The effects of Consumerism

As the weeks go by, I am realizing that the semester is almost done! I have found myself in various situations where I am procrastinating, but each time I motivate myself to get better grades, so I quit my procrastinating tendencies. In my sociology class, we were assigned to watch a video called, The Story of Stuff, which explains the process of how we get our items, and how we as consumers make a lot of harm in our society by purchasing a lot of products, and then disposing them carelessly on our earth. The author’s perspective on the impact of globalization is described when she talks about the Distribution process,and how she talks about the radio shack radio that she purchased and when she wondered where all the items in the radio came from. In the video she mentions that, “The metal was probably mined in South Africa, the petroleum was probably drilled in Iraq, the plastics were probably produced in China, and maybe the whole thing was assembled by some 15 year old in a maquiladora in Mexico”(Story of Stuff). Globalization from all countries all help to make one item is  like a group effort. She believes that the globalization between the countries is bad, because it affects the people in a negative way, such as, “Kids in the Congo paid with their future—30% of the kids in parts of the Congo now have had to drop out of school to mine coltan,41 a metal we need for our disposable electronics”(Story of stuff).For our country to receive certain parts to make a  simple product, the people in other poor countries are receiving low wages while companies externalize the cost. This video made me realize that we as consumers are making bad choices regarding the things that we purchase. We need to recycle more and find effective ways to get rid of the waste that we produce.We only have one earth, it is important that we take care of it, and make smart choices about where we dispose of the products that we use.