natural gas that made Qatar the richest country on the planet!

[@aubreejobizzarro1208]

That gentleman made an excellent point that I never considered; As human needs are privatized in the market (like healthcare), we are forced to work and produce more than we may need to, or even are sabotaged in not meeting our basic needs in order to push excess growth in the economy(in hopes our needs are met).

[@ausferret]

This is why I hate obligations to give and accept gifts. It leads to all sides accumulating unnecessary items that will take up space, be sent to a third party, or simply trashed.

[@SalR.H.]

Great work Al Jazeera.

[@HettesKvek]

On Wednesday, I overheard my co-worker excitedly talking about all the things she was going to buy for Black Friday. She doesn't even have the disposable income to buy the stuff within her budget, but she has the credit cards to make up for it, and she can't pass up a "good deal".

[@rcdriver107]

This video speaks the truth about the way of the real world. Our economic system is very oppressive and very cruel, even for those living in rich countries. Citizens across the globe suffer immensely and debts pile up like there is no such thing as tomorrow!!!!

[@TesserId]

Planned obsolescence was a conscious decision that was made when it was realized that automation would reduce the number of days that people worked. That's right. The powers that be decided that people needed to work 5 days a week. Can't be letting people have too much time to think for themselves.

[@The3Pragmatic]

While watching this video, KZbin showed me at least 8 adverts. It is ironic since it is about our obsession about consumerism :)

[@bittoochatterjee2661]

I Keep on Ensuring each set of my clothes Last At least for 10 - 12 Years. And People who know me are quite Amazed to see how come my Clothes Inspite of me wearing it for such long durations still remains as Good as Brand New..

[@keyboarddancers7751]

Very honest of Aljazeera to acknowledge Qatar's part in this consumer madness.

[@thanksyahweh8777]

This makes me sick.