Overconsumption--Are We Happy Yet?

ZNet Commentary /Dying of Consumption / Jan 12, 2001

Dying of Consumption
The more we spend, the happier we become. Probably.
By George Monbiot.

The modern industrial economy works like this: resources are dug from a
hole in the ground on one side of the planet, used for a few weeks, then
dumped in a hole on the other side of the planet. This is known as the Creation
of Value. The Creation of Value improves our quality of life. Improvements
in our quality of life make us happier. The more we transfer from hole to
hole, the happier we become.

Unfortunately, we are not yet transferring enough. According to the
Worldwatch Institute, we have used more goods and services since 1950
than in all the rest of human history. But we still don't seem to be happy.
Indeed, over the same period, 25-year-olds in Britain have become ten
times more likely to be afflicted by depression. One in four British adults
now suffers from a chronic lack of sleep, and one fifth of schoolchildren
have psychological problems. Over the past 13 years, mental health insurance
claims have risen by 36 per cent. American studies suggest that between
40 and 60 per cent of the population suffers from mental illness in any one
year. The World Health Organisation predicts that by 2010 depression will
become the second commonest disease in the developed world. Unless we
start consuming in earnest, we'll never experience real joy.

At this time of year the rate of consumption rises dramatically. To make
ourselves happier, we move resources from one hole to another as quickly
as possible. My local authority reports that the amount of rubbish people
take to the dump increases by 12 per cent in December and January. Curiously,
however, the incidence of depression also seems to rise. Calls to the
Samaritans increase by eight per cent between Christmas and New Year's
Day. But the figures are misleading. The more depressed we are, the more we
spend on anti-depressants and alcohol. The more we spend, as any economist
will explain to you, the happier we become.

A few Christmases ago, I was given a kettle, which now leaks. I could mend
it, if only I could tighten the base. But one of the screws has a star-shaped
slot with a spike in the middle, which is designed to prevent repairs, as no
available tool will fit it. My kettle was for Christmas, not just for life. So I will
throw it away, and help to build an earthly paradise by buying a new one.

From the dumps and incinerators in which our broken presents, our discarded
fairies, our uncomposted Christmas trees and unrecyclable packaging are
deposited, goodwill spreads inexorably. Among other benefits, the disposal
of rubbish supports the medical profession. Babies born within three
kilometres of toxic landfill sites, according to research published in
The Lancet, are more likely to suffer from abnormalities than babies born
elsewhere. Incinerators release dioxins and heavy metals, which cause
cancer, birth defects and endometriosis. This creates jobs and increases
the flow of money in the economy, adding to the sum of human happiness.

Though the UN's figures seek to suggest otherwise, British people are
surely happier than people in poorer lands, because more of our needs are met.
Indeed, advertisers help us to answer needs we never knew we had, by
revealing that our lives are less satisfactory than we thought. When I was
18, male face creams came onto the market. Until that point, we boys had
no idea that our skin was ageing prematurely. Since then, men have been
introduced to many of the improvements that women have enjoyed for so
long We have discovered that we are uglier, spottier, fatter and more
inadequate than we could ever have imagined. And, by moving more resources
between holes in the ground, we can do something about it.

The consumer society serves the poor better than anyone else, as it both
exposes the grottiness of their lives and kindly provides the means with
which they can escape from it. In some cases, as a report by the Citizens'
Advice Bureaux revealed earlier this month, the interest on their happiness
rises to as much as 1800 per cent a year, spreading good cheer among the
many thousands of people the loan recovery business employs. As the
banks and manufacturers, shops and economists remind us, our quest for
happiness is boundless.

As always, of course, and particularly at this time of year, someone tries to
spoil the fun. And, predictably enough, the greens are moaning that the
planet is dying of consumption. People, they say, are being pushed off
their lands by the digging of holes, the felling of forests and the growing of
cash crops; ecosystems are being poisoned and resources exhausted; the
Earth is overheating, because so much energy is required to move its
components from one hole to another. But I would ask them this: isn't the
death of the planet a price worth paying for the happiness we now enjoy?