The effects of consumerism on the enviornment

Question 1

🛍️ Consumerism

Answer 1

🛍️ Consumerism – The idea that buying lots of things makes life better.

Question 2

💸 Rampant Consumerism

Answer 2

💸 Rampant Consumerism – Buying way too much, often without thinking if it’s needed.

Question 3

⚖️ Inequality

Answer 3

⚖️ Inequality – When some people have way more money, chances, or rights than others.

Question 4

🌎 TNCs/MNCs

Answer 4

🌎 TNCs/MNCs (Big Global Companies) – Huge businesses like Nike or Apple that sell products in many countries.

Question 5

📺 Mass Media

Answer 5

📺 Mass Media – TV, radio, newspapers, and the internet that spread news and entertainment to many people.

Question 6

📢 Advertising

Answer 6

📢 Advertising – Businesses trying to make people want to buy their products.

Question 7

🧠 Psychological Tactics in Advertising

Answer 7

🧠 Psychological Tactics in Advertising – Tricks companies use to make you feel excited, cool, or even worried so you buy their stuff.

Question 8

🌿 Environmental Degradation

Answer 8

🌿 Environmental Degradation – The planet getting damaged because of pollution, cutting down forests, or using too many resources.

Question 9

🏭 Sweatshops

Answer 9

🏭 Sweatshops – Factories where workers get paid very little and work in bad conditions.

Question 10

🌱 Environmental Controls

Answer 10

🌱 Environmental Controls – Rules to stop companies from harming nature.

Question 11

💰 Bribery

Answer 11

💰 Bribery – Paying someone secretly to get an unfair advantage.

Question 12

Why do we constantly feel the need to buy new “stuff”/Drivers of consumerism

3. basic

Answer 12

• We are constantly bombarded by
  ads telling us to buy more stuff.
• These ads are using mass media to brainwash us.
• They use psychology on us by focusing on our basic human needs such as an acceptance by other people. E.g. your old phone makes you look poor - go and buy a new phone and social acceptance by the crowd etc.

Question 13

Who are benefitting from consumerism?

Answer 13

• Transnational Corporations (TNCs) also called Multinational Corporations (MNCs) get rich when we buy their products.
• The more we buy their products the bigger their income. These companies are constantly using advertising to induce us to be buying more and more.

Question 14

Who are not benefitting from consumerism?

Answer 14

The Enviornment - The more we buy, the more energy factories use, often from coal power, which causes pollution. Factories also produce toxic waste, exported to countries with weak environmental controls, often due to corruption.

The workers -
TNCs/MNCs know they can make a profit if their products are made in countries where people are desperate for a job and are willing to work for a low salary. These desperate workers might also not complain when forced to work long hours in unsafe conditions. These workplaces are called “sweatshops”