More Bottles, More Problems | Reflection of Our Social Disconnect
The proliferation, image, and reception of the disposable water bottle acts as a storyteller of modern-day consumption trends and patterns. The disposable water bottle reflects the shift in priorities that our materialism has caused – from quality to quantity, from craft to cheap. Our realization of such rampant materialism leaves us disappointed and apathetic with what seems to be an inability to do anything to effect change. The chilled plastic bottle of water perfectly acknowledges our American culture, paying homage to our demand for instant gratification, our vanity, our “concern” for health and happiness. Yet it leaves us a message that we are discontent with the mantra by which we interact with the world – a message in a bottle.
Obsession with Cheap and Convenient
Disconnect with Our Products and the World Around Us
We've forgotten how products fit into our lifestyle, and how our consumption affect others.
Disposable bottles represent a rapid growth of manufacturing, and one of the effects of such growth is the loss of craftsmanship and a severed link between our products and how we get them. Craftsmanship, one of our oldest cultural priorities, as modern-day first-world societies seem to have lost their toolboxes. Approach to craft and building has been dumbed down, simplified. Need a new table? Most people just buy one that’s already installed. Others will peruse the IKEA catalogue, and follow the pictogram to attach the pieces together (ambitious ones ditch the pictogram all together). Very few craftsmen or overachievers will actually fashion their own table. It’s all very convenient, but it’s a commentary on our social and cultural world. One can spot “easy-to-use flooring” at Lowe’s or quick lessons in home projects at Home Depot. Instead of applying our elbow grease, we are simplifying the process, dumbing it down, and hiring a contractor. Admittedly, we did lose our connection to the land awhile ago, but now we are losing our connection to the physical items that we yearn for. All the hard work is out of sight, out of mind, and we spend our time and effort trying to reap the benefits in the easiest way possible.
One out of seven people in the world has no dependable, safe drinking water. We, here in the US have easier access to a bottle of Fiji water than citizens of Fiji do to any body of clean water.
We’re so obsessed with seems to be cheap and convenient, and as a result, we’ve lost the ability to see the big picture. If an individual buys on average 167 bottles a year, with $1.35 being the average cost of a bottle of Evian water, that’s more than $225 that we are each spending on plastic water bottles. The danger however, isn’t bottled water itself. The issue that that we are raising a generation that looks down on tap water and suspiciously on water fountains. We are paying a significant amount of money for something that we have always been able to get and can still get for free. When we buy a bottle, we’re buying the bottle and the convenience. In 1998, almost $1 out of every $10 Americans spent on food and beverages paid for packaging an increasing amount of which was made from synthetics. Calculated for an average US adult paycheck, that’s $800 a year merely on packaging. Convenience is only relevant to us as users – we don’t even spare a thought about transporting bottled water. All this packaging and movement saps our supply of fossil fuels. Sure, it may not seem as detrimental as driving a Hummer from California to New York by yourself, but moving 1 billion bottles of water around a week in ships, trains, trucks, in the US alone is not a benign indulgence. That’s about 37,800 18-wheelers delivering water. An entire industry is contingent on its ability to not just sell, but also act as primary suppliers of something we really don’t need. Bottled water is an indulgence and we’ve overindulged.
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Materialism and Inequality As Revealed by Consumption
Consumption itself isn’t the concern but rather its patterns and effects. Globally, the 20% of the world’s people in the highest-income countries make up 86% of the total private consumption expenditures. The poorest fifth make up a miniscule 1.3%. The stark inequalities are across the board – the richest fifth consume 45% of all meat and fish, while the poorest fifth 5%. We also consume 58% of the world’s total energy, whereas the poorest fifth less than 4%, we consume 84% of all paper, the poorest fifth 1.1%. Whereas the overall consumption has rapidly skyrocketed from 1995 to 2005, the consumption for the poorest fifth has hardly changed. The generalized figures easily hide extreme poverty and inequality on the whole, which will be incredibly damaging to the environment.
In 2011, Americans spent $21.7 billion on bottled water, more than double than on any global "priorities".
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Secondly, the patterns of spending reveal what seem to be the world’s priorities based on expenditure: Cosmetics $8 billion, ice cream in Europe $11 billion, bottled water in the US $22 billion, business entertainment in Japan $35 billion, alcoholic drinks in Europe $105 billion, narcotics in the world $400 billion, and military spending in the world $780 billion. Compare these numbers with the additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services – basic education $6 billion, water and sanitation %9 billion, basic health and nutrition $13 billion. There exists a social disconnect between what we really want and what we think we want, and our spending reflects that.
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Pop Culture's Negative Connotation of "Plastic"
The Plastics in Mean Girls | Idolizing Insincerity and Vanity
Take for example the movie Mean Girls. The exclusive clique in the story line is made up of selfish, vain, and manipulative girls, dubbed by the student body as “The Plastics.” Their primary concerns are the shapeliness of their calves, shopping, wearing pink on Wednesdays, and making snarky comments about others' hair and outfits, than anything else. However, the ironic part to the story is that nearly the entire student body looks up to them, going to great lengths to imitate them and stay on their good side while hating on them for their selfish actions. The cognitive dissonance that occurs with the idolization and hatred prevents anyone from attempting to change the social hierarchy, resulting in the Plastics on top of the social ladder with zero resistance. Cady, the new girl, beings by pretending to be a Plastic but her act goes too far. Her best friend proclaims "You're not pretending anymore. You're plastic. Cold, shiny, hard, plastic." The connotation of the Plastics in Mean Girls is that of insincerity and vanity.
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The Fear by Lily Allen | Discontent as a Result of Consumerism
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Lily Allen’s song The Fear begins with her expressing her deepest wishes and desires -- clothes, diamonds, money. However, she takes the time to reflect her disappointment at how she cannot distinguish between her dread of a vacant, purposeless consumerist society and reality. However, she remains undecided about what she feels as the disparity between what the consumerist society tells her to want and what truly wants. This confusion and apathy is a prevalent theme throughout the song. Allen says she could care less about anything, because she is notedly "packing plastic". Allen sneers at her current position, but ultimately concedes that she is helpless to change the situation, placing the blame on consumerism and consumption.
Sources
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"A Fountain On Every Corner", New York Times. Find A Fountain, May 23, 2008.
Li, Ling. Bottled Water Consumption Jumps, Worldwatch Institute. November 8, 2007.
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