Concerning Consumption

• Author: Jason J. Czarnezki
• Position: Professor of law in the Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law School
• Pages: 24-29

Page 24 ❧ THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2011, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, July/August 2011

eli Pr e s s

In today’s culture, perhaps it is far too easy to

throw away recyclable waste, grab a bottle of

water, or print that e-mail message on paper

made from a felled tree. Taken individually,

these actions seem harmless, and their envi-

ronmental impacts typically are not recognized. As

Richard Lazarus has opined, “e increased cogni-

tive severance for consumers between environmen-

tal cause and ef‌fect exacerbates the potential envi-

ronmental impact of such increased consumption.”1

is distance is evidenced in energy consumption,

food choices, and home preferences. Televisions

magically turn on, fast-food restaurants permeate

our cities, and large homes overrun the suburban

landscape. Many who engage in these activities re-

main happily ignorant of the environmental costs

of common behavior and activity patterns.

Environmental ignorance couples dangerously

with regulatory reluctance. Short-term economic

gains drive modern public policy,2 and this public

policy ignores individual behavior. Or as omas

Prince, et al., have written, “e dominance of

economistic reasoning and the pragmatism of

growth politics conspire to insulate from policy

scrutiny the individual black boxes in which con-

suming is understood to occur. As a result, an entire

realm of questions cannot be asked. No one in pub-

lic life dares — or needs — to ask why people con-

sume, let alone question whether people or societies

are better of‌f with their accustomed consumption

patterns.”3

us, modern culture and politics inhibit public

discussion of the very questions this book chooses

to address: Why do we use so much electricity in

the home? Should we change our diets? Why do we

live where we do? And an empirical query: why do

people consume what they do?

is article traces the links between historical

consumption and economic development pat-

terns in the United States, the resulting ecological

harms, and the societal reluctance to deal with a

new era of environmental concerns driven by the

consequences of individual behavior. e f‌irst part

describes the early American historical forces that

helped lead to today’s culture of convenience, de-

velopment, and consumption in the United States.

e second part discusses the more recent phe-

nomenon of American consumption def‌ined by

consumerism, overconsumption, and commoditi-

zation. While modern discussions of environmen-

talism and sustainable development fail to address

“escalating consumption levels and, especially, the

Concerning

Consumption

Signif‌icant environmental problems

have occurred due to the continued

depletion and degradation of public

resources, with little consideration for

the ultimate costs, whether known and

ignored or simply unforeseen

Jason J. Czarnezki is a p rofes-

sor of law in the Enviro nmental Law

Center at Vermont L aw School. This

chapter is excerpte d from Everyday

Environmenta lism: Law, Nature & In-

dividual Behav ior, published in 2011

by ELI Press. The bo ok is available

for purchase at w ww.eli.org.