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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[aubreejobizzarro]

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).
Compulsory slavery is also another way to sum that statement up. Just that one singular point kind of just blew my mind 😅

[dedhampster]

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.

[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.

[SalR.H.]

Great work Al Jazeera.

“Poor countries are developing rich countries”. Thank you for saying that out loud.

[worshipthecomedygodseoeunk]

"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

[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.
I have not worn an item of clothing given by a family member a year ago, since it is in a style I never wear and does not go with anything else I have.

[janedaniel]

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.

[emilysnyder]

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.

[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".

It would be easy for me to think low of her, but I have to consider her background. She grew up in that in-between spot between low-income and middle-income. Her parents could not afford vacations and luxury goods, but they had enough money to buy her a used computer and low speed internet access. Through social media, she discovered how other people were living. She saw people with better houses, better cars, better clothes, better make-up, better toys, and better lives. I think this greatly affected her perception of "happiness", and ever since then, she has been obsessed with buying stuff, 99% of which she doesn't even need.

There needs to be a conversation about how capitalism and the media brainwashes young people into buying stuff they don't need.

[rcdriver]

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!!!!

[keyboarddancers]

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

[ThePragmatic]

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

[phantomstrider]

It's lovely to see an Australian accent in the hosts of Al Jazeera. Proud of my country to see us contributing to a reliable global news outlet like Al Jazeera.

[bittoochatterjee]

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..
I am still using all the necessary stuff that helps me in running my day to day life that i purchased in the year of 2004 and still running.
This is how i saved lots and lots amount of money as my savings which helped me during my Crisis Period / lock down period.
I don't unnecessarily buy products just for the heck of buying it

[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.

[fabiodeoliveiraribeiro]

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).

[thanksyahweh]

This makes me sick.

I hate that we are trapped in this system and are powerless to change it because the 1% just HAVE to make their profit.

[entropicpedro]

You know it's good when Jason Hickel enters the conversation. It's sad that this guy flies under the radar of most people. That guy's ideas are revolutionary. Great piece. IMO this is one of the most important videos on YouTube

[jefersonlemos]

the best approach of climate crisis so far, we need more of this

[_aiborie]

I appreciate documentaries like these by Al Jazeera, they're so well made and a good way to inform the public.