Is Materialism Destroying our Planet?
I just came across this article, We should teach less about materialism, more about environment, which discusses how schools should make the effort to teach about sustainability, preservation, and living in harmony with nature.
I agree with the author of this article. I think today’s society has become too caught up in having the latest and greatest of everything. I love these lyrics to Donovan Frankenreiter’s song Heading Home… “Didn’t even exist last year but now it’s what we need“. That line pretty much sums up the materialism of today’s society - at least in the developed countries. Think about how many people would tell you they couldn’t live without their mobile phone.
Sometimes we need to step back and think, “Do I really need a new car every few years?” or “Do I really need that expensive wide screen TV?” or “Do I really need that latest mobile phone?”.
And I’m not pretending that I live a life totally free of modern day comforts either. I particularly love sitting at the local cafe sipping my coffee while thinking about what I’m going to type into my laptop! But I have started to make some big changes in order to live more in tune with nature. I think there’s a nice balance that can be reached between materialism and the environment.
If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to have a think about what you can do to live a less materialistic life and one more in harmony with nature.
Is there such thing as a healthy balance between materialism and environmentalism?
Tags: environment, materialism, nature, preservation, Sustainability
